欧宝娱乐

4.5猸�

Wow. Just... wow.

This book is... a lot. And one I feel like my review will not do justice, because how I do adequately put into words just how incredible it is? I was hooked right from the start and found it to be such a page-turner despite the heavy subject matter. I read the last 75% in one sitting - a glance at my clock said 2.30am, then 4.40am and before I knew it, it was past 6am.

I love how this novel explores the many versions of truth as well as trauma and memory. It starts uncomfortable but important conversations about consent, sexual assault and the #MeToo movement. It's also an acute deep dive into the influencer lifestyle and image, social media toxicity, performative wokeness and cancel culture.

The protagonist is a hot mess but yet there's also something so charismatic about her that you can't peel yourself away from. Sad to say but I could relate to some of her experiences and decisions e.g. fictionalising a real-life account as a coping mechanism.

This is my 4th book by the author and once again, she tackles the most difficult topics with such ingenuity and skill. It's also one of the most intriguing and well-written books I've read about female friendships. There are lots of crazy, intense moments but also tender and heartfelt ones.

Dark, haunting, powerful, unforgettable 鈥� this is a book that will stay with me for long.

Thank you to Random House UK and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

Favourite quotes:

鉁� "She understood their despair but more importantly, she understood the fury hiding beneath their smiles. She knew there was nothing more powerful than a woman finally given permission to scream."

鉁� "We are all capable of being incredibly moral and incredibly monstrous, given the right circumstances. It does us no service to try and hide from our shadow selves."

鉁� "Women in the public eye could only have one personality type - nice - or everything they'd worked so hard for would be taken away from them."

鉁� "You can't give a man the power to make you cry. That's what they want and if you're weak enough to give it to them, they won't respect you. There's always one person who loves the other a little more in a relationship."

鉁� "They were something more than friends, more than sisters even; they were two halves of the same person, only whole when they were together."

鉁� "All we need is Ronan fucking Farrow to decide he wants to investigate the story for the New Yorker and we may as well kill ourselves now and get it over with."

鉁� "I've lived in this city long enough to know that the only thing these people can't forgive is poverty. If you have enough money, they'll forget everything."

鉁� "What's that thing you always say? 'This is my truth.' Well, it seems like there's your truth and there's my truth and there's nothing in between."

鉁� "People claimed they wanted the the truth but when faced with it, it was too messy for them to accept. The truth often felt like a story, one with plot holes, an unreliable narrator."

鉁� "Maybe that was what she was selling; the impossible promise of safety. Maybe that was all these women wanted, in the end."

鉁� "You can still love someone who hurt you."