Deadline Complete...

Well, I finished. I met the deadline. Honestly, I'm not sure what I think of the ending.  I was really liking the characters from the beginning (something I saw my classmates did not particularly care for). I thought they were witty, and complex, and I could picture them as people that I knew.  As the story continued, I still did really like the characters, BUT I almost thought that the author tried too hard to get too many "teen issues" into the novel.  I mean you had teen pregnancy, terminal illness, child molestation, issues with teachers, rape, car crashes, abusive fathers, crazy mothers...I mean really, what else could he have squeezed into the novel?  From the beginning, I thought that the novel seemed very realistic, but then it took a quick turn for me.  I was still emotionally attached to the characters and felt bad when they had to overcome what they needed to go through.  I guess I would recommend this book to others because I do think it was a good read, but I just thought the author tried to fit way too many things into the novel which then made it far fetched for me.  Maybe because I am reading it from an "older perspective," I noticed that there were a lot of topics trying to be covered.  I am not so sure that a younger reader would think about all of the topics, but would just enjoy the story for what it is worth.  I'd like to hear what a high schooler or middle schooler would think about this book...