When I read this as a teen when it first came out, a lot of the plot went over my head. I did, however, recall the way Mattie was sexually harassed. Reading it again as an adult, I can tell why it won awards and was so well regarded as it does a phenomenal job at portraying life in the early 1900's in rural upstate New York with a well-paced plot that doesn't sensationalize things like racism, traumatic birth, coercion, or the myriad of other hardships that face the characters. It also doesn't necessarily challenge or subvert them either, and while I feel confident saying it hasn't aged well... it hasn't poorly either. It's just simply dated.

Mattie is a complicated protagonist, and making choices in high pressure situations that lead to bigger lessons about who she is, and who she wants to be. She has an artist's soul, but has been saddled with a demanding farming life in the rural northern woods in the Adirondacks, promises made under duress, and the juxtaposition between responsibility and dreams.

There is room for a lot of discussion, as the novel is written in present tense from the same point of view during two converging times. The weight of her decisions in particular, is ripe for conversation about relationships, romance, and personal achievement.

There are, of course, parts that have not aged well -- and in those parts lies further room for contemplation. I can see this doing well in a classroom setting, maybe a historical fiction book group, especially in a moderated setting. I don't see myself handing this to any solo readers though.