The friendship dynamics behind this group were also SO much more realistic than the typical YA book. Their friend group deals with the merging of two smaller groups, a love triangle, a bid for prom queen, the structure of popularity, and the knowledge that when they graduate in the Spring, some of them will likely cease to be friends. As somebody who just graduated high school last year, I've never read a book that deals with the complicated, fraught nature that is a senior year friend group. My personal experience of knowing that in a few short months I likely was going to fade from the lives of some of those who I was closest to was hard to grapple with, but also a sort of peaceful acceptance feeling of "thank god." Ophelia and her group definitely see some of these issues, especially after the growing pains of being such lifelong friends.
Ophelia After All also provides a lot of cultural depth, from her Cuban-American background to the diversity of her friend group offering many fresh perspectives that are generally underrepresented in literature. As a white person I'm not going to speak on if the different racial and ethnic representations were good or bad, since I lack that perspective: I will say if you're looking for a book with lots of diverse character backgrounds, this one has it!
Ophelia After All also provides a lot of cultural depth, from her Cuban-American background to the diversity of her friend group offering many fresh perspectives that are generally underrepresented in literature. As a white person I'm not going to speak on if the different racial and ethnic representations were good or bad, since I lack that perspective: I will say if you're looking for a book with lots of diverse character backgrounds, this one has it!