I don't object to the politics in this book. I do object to the fact that the many pages of Trying to Make a Political Point in this book are boring, lacking stakes, and don't tie in well with the rest of the plot. Every few pages there's a surprise paragraph about the 2020 USA election, or covid lockdown protocols. It rarely works well with the rest of the book, and feels out of place. This feels less like a story, and more like the author had many rants and emotions during 2020 that she wanted to share with a weak framing device.

The one Very-2020 part of this book that I feel DID WORK is the ruminations on isolation. This ties in with one of the major conflicts of the book; the protagonist is cut off from her friends and adrift from regular life. I just wish the other points of this book also tied in with the plot and internal conflict.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dutton Books for Young Readers for a copy to review. All opinions are my own.