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noun: black hole; a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape.
informal: a place where people or things, especially money, disappear without trace.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this book and what I read. You could say that my ideas on this book are fading into the abyss, but that is only because it kind of blew my mind. The matter produced by this book (my ideas) are scattered in space (my brain) like the big bang. For as long as Cassie can remember, a black hole has been following her, fluctuating with her mood and the environment she is in. Cassie works in tech in Silicon Valley and is regularly reprimanded by her boss for not doing enough, despite the fact that she works her ass off every day.

Her mental health and personal relationships are suffering, and the stress of her profession and personal life is resurfacing old trauma. Her relationship with her mother broke my heart and gave me chills at one point, as I stared at the page with tears welling up in my eyes. This novel has really swept me away. It was everything I had hoped for and more. Cassie describes herself as having two selves: her actual self and her pretend self, which is all too relatable. Donnie Darko meets Beau is Afraid meets Succession (if it were about technology) meets Mother! kind of?

Ripe depicts the darkness that comes with capitalism and the harshness of the world as we know it through the use of magical realism, sci-fi/dystopia aspects (some stuff far too real...). I highly recommend reading this book, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Ripe comes out July 11! Many thanks to the publisher for my review copy!