Highsmith is wise enough to know that the way to spread a message of acceptance and to deride prejudice is to avoid preaching and dive deep into the heart of a personal story. That's what she does here, inhabiting the mind of a 19-year-old woman in the 1950s who explores her sexuality in a rigid era in which such concepts were shoved off to the side in favor of strict conformity. She takes a soft touch throughout, gracefully spinning an inner monologue of someone who must appear baffling to nearly everyone who encounters her, including the woman with whom she falls in love. The writing is brave enough to challenge the fluidity of the protagonist's attractions and her inability to make firm, informed choices due to her youth. In some ways she plays a major part into the bigotry that oppresses her. A complex and thought-provoking novel -- frustrating only for the way it stubbornly holds back with little payoff -- it tells a sad, winding story with enough of a dash of hope to leave you feeling moved and optimistic about how far society has come while aware of how far it has left to go.
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