One of the greatest things about this punk rock lesbian bildungsroman is that it takes place on Staten Island, and also the East Village of the 1980s (?). The narrator Nina Boyd is a working class high school junior who is an athlete and aspiring member of the armed forces, in addition to being a dedicated reader of Love and Rockets and a Rocky Horror Picture Show-goer whose mecca is CBGB. Too bad she doesn't make it into CBs in high school due to curfews strictly enforced by her parents.
Speaking of Nina's parents, they are not big fans of any kind of deviant behavior, as we find out in a heartbreaking/infuriating scene. Nina has her downs, but also her ups. The sex scenes are rather titillating, and it seems that Ms. Boyd has something of a gift for lovemaking.
This is a small press novel that couldn't have been better edited. I can just imagine what a mainstream publisher might have done with it. I'm thinking I'm going to do some more investigating of the Bold Strokes Books catalog!