Emerging Erotic Sexuality

By any standard, the burgeoning sexuality of the novel's protagonist is the defining theme of the novel. This is not to condemn the novel as simply a morality tale of a young girl seeking acceptance away from home and finding it in sexual intercourse and lesbian fantasies. Instead, the narrator's emerging sexuality appears to be controlled and in service to her, rather than the other way about. Of course, the possibility exists that this presentation is deliberately constructed by the narrator from the vantage point of decades of life, but the many narrative elements, which contribute to the fabric of youthful sexuality, argue strongly against this. The narration rings true and has an authentic tone and the various admissions are seemingly too truthful to admit of conscious manipulation. The story appears to be a simple one, but this is an illusion created through careful crafting of...