Save yourself

I'm torn on this one, because the writing was great - sharp, provocative, and emotional - and I loved the atmosphere, which perfectly captured impoverished smalltown sadness where every day blends into the other. The characters were also solid, and you want them to overcome the odds and make better decisions and break out of their self-destruction. All good things, but the plot took what I considered a kind of eye-rolling turn toward the end . . . it didn't gel with me, as I felt it didn't match the nuance of the rest of the book. It didn't ruin the book for me, but it did make me want to bump my 3.5 stars down to 3 instead of up to 4.