Reading Tenderness was a really weird experience for me; most of the novel completely creeped me out and often repulsed me, but I still cared at least a little bit for the characters--even Eric. And then I was grossed out that I cared about him! It was weird.

Basically, this book was very interesting--a totally different view of the teens that are on the outskirts of society--but I didn't really enjoy reading it. I give it 2 stars though because it definitely made me think and was at least well-written. It just wasn't my cup of tea, almost entirely because Eric was such a creepy, messed-up dude, and it ended with absolutely no hopefulness. It was too dark for my liking.