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Levy is a talented writer, and she presents us with some intriguing and relatable musings on feminism accompanied by delightful descriptions of food/friends/places. Unfortunately, I found it incredibly difficult to get through this series without constantly cringing at the abundance of white privilege and self-indulgence. At times it feels a lot like an angsty teen's diary, as if she is constantly trying to convince herself (and the reader) that she is "Not like other girls". She builds her own shelves, cooks "exotic" foods like "dhal (very cheap)", sleeps on sheets the color of turmeric, and buys African masks that "embod(y) psychologies and rituals [she does] not yet culturally understand" (yet decorates her apartment with them anyways).

I understand how many people would enjoy this series, there are some great thoughts and astute observations, but I simply have no desire to sift though the pages of excess (view spoiler)[
her incessant need to recreate the guava ice cream she had once in India,

her daughter singing Taylor Swift while wearing the North African robe she bought for her,

a description of an "African American" woman(whom she passes on the street)'s outfit, comparing her to the caffeine+sugar rush from a sweetened iced coffee, by declaring her an "Everything Rush"; a term she coined a few lines earlier,

or how when at a literary festival in Mumbai, when asked to simply do a thumbs-up for a group photo, she refused because she "did not feel this was the right look for (her)" because of its association with "authoritarian leaders parading their erect white thumbs for the world's media"

or when she applies multiple essential oils to her pillow in an airplane cabin, someone complains of the smell, so the air hostess must relay the complaint to her, but apparently also "applauds her for turning the cabin into a temple of delight". Furthermore, she believes the man that complained should be thanking her because she noted that he was now "snoring loudly with his mouth wide open". Ok.

and quotes like: "Any cleaner getting up at dawn to sweep offices, railway stations, schools, hospitals, will be familiar with this sort of thinking. She knows she has to be stronger than her most fearful thoughts, stronger than her exhaustion." or "This was the first time I saw something of Mumbai: the market stalls laid out on the pavements, piles of green beans,... ginger, turmeric...an electric fan balanced precariously on a wooden box..." (Because the literary festival she had just been at was not "Mumbai").] (hide spoiler)] to get to them.