sorry, but this supposed breakthrough novel was a tedious read.

therese is a young lesbian looking for love in an older woman. or is she?
the author goes out of her way to tell us how therese was abandoned by the mother at a young age and transfered her affections to the nun that ran her orphanage... so is she looking for a lover or a mother? (and if you were pro-lesbian, why would you confuse the issue by adding details that make someone's love choice one of a psychological (pathological?) nature?

the only good thing about the on-and-on-and-on plot was that therese finally grows a backbone and stops neing inwardly controlled by her older lover, carol.