barbara fister reviewed Save yourself by Kelly Braffet
Review of 'Save yourself' on 'LibraryThing'
A disturbing book with very well-developed and sympathetic (though so thoroughly developed that they are sometimes maddening) working-class characters with hardscrabble lives. A girl in a religious family is bullied at school; her older goth sister is rebelious and self-destructvie; a young man whose alcoholic father killed a child in a drunk driving episode lives with his passive, easy-going older brother but finds himself attracted to his girlfriend, who is looking for stability in a life on the move. So much searching, so many abusive controlling men. Braffet is an enormously talented writer. Her work reminds me a bit of Sean Doolittle's.