Jennifer Egan's intense coming of age story about a young woman's struggle to come to terms with her losses and move on with her life took hold of most my free time for the past three days, which I gave quite willingly.

It is the summer of 1978, and Phoebe, a recent high school graduate, is struggling to define her own life. Through a series of flashbacks, we meet her entire family, especially the father who died early of illness, and her sister Faith, who died tragically, not long afterwards. Both of these losses had a profound effect on Phoebe as a ten year old child, and now, eight years later, she resents her mother and brother Barry for being able to go on. Still worshiping Faith, Phoebe postpones college to take a trip, purposely the same itinerary Faith took to Europe with a boyfriend eight years ago. Phoebe, however, is all by herself. There are some harrowing, nail-biting moments, an interesting plot twist, but finally, Phoebe gets some answers to questions that are important to her about her sister's life and death. Just as important, Phoebe is creating her own story, not just living through and for her older sister. This is her closure and the beginning of the rest of her life.

Egan's writing is stunning, and the intricacies of the relationships within this family are well developed and intriguing. The backdrop of Faith's story, the turbulent 1960's, is described to great effect and makes this novel all the more fascinating.

I highly recommend this, in case that's not clear.