The blurb and cover for this book immediately caught my attention, but after only a few pages, I was already disappointed. Had I not read this for a book club, I wouldn't have finished it. To me, the entire story of Millie Reynolds, a depression-era child with an abusive father and drug-addicted mother, was so overblown that most of it was ridiculous. Also, I could not understand the main character's motivation for chosing the life she did. I believe that this book was supposed to be about a person's choice between freedom and responsiblity, but I never was sure. Also, the characters were very one-dimensional, so I was never really affected by their choices or their stories.