I feel like if it weren't for the various gender bending permutations and turns in this book, it would boil down to quite the typical coming of age story. Also, I know Freud says everything comes down to sex and aggression, but, well there's just so much sex... Having not read 50 Shades of Gray and whatnot, I can't tell if I'm being prudish of inured to it all, but I found that element kind of tiresome after a while...
I think I wouldn't have felt disappointed by this one had I not read Fingersmith before hand- it was like going to some other M. Night Shamalan movie having just seen the Sixth Sense.