Author Craig Davidson, this year’s Literary Fiction judge, said of the book: “I'm a sucker for coming-of-age books, and Nora Decter's hit my sweet spot big-time. In her teenage narrator, Jolene Tucker, Decter gets it all right: the angst of youth, that simmering rage and bewilderment, looking in the mirror wondering who you are and what your worth to humankind may (or may not) be—Decter nails that mindset, really, she does. The narrative voice, plus the way Decter renders Winnipeg with such organic but effective brushstrokes, are the primary reasons why (in what was by no means an easy choice) How Far We Go and How Fast is my choice. ”