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Perfume & Pain
A controversial Los Angeles author attempts to revive her career and finally find true love in this hilarious nod to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction.
Having recently moved both herself and her formidable perfume bottle collection into a tiny bungalow in Los Angeles, mid-list author Astrid Dahl finds herself back in the Zoom writer’s group she cofounded, Sapphic Scribes, after an incident that leaves her and her career lightly canceled. But she temporarily forgets all that by throwing herself into a few sexy distractions—like Ivy, a grad student who smells like metallic orchids and is researching 1950s lesbian pulp, or her new neighbor, Penelope, who smells like patchouli.
Penelope, a painter living off Urban Outfitters settlement money, immediately ingratiates herself in Astrid’s life, bonding with her best friends and family, just as Astrid and Ivy begin to date in person. Astrid feels judged and threatened by Penelope, a responsible older vegan, but also finds her irresistibly sexy.
When Astrid receives an unexpected call from her agent with the news that actress and influencer Kat Gold wants to adapt her previous novel for TV, Astrid finally has a chance to resurrect her waning career. But the pressure causes Astrid’s worst vice to rear its head—the Patricia Highsmith, a blend of Adderall, alcohol, and cigarettes—and results in blackouts and a disturbing series of events.
Unapologetically feminine yet ribald, steamy yet hilarious, Anna Dorn has crafted an exquisite homage to the lesbian pulp of yore, reclaiming it for our internet- and celebrity-obsessed world.
Having recently moved both herself and her formidable perfume bottle collection into a tiny bungalow in Los Angeles, mid-list author Astrid Dahl finds herself back in the Zoom writer’s group she cofounded, Sapphic Scribes, after an incident that leaves her and her career lightly canceled. But she temporarily forgets all that by throwing herself into a few sexy distractions—like Ivy, a grad student who smells like metallic orchids and is researching 1950s lesbian pulp, or her new neighbor, Penelope, who smells like patchouli.
Penelope, a painter living off Urban Outfitters settlement money, immediately ingratiates herself in Astrid’s life, bonding with her best friends and family, just as Astrid and Ivy begin to date in person. Astrid feels judged and threatened by Penelope, a responsible older vegan, but also finds her irresistibly sexy.
When Astrid receives an unexpected call from her agent with the news that actress and influencer Kat Gold wants to adapt her previous novel for TV, Astrid finally has a chance to resurrect her waning career. But the pressure causes Astrid’s worst vice to rear its head—the Patricia Highsmith, a blend of Adderall, alcohol, and cigarettes—and results in blackouts and a disturbing series of events.
Unapologetically feminine yet ribald, steamy yet hilarious, Anna Dorn has crafted an exquisite homage to the lesbian pulp of yore, reclaiming it for our internet- and celebrity-obsessed world.
352 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2024
725 people are currently reading
46.3k people want to read
About the author
Anna Dorn
5books660followersAnna Dorn is the author of PERFUME & PAIN, EXALTED, BAD LAWYER, and VAGABLONDE. She was a Lambda Literary Fellow and EXALTED was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. Her next book AMERICAN SPIRITS is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster. She lives in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,174 reviews
July 1, 2024
a book that dares to ask, “what if bojack horseman was a human lesbian?�
July 2, 2024
“i’ve always felt more comfortable with a new lover than an old friend�
June 5, 2024
Girlfailure literature but make it lesbian, satirical and deliciously pulpy.
Perfume & Pain is paying homage to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction with all its drama and raunchy fuckery. It's in active conversation with by Patricia Highsmith and the titular by Kimberly Kemp. Anywho, main character Astrid's a struggling writer whose career prospects look about as promising as her [failed] sobriety. Her heart's desire juggles between two women in the backdrop of contemporary LA with all its pop culture shroom-infused algorithmically artificial haze.
Astrid's uncalibrated personality is melodramatic and borderline feral and I couldn't help but feel gripped watching my fellow sister in peril be a walking disaster; seeing a problematic privileged white woman dig a hole for herself will probably always be entertaining to me. She's very much so unlikeable, but even when she's being scathing or didactic it all coalesces to form her biting charm. You know, at least she's mostly self aware, though I think someone needs to tell her about her raging mommy issues.
She's erratically funny in a 'say what now?' way that borders on being deadpan. The book embodies that feeling of loopy contentment after scarfing down hard seltzer in a dingy motel room, which I guess is redolent of Astrid's signature self-destructive bender named the 'Patricia Highsmith'—a concoction of alcohol, sativa, Adderall and cigarettes. If you have a name for your intoxication routine, you've probably got a problem. Frankly the 'Patricia Highsmith' was a supporting character in this book.
This was very much so a story that was actually written for queer folks (instead of masquerading as a queer/lesbian story which is in reality written to be 'palatable' for straight people 🙄), and it's especially written for lesbian and sapphic women, which made it so scrumptious. A sapphic book with a messy problematic lesbian doing messy problematic lesbian things with just the right amount of mania. Who would have thought that this pulpy romp would match my freak?
I wouldn't widely recommend this, though, it's for a very specific type of modern sapphic reader who loves polarizing characters and social commentary that is very pertinent to the contemporary queer zeitgeist, but make it a bit ridiculous in a pulpy, satirical, self aware way.
rating: 5 stars
Perfume & Pain is paying homage to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction with all its drama and raunchy fuckery. It's in active conversation with by Patricia Highsmith and the titular by Kimberly Kemp. Anywho, main character Astrid's a struggling writer whose career prospects look about as promising as her [failed] sobriety. Her heart's desire juggles between two women in the backdrop of contemporary LA with all its pop culture shroom-infused algorithmically artificial haze.
Astrid's uncalibrated personality is melodramatic and borderline feral and I couldn't help but feel gripped watching my fellow sister in peril be a walking disaster; seeing a problematic privileged white woman dig a hole for herself will probably always be entertaining to me. She's very much so unlikeable, but even when she's being scathing or didactic it all coalesces to form her biting charm. You know, at least she's mostly self aware, though I think someone needs to tell her about her raging mommy issues.
She's erratically funny in a 'say what now?' way that borders on being deadpan. The book embodies that feeling of loopy contentment after scarfing down hard seltzer in a dingy motel room, which I guess is redolent of Astrid's signature self-destructive bender named the 'Patricia Highsmith'—a concoction of alcohol, sativa, Adderall and cigarettes. If you have a name for your intoxication routine, you've probably got a problem. Frankly the 'Patricia Highsmith' was a supporting character in this book.
This was very much so a story that was actually written for queer folks (instead of masquerading as a queer/lesbian story which is in reality written to be 'palatable' for straight people 🙄), and it's especially written for lesbian and sapphic women, which made it so scrumptious. A sapphic book with a messy problematic lesbian doing messy problematic lesbian things with just the right amount of mania. Who would have thought that this pulpy romp would match my freak?
I wouldn't widely recommend this, though, it's for a very specific type of modern sapphic reader who loves polarizing characters and social commentary that is very pertinent to the contemporary queer zeitgeist, but make it a bit ridiculous in a pulpy, satirical, self aware way.
rating: 5 stars
January 6, 2024
A fluid but oblique and inventive literary homage to lesbian pulp � the title’s taken from Kimberley Kemp’s (aka Gilbert Fox) 1960s novel. Dorn’s narrative centres on flailing writer Astrid who’s living in LA and teetering on the edge of a personal abyss. Outspoken Astrid’s on the verge of being cancelled after an incident during a recent book tour, and she’s torn between two women: the oddly alluring but erratic Ivy, a PhD student who’s analysing lesbian pulp fiction and older, outwardly self-assured artist Penelope. Astrid’s drifting, trying to overcome an on-and-off addiction to recreational drugs and an equally damaging tendency towards relationships centred on sex, drama and toxic romance � dynamics that mirror lesbian pulp themes. Astrid’s spiky, openly scathing about everything and everyone around her, and irreverent in a way that often borders on offensive but she’s also acidly witty and shrewdly observant when it comes to LA’s creative, lesbian communities. Her struggles, her dating experiences, her thoughts about literature from Patricia Highsmith to Donna Tartt, her diatribes on her writing group Sapphic Scribes, on LA’s lesbian culture and her attempts to find a way to ditch the messier aspects of her existence were weirdly compelling, I was gripped throughout. Dorn’s style reminded me a little of authors like Halle Butler mixed with more than a dash of Emily M. Danforth, her story's packed with wry, pithy commentaries on contemporary American society; and despite Astrid’s less likeable qualities I couldn’t help rooting for her.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher Simon and Schuster for an ARC
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher Simon and Schuster for an ARC
November 5, 2024
unhinged and compulsively readable
December 22, 2024
perfume and pain is for the messy, unbothered girlies.
i read this one a couple of weeks ago and i'm still thinking about it. anna dorn became a favourite after i read vagablonde and then exalted (which was a fav of last year).
perfume and pain is messy and unapologetic with an unlikeable main character, astrid, whom you somehow also can't help but like because she is who she is and she doesn't try to hide it.
astrid is essentially a self-centered lesbian on a self-destructive path as she continues to avoid the responsibilities in her life.
through her self-destruction she is also painfully aware of what she's doing, which i think makes her such a unique and compelling character.
perfume and pain is the perfect blend of unhinged, self-destruction and humour that is as realistic as it is shocking.
anna dorn is a force in the literary world right now, and perfume and pain will be a book i know i revisit again.
if you're looking for something unhinged, chaotic and queer, perfume and pain is it.
it will likely be a fav of the year.
many thanks to @___adorn for sending this to me and @simonbooks.
P&P is out may 21!
i read this one a couple of weeks ago and i'm still thinking about it. anna dorn became a favourite after i read vagablonde and then exalted (which was a fav of last year).
perfume and pain is messy and unapologetic with an unlikeable main character, astrid, whom you somehow also can't help but like because she is who she is and she doesn't try to hide it.
astrid is essentially a self-centered lesbian on a self-destructive path as she continues to avoid the responsibilities in her life.
through her self-destruction she is also painfully aware of what she's doing, which i think makes her such a unique and compelling character.
perfume and pain is the perfect blend of unhinged, self-destruction and humour that is as realistic as it is shocking.
anna dorn is a force in the literary world right now, and perfume and pain will be a book i know i revisit again.
if you're looking for something unhinged, chaotic and queer, perfume and pain is it.
it will likely be a fav of the year.
many thanks to @___adorn for sending this to me and @simonbooks.
P&P is out may 21!
June 20, 2024
“I think I can keep the hysteria at a distance, that it won’t affect me, that I can take the good—the mania, the spontaneity, the laughs—without the bad—the neediness, the aggression, the cruelty. And maybe people put up with me for the same reason.�
Incredibly sharp yet begging the reader to not take it too seriously, this messy, satirical homage to 60s lesbian pulp fiction is a wild ride as we follow our more than a little unlikeable narrator with some asinine takes as she continually is unable to keep her mouth shut and makes horrendous decisions while she is “trying� to get sober and make better decisions (it’s hard!). It’s an incredibly fun time as we watch Astrid Dahl as she is the worst person she’s ever been and probably ever will be and still somehow root for her to make it out on the other side, changed and okay. I really do love the unlikeable, messy narrator and haven’t read a lesbian one before this, so this was an incredibly fun time, and it was fun to hate, and somehow grow to love, Astrid Dahl.
“I never thought I’d be one of these people: threatened by the blank page. I used to love the blank page! Pristine and uncorrupted and filled with possibilities. But now all the possibilities seem certain to end in one way: with me embarrassing myself.�
Published author who is trying to write more and is in the middle of discussions for a movie deal, Astrid Dahl’s worst enemy is herself. She verifiably cancellable, doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut, and her biggest vice is the Patti Highsmith—Adderall, alcohol, sativa, and cigarettes—which she is currently off of because of previous (problematic) things she has said and done while on it. She must be completely clean and take a break from the media in order to secure this deal and continue her deal. The issue? She can’t write without the Patti Highsmith and she is pretty shit at keeping her mouth shut. Self-described a being like Kanye West (eugh), Astrid kind of sucks right now and everyone is just tolerating her no matter what she tries. As she tries to stay clean, her older nosy neighbor, Penelope, and the 27-year-old newbie in her old writing group (once dubbed “the Lez Brat Pack,� now “Sapphic Scribes�), Ivy, as well as the stresses that are coming from being in the spotlight as an author are combining to make healing nearly impossible. As Astrid begins to succumb to her vices, things start going more and more downhill as she begins to lose herself more and more. This is more harmful for Astrid notes, “This is the hard part of being a writer for me, that idea that people can google me, that they might have a preconceived notion of me based on the things I type or say when I’m extremely caffeinated or very fucked up,� creating a bit of an endless cycle as being talked about is so hard for her so she gets messed up, then the things she says when she’s messed up get her even more talked about. While I started this despising Astrid and her views (she has some incredibly bad takes), this downward spiral started to make me. . . root for her? I started wanting so badly for her to get help and start succeeding and become a better person, which was honestly really nice for such a train wreck of a book. In some ways, she is just a relatable, messy, brutally honest character, which mixes really well with the parts of her that are quite awful. Even small moments like, “I put down Jeanette Winterson and my phone and open the door,� when she was “reading� all day made me warm to her a bit more, making sure she wasn’t a complete hateable menace.
“I’ve ordered a bunch [of perfume sampler sets] because I can’t commit to one scent, which is probably a metaphor, but anyway. . .�
As a perfume girlie who also has a completely normal amount of perfumes/samples (see image below), I have to give a moment for the perfume mentions, the tons of samples that Astrid goes through, her ability to detect notes and the perfumes that people are wearing, and just the way perfume is used throughout the book. While it isn’t a huge part of the book, it is such a fun little addition especially as it, as Astrid says, used a bit metaphorically, showing how she feels towards people and her own transition in life. I also now have notes on some of the perfumes mentioned that I absolutely need to try, which I love.
“I finally understand why people don’t black out. Sometimes life is worth catching.�
It's pulpy, it's satirical, it's a trainwreck, but what makes this book work so well for me really is the ending. This is the end of a messy person’s messiest time and we follow her as she really does start to learn a bit. It takes a while, but there is a relief at the end and a knowledge that maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay. While it is really fun to watch Astrid falling in a downward spiral, there is something really compelling about slowly growing attached to this privileged white girl who continually fucks up and seeing her begin to grow into someone who not only the reader, but Astrid herself can love and be at peace with.
“Exiting the freeway, I experience a brief moment of gratitude that I’m a lesbian. That I don’t have to get Botox or filler or a ponytail facelift because to do so would invite the male gaze, and it’s the female gaze I’m after, and we just want compelling, which is energetic and cannot be reduced to a visual. How a year ago I was so crushed to be thirty-five, I thought it indicated that my youth was over, that my life was over, that I’d aged out of being a party twink and therefore had nothing to look forward to. But now I realize my life is just starting. I’ve stopped being a dumb little provocateur, I keep my rude thoughts to myself, I’ve just written a love story, and men have finally stopped looking at me. I never believed Dan Savage when he said, ‘It gets better,� but maybe I just hadn’t waited long enough.�
4/5
Incredibly sharp yet begging the reader to not take it too seriously, this messy, satirical homage to 60s lesbian pulp fiction is a wild ride as we follow our more than a little unlikeable narrator with some asinine takes as she continually is unable to keep her mouth shut and makes horrendous decisions while she is “trying� to get sober and make better decisions (it’s hard!). It’s an incredibly fun time as we watch Astrid Dahl as she is the worst person she’s ever been and probably ever will be and still somehow root for her to make it out on the other side, changed and okay. I really do love the unlikeable, messy narrator and haven’t read a lesbian one before this, so this was an incredibly fun time, and it was fun to hate, and somehow grow to love, Astrid Dahl.
“I never thought I’d be one of these people: threatened by the blank page. I used to love the blank page! Pristine and uncorrupted and filled with possibilities. But now all the possibilities seem certain to end in one way: with me embarrassing myself.�
Published author who is trying to write more and is in the middle of discussions for a movie deal, Astrid Dahl’s worst enemy is herself. She verifiably cancellable, doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut, and her biggest vice is the Patti Highsmith—Adderall, alcohol, sativa, and cigarettes—which she is currently off of because of previous (problematic) things she has said and done while on it. She must be completely clean and take a break from the media in order to secure this deal and continue her deal. The issue? She can’t write without the Patti Highsmith and she is pretty shit at keeping her mouth shut. Self-described a being like Kanye West (eugh), Astrid kind of sucks right now and everyone is just tolerating her no matter what she tries. As she tries to stay clean, her older nosy neighbor, Penelope, and the 27-year-old newbie in her old writing group (once dubbed “the Lez Brat Pack,� now “Sapphic Scribes�), Ivy, as well as the stresses that are coming from being in the spotlight as an author are combining to make healing nearly impossible. As Astrid begins to succumb to her vices, things start going more and more downhill as she begins to lose herself more and more. This is more harmful for Astrid notes, “This is the hard part of being a writer for me, that idea that people can google me, that they might have a preconceived notion of me based on the things I type or say when I’m extremely caffeinated or very fucked up,� creating a bit of an endless cycle as being talked about is so hard for her so she gets messed up, then the things she says when she’s messed up get her even more talked about. While I started this despising Astrid and her views (she has some incredibly bad takes), this downward spiral started to make me. . . root for her? I started wanting so badly for her to get help and start succeeding and become a better person, which was honestly really nice for such a train wreck of a book. In some ways, she is just a relatable, messy, brutally honest character, which mixes really well with the parts of her that are quite awful. Even small moments like, “I put down Jeanette Winterson and my phone and open the door,� when she was “reading� all day made me warm to her a bit more, making sure she wasn’t a complete hateable menace.
“I’ve ordered a bunch [of perfume sampler sets] because I can’t commit to one scent, which is probably a metaphor, but anyway. . .�
As a perfume girlie who also has a completely normal amount of perfumes/samples (see image below), I have to give a moment for the perfume mentions, the tons of samples that Astrid goes through, her ability to detect notes and the perfumes that people are wearing, and just the way perfume is used throughout the book. While it isn’t a huge part of the book, it is such a fun little addition especially as it, as Astrid says, used a bit metaphorically, showing how she feels towards people and her own transition in life. I also now have notes on some of the perfumes mentioned that I absolutely need to try, which I love.
“I finally understand why people don’t black out. Sometimes life is worth catching.�
It's pulpy, it's satirical, it's a trainwreck, but what makes this book work so well for me really is the ending. This is the end of a messy person’s messiest time and we follow her as she really does start to learn a bit. It takes a while, but there is a relief at the end and a knowledge that maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay. While it is really fun to watch Astrid falling in a downward spiral, there is something really compelling about slowly growing attached to this privileged white girl who continually fucks up and seeing her begin to grow into someone who not only the reader, but Astrid herself can love and be at peace with.
“Exiting the freeway, I experience a brief moment of gratitude that I’m a lesbian. That I don’t have to get Botox or filler or a ponytail facelift because to do so would invite the male gaze, and it’s the female gaze I’m after, and we just want compelling, which is energetic and cannot be reduced to a visual. How a year ago I was so crushed to be thirty-five, I thought it indicated that my youth was over, that my life was over, that I’d aged out of being a party twink and therefore had nothing to look forward to. But now I realize my life is just starting. I’ve stopped being a dumb little provocateur, I keep my rude thoughts to myself, I’ve just written a love story, and men have finally stopped looking at me. I never believed Dan Savage when he said, ‘It gets better,� but maybe I just hadn’t waited long enough.�
4/5
February 20, 2024
Okay, stick with me here—the best way I can think to describe this absolute ride of a book is if you crossed Nora Ephron’s Heartburn with Bojack Horseman. I realize this makes no sense but that’s my opinion and I’m standing by it. (I do currently have COVID, and I might be slightly brainfogged, but that’s neither here nor there.)
This book is a lot like Heartburn in that it’s about a kind of unlikeable but incredibly specific character, one who is privileged and petty but understandably upset and frustrated with the way her life is going. It’s like Bojack Horseman because you get that same feeling of watching a train wreck, hoping it gets better, wondering if it gets better. It’s a similar style of satire.
Oh, and also, this book is a homage to classic 60s lesbian pulp, specifically to Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt. I kind of have no idea how Perfume and Pain works as well as it does, since it’s doing all these things at once, but it absolutely works.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC! This was the perfect distraction from my COVID suffering.
This book is a lot like Heartburn in that it’s about a kind of unlikeable but incredibly specific character, one who is privileged and petty but understandably upset and frustrated with the way her life is going. It’s like Bojack Horseman because you get that same feeling of watching a train wreck, hoping it gets better, wondering if it gets better. It’s a similar style of satire.
Oh, and also, this book is a homage to classic 60s lesbian pulp, specifically to Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt. I kind of have no idea how Perfume and Pain works as well as it does, since it’s doing all these things at once, but it absolutely works.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC! This was the perfect distraction from my COVID suffering.
June 23, 2024
lesbians i want better for us
November 12, 2024
Review to come lol
As someone obsessed with perfume, I saw the title and I immediately added it to my TBR. I just started listening to the sample on audible and I’m already cackling. Soooo here I am
ܻ徱DzǴǰ
As someone obsessed with perfume, I saw the title and I immediately added it to my TBR. I just started listening to the sample on audible and I’m already cackling. Soooo here I am
ܻ徱DzǴǰ
October 3, 2024
Unfortunately didn’t love this one. While I appreciate the book for is homage to lesbian culture, I found the writing and humor very shallow and uninspired. To me, the main character came across as a mouthpiece for lukewarm social justice hot takes rather than as a full three-dimensional person. The dialogue and interactions between the characters gave a trying-too-hard-to-be-cool energy that didn’t keep me engaged. I know the past several books I’ve read have been in the three or lower star category so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my next read is better!
January 27, 2025
Anna Dorn's talent as a writer is evident...still, in terms of style and themes Perfume & Pain feels very been-there-done-that. it's like someone threw Mona Awad and Jen Beagin into a blender, but forgot to add that extra zing to it. and while Perfume & Pain tries to come across as self-aware, it often ends up feeling more like self-indulgence than offering anything truly meta or intertextual. review to come
June 9, 2024
took me ages to get through despite not being a remotely challenging read. what i'm tired of is protagonists whose "unlikability" is "cancellability" and ensembles whose character interactions and reactions are first drafts of presumed online responses. i'm bored. it doesn't help when i'm the target audience (gay woman who can tell when the protagonist is described as wearing a stora skuggan perfume even when the author didn't use the brand name), in fact it makes it worse. i can read twitter + fragrantica on my own time, come up with something else.
July 25, 2024
Anna Dorn’s Exalted is one of my all-time faves, and the same witty voice is present in this book about a self-sabotaging writer. However, Perfume and Pain is definitely a lot more grounded and less outlandish. I had a great time reading this one too, but I think I prefer the author’s more unhinged work! That said, Anna Dorn is the queen of writing characters who are very likeably unlikable, and this book is definitely worth your time.
July 3, 2024
If you like to read about messy lesbians making terrible decisions, this is the book for you. It’s also the perfect set piece for reading in public while sipping an iced lavender latte, though I must admit I was not then approached by a toxic lesbian who would briefly ruin my life. Maybe next time.
Personally, I love reading about deeply flawed sapphic characters—though Astrid would hate being called sapphic rather than lesbian. When I heard this was an homage to lesbian pulp fiction, I had to pick it up. I would say that characterization is fair: even without the mentions of lesbian pulp books and authors, this is melodramatic bordering on campy, so it does remind me of those 1960s stories.
I did enjoy reading this, even though I was rolling my eyes at Astrid half the time. On the other hand, I can confidently say I won’t be picking up any other titles by this author: spiraling downwards alongside a character like this is fun once, but just like reading lesbian pulp cover-to-cover, it’s not something I feel the urge to do again any time soon.
Content warnings for biphobia, ableism, drinking and driving, homophobic slurs, heavy drug and alcohol use (to the point of blackouts), among others.
Full review at .
Personally, I love reading about deeply flawed sapphic characters—though Astrid would hate being called sapphic rather than lesbian. When I heard this was an homage to lesbian pulp fiction, I had to pick it up. I would say that characterization is fair: even without the mentions of lesbian pulp books and authors, this is melodramatic bordering on campy, so it does remind me of those 1960s stories.
I did enjoy reading this, even though I was rolling my eyes at Astrid half the time. On the other hand, I can confidently say I won’t be picking up any other titles by this author: spiraling downwards alongside a character like this is fun once, but just like reading lesbian pulp cover-to-cover, it’s not something I feel the urge to do again any time soon.
Content warnings for biphobia, ableism, drinking and driving, homophobic slurs, heavy drug and alcohol use (to the point of blackouts), among others.
Full review at .
May 30, 2024
Have I read it yet? No.
Do I know that it will be a 5 star when I do? Yes.
Update: just finished it and I was correct.
Do I know that it will be a 5 star when I do? Yes.
Update: just finished it and I was correct.
July 23, 2024
i would write a real review but i don’t want anna dorn to copy-paste it into her next book
April 11, 2024
“Oh how I love reading women�
� This bitch.
� This bitch.
April 16, 2024
Fucking brilliant! Enough said.
December 30, 2023
This book was a ROLLER COASTER. I've never read any other Anna Dorn books (though I see I've had one on my TBR for a while now) and went in totally blind. All I knew is that it was going to be super gay, so obviously I was on board.
Astrid isn't meant to be a particularly likable character, and there were times when I was like, "Eh, this is veering a bit too close to cliche for me" � sardonic, depressed young woman who copes via drugs and alcohol addiction —but then there were little touches that made me LOL and go, "I mean, she ain't wrong!" that made me forget my skepticism and I loved her anyway. The perfume obsession hit me since it's an obsession of mine too —I'm impressionable so I immediately went and ordered a decant of Reine de Nuit. Leave me alone.
Dorn really captured a lot of thoughts that have run through my brain re: queer culture and delivered them in such a way that I kinda felt violated that she was inside my brain like that. To see some of these observations on the page was oddly hilarious but also kinda validating, so I loved that. This is definitely a book that's very Of Its Time in the sense that there are loads of pop culture references that make it feel very current (and will likely feel nostalgic in the future) but I loved it. Fast-paced, f**ked up (starring out since I don't know if my foul mouth is permitted on ŷ), and a whole lot of fun.
Thanks to NetGalley as usual for the ARC!
Astrid isn't meant to be a particularly likable character, and there were times when I was like, "Eh, this is veering a bit too close to cliche for me" � sardonic, depressed young woman who copes via drugs and alcohol addiction —but then there were little touches that made me LOL and go, "I mean, she ain't wrong!" that made me forget my skepticism and I loved her anyway. The perfume obsession hit me since it's an obsession of mine too —I'm impressionable so I immediately went and ordered a decant of Reine de Nuit. Leave me alone.
Dorn really captured a lot of thoughts that have run through my brain re: queer culture and delivered them in such a way that I kinda felt violated that she was inside my brain like that. To see some of these observations on the page was oddly hilarious but also kinda validating, so I loved that. This is definitely a book that's very Of Its Time in the sense that there are loads of pop culture references that make it feel very current (and will likely feel nostalgic in the future) but I loved it. Fast-paced, f**ked up (starring out since I don't know if my foul mouth is permitted on ŷ), and a whole lot of fun.
Thanks to NetGalley as usual for the ARC!
July 1, 2024
This is one of those books I wanted to DNF during the first half but was glad to kept with it. The second half worked better for me. I’m not sure if the first half is just slow or Astrid just grated on me until I got used to her or what but by the end, I was happy to have read it all.
Astrid is written as unlikeable and I for sure did not like her. Some have said that she was charming but I didn’t find anything charming about her, I found her to be insufferable. She’s a writer trying to come up with her next book while also juggling a chaotic love life. However, she hides behind Adderall and alcohol, is narcissistic and wholly unreliable as a narrator.
They say this is a “hilarious nod to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction� but if it was, it went over my head. I’m almost positive I’ve never read anything classified as lesbian pulp. So please go read other reviews for that comparison.
I will say that Astrid’s commentary on Carole (The Price of Salt) did make me laugh. I was very happy to see a lesbian agree with me on how terrible Carole is. Astrid has lots of thoughts and I actually agreed with some of them. I wasn’t a fan of how she always relayed those thoughts but she wasn’t always wrong, although she often times was.
While I did get invested in Astrid and her story, I thought her growth came a little too late and while it didn’t come out of nowhere, it didn’t make sense how quickly it came about. The ending as a whole felt rushed after the slow start.
I don’t think everyone will love this but I do think some will absolutely love it. It’s very much one of those that you have to read and figure it out for yourself.
I received an ARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Astrid is written as unlikeable and I for sure did not like her. Some have said that she was charming but I didn’t find anything charming about her, I found her to be insufferable. She’s a writer trying to come up with her next book while also juggling a chaotic love life. However, she hides behind Adderall and alcohol, is narcissistic and wholly unreliable as a narrator.
They say this is a “hilarious nod to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction� but if it was, it went over my head. I’m almost positive I’ve never read anything classified as lesbian pulp. So please go read other reviews for that comparison.
I will say that Astrid’s commentary on Carole (The Price of Salt) did make me laugh. I was very happy to see a lesbian agree with me on how terrible Carole is. Astrid has lots of thoughts and I actually agreed with some of them. I wasn’t a fan of how she always relayed those thoughts but she wasn’t always wrong, although she often times was.
While I did get invested in Astrid and her story, I thought her growth came a little too late and while it didn’t come out of nowhere, it didn’t make sense how quickly it came about. The ending as a whole felt rushed after the slow start.
I don’t think everyone will love this but I do think some will absolutely love it. It’s very much one of those that you have to read and figure it out for yourself.
I received an ARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 4, 2024
i had a great time with this one! i love me a hot mess of a hot woman with a wholesome ending, gives me hope for my future 🧘♀�
January 16, 2025
anna dorn more like anna BORN to write bangers am i right ladies
January 13, 2024
2.5 rounded up i think.
thank you netgalley for the arc!
this book should’ve worked for me. this book had everything i typically love: gay characters, drugs, sex, intense relationships, discussion of important life values. but it didn’t hit the mark.
the writing is good, but it drags. it’s too current, too much “stan�, “cunty�, contemporary fiction. in the first 120 pages i considered dnf-ing multiple times. and while eventually i actually got into the characters and wanted to read the book, i shouldn’t have had to fight to love it in the first half.
Astrid, although far from perfect, is a great main character. a little dense and stupid, but she is very well fleshed out in this book. very unreliable as a narrator, very easy to hate and then see yourself in a little and then understand. as for every other character…i couldn’t stand. everyone was simply added to further move the story along with giving anything really to the story.
i feel like those who enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation will love this book. The girls and gays who get it will get it. But i’m a girl and gay who didn’t.
thank you netgalley for the arc!
this book should’ve worked for me. this book had everything i typically love: gay characters, drugs, sex, intense relationships, discussion of important life values. but it didn’t hit the mark.
the writing is good, but it drags. it’s too current, too much “stan�, “cunty�, contemporary fiction. in the first 120 pages i considered dnf-ing multiple times. and while eventually i actually got into the characters and wanted to read the book, i shouldn’t have had to fight to love it in the first half.
Astrid, although far from perfect, is a great main character. a little dense and stupid, but she is very well fleshed out in this book. very unreliable as a narrator, very easy to hate and then see yourself in a little and then understand. as for every other character…i couldn’t stand. everyone was simply added to further move the story along with giving anything really to the story.
i feel like those who enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation will love this book. The girls and gays who get it will get it. But i’m a girl and gay who didn’t.
November 16, 2024
i’ll always have a bias towards books that are unapologetically LESBIAN and blunt about being LESBIAN and DYKEY like fr in this shit. bonus points if it’s about messy lesbians. i don’t even mind insufferable lesbians, one of my fav books is dykette but unfortunately, the first like 3/4 of this book was truly an eye roll. like im a chronically online lesbian, hell i agree with some stuff astrid says, i get satire but jesus christ, this book does the cardinal sin with these kinds of modern day satire media where they overdo it with the twitter speak and online discourse. and it just wasn’t funny. if i wanted this id just open some white lesbian’s with a tv pfp twitter account who thinks being fem4fem is an extra layer of oppression. ENOUGH
and its very obvious that’s the worst part of this book because when that stops and give up that terrible “cancelled� subplot (btw, this gave birth to genuinely one of the worst interactions i’ve ever read in the history of lesbian fiction � the karen pool scene), the book got much more enjoyable. overall, a painful read with a blah ending but meh, someone would love this
and its very obvious that’s the worst part of this book because when that stops and give up that terrible “cancelled� subplot (btw, this gave birth to genuinely one of the worst interactions i’ve ever read in the history of lesbian fiction � the karen pool scene), the book got much more enjoyable. overall, a painful read with a blah ending but meh, someone would love this
May 14, 2024
wanted to like this sooo bad. very relatable but i was bored im sorry😵�
July 30, 2024
Perfect for a chronically online audience that likes to turn off the critical-thinking part of their brain and think “it’s not that deep� who want to read an uninspiring book where no one changes.
Bad storytelling. Bad “plot�. Bad character development. The writing style sounds like a compilation of TikTok comment sections. Calling it literary fiction is laughable and degrades the genre. Every other character seemed to unrealistically revolve their lives around the main character. So many of the significant events in the book are unrealistic. Unlikeable main character was very clearly used as a vessel for the author’s questionable commentaries on lesbian politics and cancel culture. As a lesbian I was really pulled in by the book’s description and was excited to read it to find that the perfume motif was underdeveloped for the first 75% of the book and that it had a lot of contempt for masc/butch lesbian culture, despite using d*ke left and right. Main character thinks everyone else to be stupid and shallow while she’s not the brightest either and doesn’t really have a personality outside of her drug/alcohol problem and none of this is ever addressed, which is my main problem with the book. It seems that after the book ends Astrid is vulnerable to slipping back into drug abuse at any point in time, we never see her truly change, she’s still at the whims of the people around her. The half hearted transformation we do read happens in such a way that it makes you wonder why Astrid couldn’t have initiated this at any other point in the book.
Bad storytelling. Bad “plot�. Bad character development. The writing style sounds like a compilation of TikTok comment sections. Calling it literary fiction is laughable and degrades the genre. Every other character seemed to unrealistically revolve their lives around the main character. So many of the significant events in the book are unrealistic. Unlikeable main character was very clearly used as a vessel for the author’s questionable commentaries on lesbian politics and cancel culture. As a lesbian I was really pulled in by the book’s description and was excited to read it to find that the perfume motif was underdeveloped for the first 75% of the book and that it had a lot of contempt for masc/butch lesbian culture, despite using d*ke left and right. Main character thinks everyone else to be stupid and shallow while she’s not the brightest either and doesn’t really have a personality outside of her drug/alcohol problem and none of this is ever addressed, which is my main problem with the book. It seems that after the book ends Astrid is vulnerable to slipping back into drug abuse at any point in time, we never see her truly change, she’s still at the whims of the people around her. The half hearted transformation we do read happens in such a way that it makes you wonder why Astrid couldn’t have initiated this at any other point in the book.
June 20, 2024
did i finish this book in two days…yes. did i like it…not really. i’m all for a complex, imperfect character, but god was astrid annoying. you wait for so long for her to get her shit together, but by the end of the book, you realize that she’s just like that. there’s also this weird obsession with femininity and gender politics that tries to get smoothed over with astrid offering a non binary person a job at the end, but certainly doesn’t make up for the other 200 odd pages of long hair+pink dress=woman mania.
for all the mentions of lesbian pulp and patricia highsmith, the book just didn’t have the pulpy, smutty, adrenaline rush edge to it; nor did it have compelling enough writing to feel like literary fiction.
it just feels like a blah book but with a very cool cover.
the best bits are the descriptions of perfumes, which actually ground the book.
for all the mentions of lesbian pulp and patricia highsmith, the book just didn’t have the pulpy, smutty, adrenaline rush edge to it; nor did it have compelling enough writing to feel like literary fiction.
it just feels like a blah book but with a very cool cover.
the best bits are the descriptions of perfumes, which actually ground the book.
July 15, 2024
someone called this 'my year of rest and relaxation for lesbians' and another person compared the protagonist to Bojack Horseman and i think i have to agree with both of these statements. i hated the protagonist, and the book was a trainwreck i couldn't tear my eyes away from. fans of moshfegh and broder will eat this up, i think
February 6, 2025
3.75 stars - my in person book club book for January
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