The only person she can turn to is Christopher, who, though precocious, is still an unformed and clearly troubled teenager with more intellect than experience or judgment.

Radcliffe’s characters are on the whole more timid, conflicted, insecure, unformed; Viswanathan’s are smarter, impulsive, adventurous and unconventional and yearn for something more.

Around the same time Loeb's book was published, French physician Alexis Carrel developed techniques for growing tissues in a culture medium: a kind of unformed living material.

This is distinct from “unformed” hallucinations, when people might see shapes, patterns and colors.

If a little unformed and less than completely honest with himself, Jabari is a decent guy.