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out TODAY - let's go!

4.5 stars - an unexpectedly revelatory read.

billed as a story about a girl finding herself pregnant while traversing her way through the silicon valley landscape, i think this read as a cautionary tale about losing our identities in a world where capitalism's destructiveness reins unchecked. namely: our world.

there was a lot here about generational trauma, too - i loved scenes with cassie interacting with her father, how he was a place of solace from her antagonist mother, the way he grows into refusing to give her that safety in adulthood by saying "there's nothing for you here". it read like he wanted her to not move backward (while also reading like a person exhausted with having to support an abusive wife who refused to accept she couldn't live the life she thought she was entitled to.)

cassie finds her way to an "idyllic" new job that's meant to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - a higher salary, stock options, living in dreamy california, where she meets a disney prince of a chef.

cher horowitz once described people as monets - "from far away it looks okay but up close it's a big old mess". same concept here - closer inspection breaks down the dream cassie thought she was supposed to be living - rent's too high, chef has a girlfriend and is in an open relationship with cassie as the other woman, she has to take an enormous amount of cocaine to keep up with the asinine expectations of her job which does little to laud her accomplishments and everything to make her feel like she'll never be enough. it's no wonder she's being followed around by a giant black hole.

there were so many nuances in this that were addressed. so many bangers in the text.

this was an excellent book that i think all of us can identify with in america in 2023. pick this one up.

brb, buying sarah rose etter's other book now.