This was a great book. The relationship between Veronica and the narrator is so 'real', loving and complicated, and I wish more books were so nuanced in describing (female) friendships. Every character in the book is fundamentally flawed. Almost everyone is also full of dignity and humanity.  At times I wished the more lyrical and introspective parts were shorter, but the excellent writing, and the way they tie together with the rest, always 'brought them back' just in time for me to stick with it.