Goldengrove by Francine Prose

Here’s another coming of age story. This time the protagonist is Nico, a 13 year old girl who just lost her sister in an accident. How she deals with her own changes & the grief that surrounds her family is the basis for the story. I liked most of this book. Prose seems to understand grief & its power to bring together & also divide people. Nico’s friendship with her sister’s boyfriend is interesting & then creepy, yet plausible. But near the end of the book something goes astray. The last two chapters seem tacked on, much like the room additions of their house in the book. Nico never helps her father with his book in the way I felt she should. I don’t want to say too much & ruin it for future readers, but I was let down at the end.