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Liquid: A Love Story
The Marriage Plot meets The Idiot in this brilliant debut, which tells the story of a young Muslim scholar stuck in the mire of adjunct professorship in Los Angeles who decides to give up her career in academia and marry rich, committing herself to 100 dates in the course of a single summer.By midsummer reality hits, taking her—and her project—to Tehran.
The unnamed Iranian-Indian American narrator of Liquid, A Love Story has always believed herself to be the smartest person in the room. And from an early age, she and her best friend—a poet-turned-marketer named Adam—have turned their noses up at other peoples� riches. But two years after earning a PhD from UCLA, the narrator is no closer to the middle-class comfort promised to her by the prestige of her fancy, scholarship-funded education and the successes of her immigrant parents. Jokingly, Adam suggests she just marry rich.
But our protagonist, whose PhD thesis compared Eastern and Western views of marriage in film and literature, takes the idea seriously. She makes a spreadsheet and outlines a 100 dates with people of all genders and a marriage proposal in hand by the official start of the fall semester. What follows is a whirlwind summer packed with martinis sans vermouth with the lazy scion of an Eastside construction empire; board games with a butch producer who owns a house in the hills and a newly dented Porsche; a Venmo request from a “socialist� trust fund babe; and an evening spent dodging the halitosis of a maxillofacial surgeon from Orange County.
Only a tragedy in Tehran and an overdue familial reckoning can alter the narrator’s increasingly manic trajectory and force her to confront the contradictions of her life in Los Angeles. And as doubts begin to creep in about her marriage project, it suddenly seems possible that the eligible prospect she’s been looking for has been beneath her nose the entire time.
For fans of Kaveh Akbar and Elif Batuman, Liquid, A Love Story delivers a modern taleof romance, loss, and belonginglike no other. Mariam Rahmani’s gorgeous high-wire satire explodes off the page with verve and originality in this riveting spin on the classic romantic comedy.
The unnamed Iranian-Indian American narrator of Liquid, A Love Story has always believed herself to be the smartest person in the room. And from an early age, she and her best friend—a poet-turned-marketer named Adam—have turned their noses up at other peoples� riches. But two years after earning a PhD from UCLA, the narrator is no closer to the middle-class comfort promised to her by the prestige of her fancy, scholarship-funded education and the successes of her immigrant parents. Jokingly, Adam suggests she just marry rich.
But our protagonist, whose PhD thesis compared Eastern and Western views of marriage in film and literature, takes the idea seriously. She makes a spreadsheet and outlines a 100 dates with people of all genders and a marriage proposal in hand by the official start of the fall semester. What follows is a whirlwind summer packed with martinis sans vermouth with the lazy scion of an Eastside construction empire; board games with a butch producer who owns a house in the hills and a newly dented Porsche; a Venmo request from a “socialist� trust fund babe; and an evening spent dodging the halitosis of a maxillofacial surgeon from Orange County.
Only a tragedy in Tehran and an overdue familial reckoning can alter the narrator’s increasingly manic trajectory and force her to confront the contradictions of her life in Los Angeles. And as doubts begin to creep in about her marriage project, it suddenly seems possible that the eligible prospect she’s been looking for has been beneath her nose the entire time.
For fans of Kaveh Akbar and Elif Batuman, Liquid, A Love Story delivers a modern taleof romance, loss, and belonginglike no other. Mariam Rahmani’s gorgeous high-wire satire explodes off the page with verve and originality in this riveting spin on the classic romantic comedy.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 11, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
February 22, 2025
The title of this book is Liquid, A Love Story. And yet, I left this book wondering what the actual love story in this book was. It certainly doesn't read or finish like a romance. Perhaps it is actually about falling in love with yourself? But this feels far too cliche.
Liquid is a book written in 2 parts. The first part reads a bit like a romcom. Our unnamed Iranian-Indian-American narrator is fed up with her lack of future in academia and decides to go on 100 dates to find a rich husband. Cue a lot of chaos and hilarity. Abruptly, the tone is the book shifts in part 2, as our narrators dating experiment is interrupted by family tragedy, and she immediately goes to Tehran. Cue a lot of exploration of belonging, family dynamics, culture, grief, and even a few more dates.
The writing in this book is beautiful. It's lyrical and poetic and feels fitting for someone with a PhD in literature. The book is very satirical, often funny, sometimes thoughtful, and also a mess. The MC is a mess. At times, she is deeply unlikable. Obviously, their is a level of entitlement and desperation that comes with trying to marry for the money. She does not do it in a cute way, but rather, leans into the problematic nature of everything. Other times, her commentary on the world around her is profound. Despite not knowing her name, the MCs characterization was really well done. The messiness of it all made her feel very real.
My favorite part of the book was the second part. I think the most common criticism this book will get is the jarring change in tone. It goes from a cynical and satirical rom-com straight into grief and family dynamics. Personally, I loved abrupt change. The reality is that you are not eased into a family member having a heart attack in real life. In fact, it is the abruptness, the distinct before and after, that makes any sort of sudden onset illness so difficult. It will drag you out of whatever life you are in with no warning, and things will not be the same. There is a level of authenticity and honesty in this book that feels so real. I had to keep reminding myself that this is fiction, not a memoir.
Especially after moving to Tehran, the book really dives into our narrator's family and culture. There are many heavy things our unserious narrator begins to process: the lack of basic medical equipment in Iran thanks to the sanctions, the overt racism and colorism her Indian mother experiences, the lack of rights for women, her own place of belonging as an Iranian-Indian-American bisexual woman, her abandonment issues due to parents who both weren't there for her, and grief. I enjoyed the character ark of our narrator as she tried to process everything around her.
The ending of this book was, unfortunately, anticlimactic and disappointing. It felt so obvious throughout the book that I thought, surely, I'm missing something. I understand it is meant to be ironic. Despite our narrator going through some stuff, she didn't magically evolve into a different person. She's still cynical, unserious, and mess, but end the book with a bit more understanding of herself and what she wants.
One last note on the narration: this book is self-narrated by the author. While this often doesn't work well, I thought the author did a pretty good job. There were a few points in the book where I felt the narration could have been a little more emotional, but most of it worked for me.
Overall, I enjoyed this. I would recommend it to folks who enjoy more satirical litfic, or folks who enjoyed books like You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hatchette Audio for an ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Liquid is a book written in 2 parts. The first part reads a bit like a romcom. Our unnamed Iranian-Indian-American narrator is fed up with her lack of future in academia and decides to go on 100 dates to find a rich husband. Cue a lot of chaos and hilarity. Abruptly, the tone is the book shifts in part 2, as our narrators dating experiment is interrupted by family tragedy, and she immediately goes to Tehran. Cue a lot of exploration of belonging, family dynamics, culture, grief, and even a few more dates.
The writing in this book is beautiful. It's lyrical and poetic and feels fitting for someone with a PhD in literature. The book is very satirical, often funny, sometimes thoughtful, and also a mess. The MC is a mess. At times, she is deeply unlikable. Obviously, their is a level of entitlement and desperation that comes with trying to marry for the money. She does not do it in a cute way, but rather, leans into the problematic nature of everything. Other times, her commentary on the world around her is profound. Despite not knowing her name, the MCs characterization was really well done. The messiness of it all made her feel very real.
My favorite part of the book was the second part. I think the most common criticism this book will get is the jarring change in tone. It goes from a cynical and satirical rom-com straight into grief and family dynamics. Personally, I loved abrupt change. The reality is that you are not eased into a family member having a heart attack in real life. In fact, it is the abruptness, the distinct before and after, that makes any sort of sudden onset illness so difficult. It will drag you out of whatever life you are in with no warning, and things will not be the same. There is a level of authenticity and honesty in this book that feels so real. I had to keep reminding myself that this is fiction, not a memoir.
Especially after moving to Tehran, the book really dives into our narrator's family and culture. There are many heavy things our unserious narrator begins to process: the lack of basic medical equipment in Iran thanks to the sanctions, the overt racism and colorism her Indian mother experiences, the lack of rights for women, her own place of belonging as an Iranian-Indian-American bisexual woman, her abandonment issues due to parents who both weren't there for her, and grief. I enjoyed the character ark of our narrator as she tried to process everything around her.
The ending of this book was, unfortunately, anticlimactic and disappointing. It felt so obvious throughout the book that I thought, surely, I'm missing something. I understand it is meant to be ironic. Despite our narrator going through some stuff, she didn't magically evolve into a different person. She's still cynical, unserious, and mess, but end the book with a bit more understanding of herself and what she wants.
One last note on the narration: this book is self-narrated by the author. While this often doesn't work well, I thought the author did a pretty good job. There were a few points in the book where I felt the narration could have been a little more emotional, but most of it worked for me.
Overall, I enjoyed this. I would recommend it to folks who enjoy more satirical litfic, or folks who enjoyed books like You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hatchette Audio for an ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
February 23, 2025
The first half of this book has more vibes than plot. Thankfully, the narrator is really interesting. She talks about her PhD dissertation on the introduction of love as an aspect of marriage vs. arranged marriage. She reflects on her experience living in LA as a half-Iranian woman and growing up Muslim in Michigan amidst 9/11. She reflects on her friendships, past relationships, and media that have impacted her understanding of love. There are a lot of interesting descriptions of academia and cultural analysis in this book. Los Angeles is like a character in the book, so if you’re from there there will be a lot of references and street names that you’ll recognize. Her rundowns of the dates she goes on bring a lot of humor.
The book takes a more serious turn halfway through when she travels to Tehran to care for her father after his heart attack. This section of the book is heavy but beautifully written. She reevaluates her relationship with money, with love, with her friends and family, and with her career.
I listened to the audiobook which was wonderfully narrated by the author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The book takes a more serious turn halfway through when she travels to Tehran to care for her father after his heart attack. This section of the book is heavy but beautifully written. She reevaluates her relationship with money, with love, with her friends and family, and with her career.
I listened to the audiobook which was wonderfully narrated by the author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 8, 2025
Liquid: a love story.
Um. WHAT love story?
This one was not for me. I thought the blurb sounded so cute. This is definitely LitFic and probably is more meaningful to an Angeleno. I found it a bit boring and tedious.
The middle of the book has a spreadsheet of all of her dates� names and what she remembers about them and this did make me laugh out loud in several parts.
Um. WHAT love story?
This one was not for me. I thought the blurb sounded so cute. This is definitely LitFic and probably is more meaningful to an Angeleno. I found it a bit boring and tedious.
The middle of the book has a spreadsheet of all of her dates� names and what she remembers about them and this did make me laugh out loud in several parts.
Read
March 6, 2025The Iranian-Indian main character of Liquid completed a PhD comparing Eastern and Western views of marriage two years ago, but she hasn't been able to find a good job since. When her best friend Adam jokingly suggests she just marry rich, she turns her analytical mind to the task, making a spreadsheet and a plan to go on 100 dates with people of all genders until she gets a tempting proposal. But after a tragedy unfolds in Tehran, she's forced to confront the realities of her plan—and whether she's been overlooking the love that was there this whole time.
—Danika Ellis,
—Danika Ellis,
March 15, 2025
The editors of Book of the Month categorized this book as “high-brow�, but I’ll be more blunt and just call it pretentious. The writing is just that, and the main character is an unlikable snob. I’d hoped I could tolerate this because of the promise of a spreadsheet system playing a secondary role, but I gave up after 90 pages of annoyance.
Want to read
February 10, 2025i can't get over the cover ohmygod!
March 12, 2025
5�
Absolutely wonderful!
There are times when you read a book that is deeply introspective; there are books that discuss important social, political and economic issues; there are books that have plots that leave you intrigued and captivated by the characters. This book accomplishes all of those things.
What truly sold this book for me was how you can tell the author put in time and effort with this work. Artistic, lyrical, yet also scholarly and intellectual as well. Huge congratulations to Mariam Rahmani for having an absolute banger of a debut. I'm an official fan, and look forward to what she puts out next.
(Side note: if you're in academia, or considering getting a job at a university, maybe read this book first and see how you feel 😅).
Absolutely wonderful!
There are times when you read a book that is deeply introspective; there are books that discuss important social, political and economic issues; there are books that have plots that leave you intrigued and captivated by the characters. This book accomplishes all of those things.
What truly sold this book for me was how you can tell the author put in time and effort with this work. Artistic, lyrical, yet also scholarly and intellectual as well. Huge congratulations to Mariam Rahmani for having an absolute banger of a debut. I'm an official fan, and look forward to what she puts out next.
(Side note: if you're in academia, or considering getting a job at a university, maybe read this book first and see how you feel 😅).
March 8, 2025
There were some good one-liners and references, but I found the narrator quite annoying. The writing was smart, but not for me
March 15, 2025
Oh I wanted to this to work for me so bad. I thought I understood what was trying to be done with this story but I'm not sure I actually do. I've seen in a few other reviews people say things like "what love story??" and I 100% agree. I cannot find one.
I'll start with the good, because I do have a few very important positives to this one:
-The spreadsheet of dates and traits about them was hilarious. Literally made me laugh out loud
-The insights about growing up Muslim and living in the US amidst the 9/11 crisis and even still to this day was so valuable, heartbreaking, and a perspective that I genuinely hope to read more of in the future. I could tell that the author poured a lot of their heart and soul into writing these things, and it doesn't go unnoticed/unappreciated. It also made me realize an unintentional gap in my reading, as I haven't read many books with characters of similar cultures and upbringings, and I will definitely be seeking out more.
-The audiobook narrator did an excellent job. While I had actually already purchased a physical copy of this book myself, I was provided a copy of the audiobook by the publisher. I almost entirely read this one listening to the audiobook and following along in the physical book, and my reading experience was definitely better for it.
-There were some absolutely beautiful and very thought provoking quotes in here. Many I cannot say due to spoilers, however a few that are early on/spoiler-free:
"There had been a single hiccup in the sentence between me and the handsome stranger, an em dash in a comma's place: he'd paused when I reached to unbutton his jeans. Clearly I wasn't the woman he thought I was, and this was not a woman's place."
"Know thyself. It seemed to me now that this, if anything, had been whispered in Eve's ear at Eden, this had caused humanity's fall. Each day on earth this edict drove us, self-knowledge an asymptote that only death would collapse."
"In my dissertation--in what, against increasingly bad odds, a part of me still hoped would be my first book--I had waged a critique of what scholars called "companionate marriage," aka the modern concept of liking the person you marry. Of being both friends and lovers. Before that, marriage was a contract. In both the West and the Islamic world, you traded goods, not feelings. Women offered sex and off-spring: men, food and shelter. (At least in theory. When the woman was the wealthy, the guy was just--around.)"
Now for the negatives:
-I don't understand the goal of this book or what story exactly was trying to be told. My first sit down to read this book I read the first ~120 pages, and when I stepped away my fiancé asked me what my book was about. My response? "I... am honestly not really sure." The second half had a bit more of a clear storyline, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more for that.
-The tone shift between the different sections of the story really threw off the flow and the pacing to me.
-I never did feel attached to any single character, probably as a result of the above.
-I feel like the "A Love Story" part of the title is unbelievably misleading and pretty much there to draw people in. And obviously I get wanting to draw people in... but I do feel like there also has to be some truth to it.
-The writing in this was bizarrely casual to the point of trying too hard. Multiple times things were described in a way that threw something very casual/oversharing into it, or the main character would have a thought but it would be said that she had this thought while using the bathroom. Literally. For example:
"Wiping my ass, I contemplated whether he hadn't been planning to propose to Julia tonight"
"It clung to me like the sand that stuck to my pubes for days, materializing on clean sheets and the wet shower floor."
It read like oversharing-with-your-bestie narration, except I didn't feel like we were besties. I just felt annoyed and confused about why this was necessary. 😅
I'm really intrigued to read more reviews as they come in on this one, as I'm still not fully sure what to make of it. For me for now: 2 stars.
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio | Algonquin Books and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!
I'll start with the good, because I do have a few very important positives to this one:
-The spreadsheet of dates and traits about them was hilarious. Literally made me laugh out loud
-The insights about growing up Muslim and living in the US amidst the 9/11 crisis and even still to this day was so valuable, heartbreaking, and a perspective that I genuinely hope to read more of in the future. I could tell that the author poured a lot of their heart and soul into writing these things, and it doesn't go unnoticed/unappreciated. It also made me realize an unintentional gap in my reading, as I haven't read many books with characters of similar cultures and upbringings, and I will definitely be seeking out more.
-The audiobook narrator did an excellent job. While I had actually already purchased a physical copy of this book myself, I was provided a copy of the audiobook by the publisher. I almost entirely read this one listening to the audiobook and following along in the physical book, and my reading experience was definitely better for it.
-There were some absolutely beautiful and very thought provoking quotes in here. Many I cannot say due to spoilers, however a few that are early on/spoiler-free:
"There had been a single hiccup in the sentence between me and the handsome stranger, an em dash in a comma's place: he'd paused when I reached to unbutton his jeans. Clearly I wasn't the woman he thought I was, and this was not a woman's place."
"Know thyself. It seemed to me now that this, if anything, had been whispered in Eve's ear at Eden, this had caused humanity's fall. Each day on earth this edict drove us, self-knowledge an asymptote that only death would collapse."
"In my dissertation--in what, against increasingly bad odds, a part of me still hoped would be my first book--I had waged a critique of what scholars called "companionate marriage," aka the modern concept of liking the person you marry. Of being both friends and lovers. Before that, marriage was a contract. In both the West and the Islamic world, you traded goods, not feelings. Women offered sex and off-spring: men, food and shelter. (At least in theory. When the woman was the wealthy, the guy was just--around.)"
Now for the negatives:
-I don't understand the goal of this book or what story exactly was trying to be told. My first sit down to read this book I read the first ~120 pages, and when I stepped away my fiancé asked me what my book was about. My response? "I... am honestly not really sure." The second half had a bit more of a clear storyline, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more for that.
-The tone shift between the different sections of the story really threw off the flow and the pacing to me.
-I never did feel attached to any single character, probably as a result of the above.
-I feel like the "A Love Story" part of the title is unbelievably misleading and pretty much there to draw people in. And obviously I get wanting to draw people in... but I do feel like there also has to be some truth to it.
-The writing in this was bizarrely casual to the point of trying too hard. Multiple times things were described in a way that threw something very casual/oversharing into it, or the main character would have a thought but it would be said that she had this thought while using the bathroom. Literally. For example:
"Wiping my ass, I contemplated whether he hadn't been planning to propose to Julia tonight"
"It clung to me like the sand that stuck to my pubes for days, materializing on clean sheets and the wet shower floor."
It read like oversharing-with-your-bestie narration, except I didn't feel like we were besties. I just felt annoyed and confused about why this was necessary. 😅
I'm really intrigued to read more reviews as they come in on this one, as I'm still not fully sure what to make of it. For me for now: 2 stars.
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio | Algonquin Books and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!
March 28, 2025
Book of the Month sadly let me down with this one.
March 24, 2025
My Selling Pitch:
Brat summer meta fiction that's part intentionally overwritten academic pretension, part rom-com retelling, and part family drama. An absolute mess of styles that’s a vocab workout and a scathing social critique, and I kinda sorta loved it.
Pre-reading:
I don’t know why, but this book gets my 5 star senses tingling. I'm hoping for another Margo’s Got Money Troubles. I love messy girl fiction.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
Quick, quick, tell me something awful. Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy🎶
It’s such a weird anxious thing about dating when you're that weird in between size of like 12-16. Like you know I’m fat, right? You're good with that? Because you're not fat enough that it’s so obvious it’s a given that they're cool with it if they're speaking to you. (Odd comment from her about her waist size given that she's a runner she's a track star with abs.)
sfumato
That’s pretty body shaming. That comment really just made me frown.
These sentences are chewy clauses. I need some breakup with pithy short ones.
I mean, I agree that the world largely props men up too much, but they deserve compliments too. Life is hard. People are mean. Everyone deserves to be soft sometimes.
Bise
This is reading incredibly misogynistic right now.
Girl is Y just you? Like - (Homegirl got her PHD for pretty heckin� dumb.)
What weird gymnastics are you doing that your foot winds up in the toilet bowl? How is that cleaner? Line the seat with paper like the rest of us, and get over yourself. (Also posh places def hire cleaners. If they can charge a grand for dinner, someone’s scrubbing the toilet regularly. Don't be so precious.)
Also, I don’t think you can be that pressed about sanitation when you’re literally wearing someone else’s shoes. (Homegirl goes BOWLING. BOWLING. Don't talk to me about germs.)
Red peep toes with black tights is a choice-
American Psycho will have me forever gagged for a business card scene.
ayatollah
I feel like this wants to be Moshfegh ennui and is failing horribly.
Where is the appropriated catchphrase? Is it love is forever because that’s not a gay thing? Am I being dumb dumb and missing something obvious?
Girl, what do you mean no dogs? If I didn’t dislike this main character already, I really wouldn’t like her now.
Detritus sin
Had to google CPT. Not a fan of that term, but I also recognize that I’m getting offended on behalf of someone else instead of letting them tell me if they are or aren’t offended by it. But it still makes me feel icky.
anodyne
This girl‘s outfits baffle me.
Have I mentioned extremely unfeminist? (They had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie.)
lacuna
Rom com serial killer sin
This girl sucks!
…that’s very American Psycho. And that's an olddddd narrative. I know there’s the whole history repeats itself and there’s only like seven stories in the whole world and everything else is just a variation on them� but like it still blows my mind that these same stories have been told over and over and over again and women are still getting shafted.
I’m going to have to break down and read or watch Pride and Prejudice eventually. (And Harry Met Sally considering I keep accidentally reading retellings of it lol.)
metonymized
This book is a vocab workout.
odalisque
She's awful.
argot
It’s reminding me of the Kate Goldbeck book You, Again.
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but the only thing I’m getting from her dissertation essentially is that the US has pushed marriage based on love rather than an exchange of labor where women are only valued for their sexual bodies and ability to reproduce and that’s BAD because that latter definition is just as valid. Because HARD fuckin� pass, honey. And then her dissertation is also saying that the love definition pushes the idea that marriage has to be between a man and woman and that the US gets to dictate how all men and all women should act. And I just don't agree with that at all. (Devil’s advocate of like it’s just too broad a statement because there's such regional and age demographic shifts and such polar political beliefs and ideologies going on in America right now.)
It seems like this is just another gender bent when Harry Met Sally retelling. Still haven’t seen that movie so I’m just operating on what I've gleaned from the retellings, but like they all have that woman doesn't believe in love but man does angle.
endogamy
I don’t get this book’s argument because she’s arguing people are kept to their own cohort for falling in love, but then is actively using dating apps that give you access to anyone. (And like sure the algorithm, but social media exposes you to way more people than it limits you from.)
Detritus sin again
tautology
Like I’m enjoying but I am WORKING to read this book.
This is so West Coast, and I’m so East Coast, and it's odd because their story starts in New York, but we don't get to see or feel that part of it. It's firmly Californian.
emeritus
This shit juicy. Like I could do without her academia overlay. I could just have them be friends with their toxic, artsy little romance. I’m so into this part of the book. I like her family drama too, but I don’t like this weird lens the marriage quest slapped on it. I feel like there was a way to write that part less obnoxiously.
Fun in funerals babyyy
How do you take women’s studies and still call it a wife beater?
Her mom’s a boss. That ice cream scene isn't easily highlightable to transcribe into a journal but like phewwww.
The writing is so different and more personal now in this back half of the book. I am enjoying it so much more.
Catalexis
Hemistich
I'd count that as the title drop.
Her mom is the absolute coolest lady.
I think it’s so interesting how this book has now also come to the conclusion that the first part of this book doesn’t work. It’s very meta.
It’s like Death of the Author with the family drama and metaness, but this book is actually good.
Is she not gonna wind up with Adam? I like Adam so much. I would be upset if she didn't.
Didn’t I just read that analogy in the Kate Goldbeck book? I know I just read it. (I was right because I’m a fucking legend and I literally opened this book and said this reads a lot like You, Again.)
vitrines
Oh, can you be you, again? It’s weirdly the same book in a different font haha.
I liked it.
Post-reading:
There’s not many books where I go in anticipating a five star just to have my hopes dashed in the first third only to fall in love with the book by the end.
It's an absolute mess of styles. The first 1/3 reads like wannabe Moshfegh ennui, My Year of Rest and Relaxation brat girl summer with alienating academic pretension. And then it drifts into rom-com territory with a hopelessly likable love interest and devolves into juicy, messy self-sabotage, and then it’s an endearingly earnest family drama with such a cutting feminist edge to it. And it’s meta and self-aware and blatantly calls itself out for the fact that the first half of this book is aggrandizing and overly intellectual and soulless and wrong, and it's just kinda brill.
But I really don’t think it’s gonna work for everyone.
I feel weird saying that this book has a niche audience when it even acknowledges within the text that art without an audience struggles and narratives shouldn't just have to be commercial successes to be valuable, but I do think this book is going to be hard pressed to reach not only the right audience, but an audience that will stick with it through a pointedly off-putting beginning. I'm that audience though.
It’s also laughably odd to me to be like this is You, Again but in a different font because the books have such wildly different flavors from each other and are gonna attract very different audiences but like they are kinda sorta the same book.
I don't know man, I really liked it. It's not a five. That first third really needs an edit and there's some clunky writing throughout but then there's also an awful lot of quotable gems. I would've liked to spend more time with Adam and Julia. That drama was the highlight of this book. Every time they were on page it popped and the dialogue sizzled. I wanted pages and pages more of it. The chemistry was palpable.
It was so interesting to watch this main character develop because she’s very unlikable when you meet her, and then you slowly learn why she doesn't believe in love, and why she is willing to sort of throw feminism away in favor of ease. And then you watch that dissertation crumble, and there is such a vicious feminist howl that comes through this book from her mother’s storyline that is so quiet and understated but so loud and effective. I think I’m gonna think about that ice cream scene for a long time.
The book’s brat. Will definitely pick up the author again. Kinda wish there was more I could read right now.
Who should read this:
Messy girl fiction fans
People who liked You, Again for being toxic and messy
Diverse perspective lit fic readers
Feminists
Ideal reading time:
Summer- specifically sticky August heat waves
Do I want to reread this:
Maybe? In a few years? I think it's gonna stick in my brain for a while.
Would I buy this:
YUP.
Similar books:
* You, Again by Kate Goldbeck-I don’t know how to tell you this is the same book in a different font, but it is. Rom com retelling, queer
* Dyscalculia by Camonghne Felix-messy girl lit fic
* My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh-messy girl lit fic, social commentary
* Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor-(although I hate this book so I cannot recommend that you read it) meta fiction, family drama, sci fi dystopian
* Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter-satire, dystopian, lit fic, social commentary
* Private Rites by Julia Armfield-lit fic, dystopian horror, queer
* Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe-messy girl lit fic, family drama, social commentary
* Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson-messy girl lit fic, family drama, contemporary romance
* Soft Core by Brittany Newell-messy girl lit fic, queer
* There's Going to be Trouble by Jen Silvermen-lit fic, family drama, social commentary
* The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden-grief memoir that mixes academia with family drama
* Interesting Facts About Space by Emily R. Austin-lit fic character study, contemporary romance, queer, cozy mystery, family drama
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly-lit fic, family drama, queer romance
* Come and Get It by Kiley Reid-lit fic character study, queer, academia, social commentary
Brat summer meta fiction that's part intentionally overwritten academic pretension, part rom-com retelling, and part family drama. An absolute mess of styles that’s a vocab workout and a scathing social critique, and I kinda sorta loved it.
Pre-reading:
I don’t know why, but this book gets my 5 star senses tingling. I'm hoping for another Margo’s Got Money Troubles. I love messy girl fiction.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
Quick, quick, tell me something awful. Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy🎶
It’s such a weird anxious thing about dating when you're that weird in between size of like 12-16. Like you know I’m fat, right? You're good with that? Because you're not fat enough that it’s so obvious it’s a given that they're cool with it if they're speaking to you. (Odd comment from her about her waist size given that she's a runner she's a track star with abs.)
sfumato
That’s pretty body shaming. That comment really just made me frown.
These sentences are chewy clauses. I need some breakup with pithy short ones.
I mean, I agree that the world largely props men up too much, but they deserve compliments too. Life is hard. People are mean. Everyone deserves to be soft sometimes.
Bise
This is reading incredibly misogynistic right now.
Girl is Y just you? Like - (Homegirl got her PHD for pretty heckin� dumb.)
What weird gymnastics are you doing that your foot winds up in the toilet bowl? How is that cleaner? Line the seat with paper like the rest of us, and get over yourself. (Also posh places def hire cleaners. If they can charge a grand for dinner, someone’s scrubbing the toilet regularly. Don't be so precious.)
Also, I don’t think you can be that pressed about sanitation when you’re literally wearing someone else’s shoes. (Homegirl goes BOWLING. BOWLING. Don't talk to me about germs.)
Red peep toes with black tights is a choice-
American Psycho will have me forever gagged for a business card scene.
ayatollah
I feel like this wants to be Moshfegh ennui and is failing horribly.
Where is the appropriated catchphrase? Is it love is forever because that’s not a gay thing? Am I being dumb dumb and missing something obvious?
Girl, what do you mean no dogs? If I didn’t dislike this main character already, I really wouldn’t like her now.
Detritus sin
Had to google CPT. Not a fan of that term, but I also recognize that I’m getting offended on behalf of someone else instead of letting them tell me if they are or aren’t offended by it. But it still makes me feel icky.
anodyne
This girl‘s outfits baffle me.
Have I mentioned extremely unfeminist? (They had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie.)
lacuna
Rom com serial killer sin
This girl sucks!
…that’s very American Psycho. And that's an olddddd narrative. I know there’s the whole history repeats itself and there’s only like seven stories in the whole world and everything else is just a variation on them� but like it still blows my mind that these same stories have been told over and over and over again and women are still getting shafted.
I’m going to have to break down and read or watch Pride and Prejudice eventually. (And Harry Met Sally considering I keep accidentally reading retellings of it lol.)
metonymized
This book is a vocab workout.
odalisque
She's awful.
argot
It’s reminding me of the Kate Goldbeck book You, Again.
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but the only thing I’m getting from her dissertation essentially is that the US has pushed marriage based on love rather than an exchange of labor where women are only valued for their sexual bodies and ability to reproduce and that’s BAD because that latter definition is just as valid. Because HARD fuckin� pass, honey. And then her dissertation is also saying that the love definition pushes the idea that marriage has to be between a man and woman and that the US gets to dictate how all men and all women should act. And I just don't agree with that at all. (Devil’s advocate of like it’s just too broad a statement because there's such regional and age demographic shifts and such polar political beliefs and ideologies going on in America right now.)
It seems like this is just another gender bent when Harry Met Sally retelling. Still haven’t seen that movie so I’m just operating on what I've gleaned from the retellings, but like they all have that woman doesn't believe in love but man does angle.
endogamy
I don’t get this book’s argument because she’s arguing people are kept to their own cohort for falling in love, but then is actively using dating apps that give you access to anyone. (And like sure the algorithm, but social media exposes you to way more people than it limits you from.)
Detritus sin again
tautology
Like I’m enjoying but I am WORKING to read this book.
This is so West Coast, and I’m so East Coast, and it's odd because their story starts in New York, but we don't get to see or feel that part of it. It's firmly Californian.
emeritus
This shit juicy. Like I could do without her academia overlay. I could just have them be friends with their toxic, artsy little romance. I’m so into this part of the book. I like her family drama too, but I don’t like this weird lens the marriage quest slapped on it. I feel like there was a way to write that part less obnoxiously.
Fun in funerals babyyy
How do you take women’s studies and still call it a wife beater?
Her mom’s a boss. That ice cream scene isn't easily highlightable to transcribe into a journal but like phewwww.
The writing is so different and more personal now in this back half of the book. I am enjoying it so much more.
Catalexis
Hemistich
I'd count that as the title drop.
Her mom is the absolute coolest lady.
I think it’s so interesting how this book has now also come to the conclusion that the first part of this book doesn’t work. It’s very meta.
It’s like Death of the Author with the family drama and metaness, but this book is actually good.
Is she not gonna wind up with Adam? I like Adam so much. I would be upset if she didn't.
Didn’t I just read that analogy in the Kate Goldbeck book? I know I just read it. (I was right because I’m a fucking legend and I literally opened this book and said this reads a lot like You, Again.)
vitrines
Oh, can you be you, again? It’s weirdly the same book in a different font haha.
I liked it.
Post-reading:
There’s not many books where I go in anticipating a five star just to have my hopes dashed in the first third only to fall in love with the book by the end.
It's an absolute mess of styles. The first 1/3 reads like wannabe Moshfegh ennui, My Year of Rest and Relaxation brat girl summer with alienating academic pretension. And then it drifts into rom-com territory with a hopelessly likable love interest and devolves into juicy, messy self-sabotage, and then it’s an endearingly earnest family drama with such a cutting feminist edge to it. And it’s meta and self-aware and blatantly calls itself out for the fact that the first half of this book is aggrandizing and overly intellectual and soulless and wrong, and it's just kinda brill.
But I really don’t think it’s gonna work for everyone.
I feel weird saying that this book has a niche audience when it even acknowledges within the text that art without an audience struggles and narratives shouldn't just have to be commercial successes to be valuable, but I do think this book is going to be hard pressed to reach not only the right audience, but an audience that will stick with it through a pointedly off-putting beginning. I'm that audience though.
It’s also laughably odd to me to be like this is You, Again but in a different font because the books have such wildly different flavors from each other and are gonna attract very different audiences but like they are kinda sorta the same book.
I don't know man, I really liked it. It's not a five. That first third really needs an edit and there's some clunky writing throughout but then there's also an awful lot of quotable gems. I would've liked to spend more time with Adam and Julia. That drama was the highlight of this book. Every time they were on page it popped and the dialogue sizzled. I wanted pages and pages more of it. The chemistry was palpable.
It was so interesting to watch this main character develop because she’s very unlikable when you meet her, and then you slowly learn why she doesn't believe in love, and why she is willing to sort of throw feminism away in favor of ease. And then you watch that dissertation crumble, and there is such a vicious feminist howl that comes through this book from her mother’s storyline that is so quiet and understated but so loud and effective. I think I’m gonna think about that ice cream scene for a long time.
The book’s brat. Will definitely pick up the author again. Kinda wish there was more I could read right now.
Who should read this:
Messy girl fiction fans
People who liked You, Again for being toxic and messy
Diverse perspective lit fic readers
Feminists
Ideal reading time:
Summer- specifically sticky August heat waves
Do I want to reread this:
Maybe? In a few years? I think it's gonna stick in my brain for a while.
Would I buy this:
YUP.
Similar books:
* You, Again by Kate Goldbeck-I don’t know how to tell you this is the same book in a different font, but it is. Rom com retelling, queer
* Dyscalculia by Camonghne Felix-messy girl lit fic
* My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh-messy girl lit fic, social commentary
* Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor-(although I hate this book so I cannot recommend that you read it) meta fiction, family drama, sci fi dystopian
* Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter-satire, dystopian, lit fic, social commentary
* Private Rites by Julia Armfield-lit fic, dystopian horror, queer
* Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe-messy girl lit fic, family drama, social commentary
* Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson-messy girl lit fic, family drama, contemporary romance
* Soft Core by Brittany Newell-messy girl lit fic, queer
* There's Going to be Trouble by Jen Silvermen-lit fic, family drama, social commentary
* The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden-grief memoir that mixes academia with family drama
* Interesting Facts About Space by Emily R. Austin-lit fic character study, contemporary romance, queer, cozy mystery, family drama
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly-lit fic, family drama, queer romance
* Come and Get It by Kiley Reid-lit fic character study, queer, academia, social commentary
March 24, 2025
I gave it a go. The first few pages made me laugh. Also there's a character presented who shows an interesting viewpoint on white privilege within art.
But for me the book quickly turned into another academic-writes-a-novel sort of story. This sounds cynical. Many academically-inclined novelists have written great books. But there's a flavour of trendy literary fiction that I'm starting to feel alienated by, and that's this kind: the protagonist is from a wealthy background, seems fashionably jaded and a little bit lost. Plus almost every paragraph is infused with decontextualised cultural/local references, only a handful of which I feel the average reader like myself will recognise or appreciate.
I remember at uni studying a few of these types of novels, a couple of which I liked. But well out of formal education now, I'd like something more than a style of book for an author to splurge their learning to impress the reader. It's self-serving and I feel that's what a story teller will be wary of.
Does the story get better?
I'll read the blandest story if the narrator is good.
But for me the book quickly turned into another academic-writes-a-novel sort of story. This sounds cynical. Many academically-inclined novelists have written great books. But there's a flavour of trendy literary fiction that I'm starting to feel alienated by, and that's this kind: the protagonist is from a wealthy background, seems fashionably jaded and a little bit lost. Plus almost every paragraph is infused with decontextualised cultural/local references, only a handful of which I feel the average reader like myself will recognise or appreciate.
I remember at uni studying a few of these types of novels, a couple of which I liked. But well out of formal education now, I'd like something more than a style of book for an author to splurge their learning to impress the reader. It's self-serving and I feel that's what a story teller will be wary of.
Does the story get better?
I'll read the blandest story if the narrator is good.
March 23, 2025
was i just catfished by a book? | 2.5 stars
March 17, 2025
second half was better than the first but neither were good
March 13, 2025
An enjoyable if flawed read.
Let’s start with the good stuff: i loved Rahmani’s fluid, introspective writing, and she gives us a heroine who is as easy to root for as they come. I also loved the protagonist’s discussion of her academic work and how she tried to apply it to her personal life.
Where this book falls a bit short is mostly about the jarring tone shift mid-novel that leaves one feeling like they’ve read two books about the same character written by two different authors with two very different agendas for both message and tone. Instead of a natural progression into heavier material, the book just makes a giant, discordant leap in tone and subject matter, and it doesn’t work as a cohesive story.
The book also isn’t truly funny, which makes the publisher’s summary a bit misleading. The summary also leans heavily on the first half of the book (the superior half, in my opinion), which makes the leap the second half takes even more jarring and inapt.
Still, I love the way Rahmani writes inner monologue, as well as the way she ruminates on the difficulty of squaring disparate cultural values, be they your own, your parents�, or your broader world’s.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Let’s start with the good stuff: i loved Rahmani’s fluid, introspective writing, and she gives us a heroine who is as easy to root for as they come. I also loved the protagonist’s discussion of her academic work and how she tried to apply it to her personal life.
Where this book falls a bit short is mostly about the jarring tone shift mid-novel that leaves one feeling like they’ve read two books about the same character written by two different authors with two very different agendas for both message and tone. Instead of a natural progression into heavier material, the book just makes a giant, discordant leap in tone and subject matter, and it doesn’t work as a cohesive story.
The book also isn’t truly funny, which makes the publisher’s summary a bit misleading. The summary also leans heavily on the first half of the book (the superior half, in my opinion), which makes the leap the second half takes even more jarring and inapt.
Still, I love the way Rahmani writes inner monologue, as well as the way she ruminates on the difficulty of squaring disparate cultural values, be they your own, your parents�, or your broader world’s.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
March 15, 2025
3.75 rounded to 4 ⭐️ full rtc soon
March 31, 2025
Initially rated a 2…but then I got mad about the lost time…and remembered that I thought this was a love story. Despite 100 dates taking place in this book…not a drop of love or romance crossed my sight.
March 11, 2025
I could not finish this novel. It was listed on BOTM as cerebral, but it was so earthy and just plain gross (bodily functions and bathroom things) in its descriptions and language. I couldn’t even get to the “cerebral� scholarly portions that I was actually looking forward to. This was a Will Not Finish for me.
March 9, 2025
Prose ?⭐️
Audio Narration: 2⭐️
I am going to come back to rate this properly as I need to read the physical book. This is a case where the audio narration is affecting my enjoyment of the book. The bigger problem is that I think the actual prose is really good and impactful and therefore important. But I can’t get past the completely monotone and lifeless narration.
This is why authors should not even narrate their fiction books as it doesn’t work and it’s a shame. The blurb in the book promises humor which may absolutely be there but with its delivery I can’t find it. I actually write an email to the publisher asking for an eARC of the title because I really want to like this book!
So I’ll be back to update once I have read it through again in a different format.
I am thankful to have gotten the ALC for free from Hachette Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.
⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again
Audio Narration: 2⭐️
I am going to come back to rate this properly as I need to read the physical book. This is a case where the audio narration is affecting my enjoyment of the book. The bigger problem is that I think the actual prose is really good and impactful and therefore important. But I can’t get past the completely monotone and lifeless narration.
This is why authors should not even narrate their fiction books as it doesn’t work and it’s a shame. The blurb in the book promises humor which may absolutely be there but with its delivery I can’t find it. I actually write an email to the publisher asking for an eARC of the title because I really want to like this book!
So I’ll be back to update once I have read it through again in a different format.
I am thankful to have gotten the ALC for free from Hachette Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.
⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again
March 10, 2025
When I picked the book up, I thought it would be fun and enjoyable! Started off with main character going on 100 dates, then there’s a quick change and I feel like the book completely switched tone. I thought the messiness of the main character was realistic. When we go through changes, we can be really unlikeable, even to ourselves. However, I think the book felt messy in a few other ways that weren’t necessarily good.
Thank you Algonquin Books for an advanced audiobook.
Thank you Algonquin Books for an advanced audiobook.
March 12, 2025
Loved this. It was equal parts funny, poignant, satirical, earnest. It was one where I stopped reading halfway through, then started over with a highlighter because there were just so many pieces that jumped out at me that I wanted to be able to reference again later.
March 11, 2025
I hated the main character most of the book but her growth got me. The last chapter did me in. The self reflection was beautiful. A gorgeous love story.
March 30, 2025
3.5 stars...I got this as my BOTM for March. I enjoyed it. It was a satirical take on a rom-com. The narrator goes on 100 dates trying to find herself a rich spouse only to find out she is in fact in love with her best friend but life happens and tragedy strikes and she has to go to Tehran to help with her ailing father. This book at the beginning was kind of wordy in the scholarly sense(she has a phD) but as it went in it was easier to read. It has romance, comedy, loss, grief, love, friendship, multicultural aspects. All in all I enjoyed this debut novel.
March 8, 2025
It wasn’t bad. Just a bit predictable. Good twist with the ending.
March 25, 2025
DULL DULL DULL
March 18, 2025
Feels as though this book was written just for me!
March 18, 2025
3.5 Stars - the middle was really good but the beginning and ending didn't do it for me
March 22, 2025
This will absolutely be one of the most memorable books I read all year. I finished it a few days ago and I can’t stop thinking about it. And here’s the thing- I didn’t love it. It’s one of those novels you read knowing that it’s well written, but too smart for you, so you try to push through but get bored somewhere along the way. Until of course, you’re one week post the lackluster ending and the story resides rent free in your brain. It’s perhaps the subversive and often flippant tone of dating in the first half of the book, married with the depth and complexity of grief and culture and family pressures of the latter half that really made me think. Our heroine may start out looking for someone with the liquid assets she’s picturing, but along the journey, she finds more than she planned. And yet- it’s not at all a hallmark movie ending here. It’s uncomfortable and realistic and messy. Literary fiction for the academia audience for sure. 3.75 ⭐️ I think?
Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.
Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.
Shelved as 'dnf'
March 2, 2025Listened to the audiobook.
DNF @ 4%
Not my jam :/
DNF @ 4%
Not my jam :/
April 3, 2025
I genuinely hate giving bad reviews but this book was truly not for me. In fact, it was very nearly a DNF for me, but I powered through. Was it worth it? Meh.
I’ll start by agreeing with another review I read: BOTM hypes this book as “high brow,� but it feels more like pretentiousness disguised as intellect. You know those people who insist on being called Doctor Jones outside of any professional context? That’s the vibe this book gave me. I consider myself a pretty smart person, but Liquid is the kind of book that practically requires a dictionary to decode every other sentence. And when I’m reading, I don’t want to be constantly looking up words—I just want to enjoy the story. Instead, I found myself plowing through, waiting for it to end.
Part One, in particular, felt disjointed. We jumped from one thought to another without clear transitions, which made it hard to follow. And then there was that bathroom scene early on, when the narrator goes to dinner with Adam. Maybe if the writing had been funnier, I wouldn’t have been so annoyed? I think it was trying to be amusing, but it fell short. Instead, I was left wondering why we were spending so much time in her head while she squatted on a toilet.
Speaking of the narrator—she was frustratingly unlikable. She carries herself with a sense of superiority for someone who’s unemployed, struggling financially, and concocting a plan to marry rich rather than recognizing the obvious, viable romantic option right in front of her. And for a supposedly intelligent person, who lights a book on fire inside without ventilation or any plan to prevent the fire from spreading?
Beyond that, certain details just didn’t make sense. When she goes on a date with Eugene, he claims he had to drink three pots of coffee just to remember their plans. But� they made the date earlier that same day? Then there are the timeline issues: at one point, we’re told it’s 2014, and she says it’s the year she turned 16. At the beginning of the book, it’s 2017, and she’s supposedly being awarded her doctorate. That would make her 19. The majority of the book takes place in 2019, and she claims to have known Adam for 13 years, since freshman year of college. But on September 11th, she would’ve been in eighth grade, around 12 or 13 years old. The math simply doesn’t add up, and it’s frustrating that this wasn’t caught in editing.
By the time the narrator gets to Tehran, the writing finally becomes more readable—less reliant on unnecessarily complex vocabulary, more fluid. But at that point, I had already checked out. The narrator was too grating for me to root for, even as she went through something undeniably difficult. I’m glad she had her moment of self-discovery or whatever, but I just didn’t care anymore.
The most interesting thing about this book was its synopsis. It completely drew me in� only to leave me feeling like I’d been gaslit by the promise of a better book.
I’ll start by agreeing with another review I read: BOTM hypes this book as “high brow,� but it feels more like pretentiousness disguised as intellect. You know those people who insist on being called Doctor Jones outside of any professional context? That’s the vibe this book gave me. I consider myself a pretty smart person, but Liquid is the kind of book that practically requires a dictionary to decode every other sentence. And when I’m reading, I don’t want to be constantly looking up words—I just want to enjoy the story. Instead, I found myself plowing through, waiting for it to end.
Part One, in particular, felt disjointed. We jumped from one thought to another without clear transitions, which made it hard to follow. And then there was that bathroom scene early on, when the narrator goes to dinner with Adam. Maybe if the writing had been funnier, I wouldn’t have been so annoyed? I think it was trying to be amusing, but it fell short. Instead, I was left wondering why we were spending so much time in her head while she squatted on a toilet.
Speaking of the narrator—she was frustratingly unlikable. She carries herself with a sense of superiority for someone who’s unemployed, struggling financially, and concocting a plan to marry rich rather than recognizing the obvious, viable romantic option right in front of her. And for a supposedly intelligent person, who lights a book on fire inside without ventilation or any plan to prevent the fire from spreading?
Beyond that, certain details just didn’t make sense. When she goes on a date with Eugene, he claims he had to drink three pots of coffee just to remember their plans. But� they made the date earlier that same day? Then there are the timeline issues: at one point, we’re told it’s 2014, and she says it’s the year she turned 16. At the beginning of the book, it’s 2017, and she’s supposedly being awarded her doctorate. That would make her 19. The majority of the book takes place in 2019, and she claims to have known Adam for 13 years, since freshman year of college. But on September 11th, she would’ve been in eighth grade, around 12 or 13 years old. The math simply doesn’t add up, and it’s frustrating that this wasn’t caught in editing.
By the time the narrator gets to Tehran, the writing finally becomes more readable—less reliant on unnecessarily complex vocabulary, more fluid. But at that point, I had already checked out. The narrator was too grating for me to root for, even as she went through something undeniably difficult. I’m glad she had her moment of self-discovery or whatever, but I just didn’t care anymore.
The most interesting thing about this book was its synopsis. It completely drew me in� only to leave me feeling like I’d been gaslit by the promise of a better book.
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