The chapters alternate between
Angela's diary, a teen girl living in Los Angeles with her grandmother since her mother Penny's death from Sickle Cell Anemia,
Steve, her father, now a writer, who lived in Hollywood after high school and left after his wife's death,
P A Thayer, Steve's father's diary, written covering the year his marriage was breaking up when Steve was very young.
It wasn't a bad book, and I had no problem finishing it, but I just didn't connect well to the characters. I'm not sure what audience Thayer was writing for. Mostly I think he was writing to come to terms with his own life, since it seems to be based on his life. He admits taking advantage of the book to get his father's diary published. His dad was pretty depressed, but kept pushing on with his responsibilities. Angela is very distressed by her grandmother's restrictions. Steve is mostly trying to explain himself to his daughter. Oh yes, this was an interracial marriage--Penny was black and Steve white. The 2nd to last chapter which supposedly was written by Angela's mother to be given to her when Angela was older was a pretty lame attempt by Thayer to write like a woman. ( )