Her family undergoes the stresses of the time -- the decreasing willingness of either men or women to conform to the social roles that had constituted the American nuclear family in the previous two decades hit them hard

One of the many funny/poignant scenes in the book is her description of walking out of a store after talking with the wide-shouldered and clueless classmate who had taken her virginity the night before

She loses her virginity in a not-very-romantic way

This young lady is brilliant

Plus, HH's powerful vignettes and characterizations stay in the mind, different ones for different readers, apparently

Some readers will relate to HH, others won't, others partially