The stories are separate and finally come together in a fairly predictable way. It is a bit didactic, but imagine yourself a very bright, curious, thoughtful and sensitive 14, 15 or 16 year-old struggling with the usual thoughts and feelings of angst and hormones and loneliness and you stumble onto this book and identify with the character (or at least like her) and suddenly you're not the only one thinking these thoughts or dreaming these ideas. They aren't being forced on you by a teacher, but they're shared through a book. You are not alone, there are entire schools of thought written about these thoughts and feelings.
The stories are separate and finally come together in a fairly predictable way. It is a bit didactic, but imagine yourself a very bright, curious, thoughtful and sensitive 14, 15 or 16 year-old struggling with the usual thoughts and feelings of angst and hormones and loneliness and you stumble onto this book and identify with the character (or at least like her) and suddenly you're not the only one thinking these thoughts or dreaming these ideas. They aren't being forced on you by a teacher, but they're shared through a book. You are not alone, there are entire schools of thought written about these thoughts and feelings.