⤷ 4.25✩

This is an absolute page turner; I read this within 3 days. The beginning immediately engage the reader and Kuang does not let you leave once you have started reading.

It is so interesting to see how June's characterization continuously treads the line between a caricature and completely believable. As someone who knows what both anxiety and narcissism separately can do to a person and the environment of these people, several scenes were scarily recognisable. Especially how when other people profit from the system everything is unfair, while when it benefits them, they deserve to have those benefits.

However, I would have loved to go deeper into the intersectionality and disadvantages of being an Asian woman in publishing, instead of it being mentioned briefly in the end. I furthermore understand why the choice is made to go deeper into the effect of social media like Twitter, but at some point it took away from the bigger themes unfolding throughout the story.