The major subject of this novel is teenage sexuality. The sexual language of the novel is graphic. The sexual scenes are slightly vague about details, but they are nonetheless realistic. The sexual act is described in open terms. The book was written in the midst of the so-called sexual revolution of the 1970s, when young people were attempting to throw off limiting social rules that, on the surface, demanded that girls remain virgins, while they gave boys permission to act out sexually. As Katherine's mother suggests, there were two types of girls: those who remained virgins were the ones the boys wanted to marry; those who had sex were dated for fun but did not get married. That was the dichotomy that dominated Katherine's mother's time, but it was not necessarily the reality,.....
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