Phew do I have a lot of thoughts on this one.... Let's start with the good: this book takes romance seriously, meaning it is literary and intellectual while also being an extremely sexual romance. The combo is truly groundbreaking, and I love that. The sex scenes were done so well, the romance was hot, the male love interest was great. There was also some very well executed exploration of avoidant attachment and trauma cycles.

BUT there were major issues.

The most glaring flaw was the faux intellectualism. Lili is getting her masters in economics, and her thesis is central to the plot. Aleksander and Lili get into long, winding arguments about political and economic theory, but a) it's comprised mostly of bs jargon without actually saying anything and b) it's clear Volkova doesn't know econ. And that's fine! Volkova has a political science background. Why not make Lili a poli sci student? Since Aleksander is primarily attracted to Lili's mind, her inability to express an economically sound argument weakens the central tenant of the romance. As a reader, it also made me lose trust that my efforts to understand these deeply esoteric arguments would be fruitful; did Volkova have a point, or was she just spewing academic buzzwords?

The plot & the romance devolved into a formulaic cadence by ~30% : argument over capitalism -> insane sex -> crying -> miscommunication/avoidant withdrawal -> repeat. This left little room to develop a romantic bond on-page; I had no idea why Aleksander liked Lili, they didn't connect over anything personal, it was all just intellectual sparring and sexual chemistry. The depth of their attachment didn't feel earned, which made the later plot beats fall emotionally flat.

While I appreciate what this book was trying to do, the execution left too much to be desired for me to recommend this.

This is a deeply absurd book that works well in its ridiculousness; God is a scoundrel, the hero is floundering, the best character is a talking whale (shoutout to my boy HOWBIG!). Comprised of short 1-4 page chapters with titles that are just as important as the text, this book takes on massive themes of agency, identity, creation, and morality.

Unfortunately, it did not stick the landing. One of my greatest pet peeves in literary fiction is when an author forces us to wrestle with grand, abstract topics but leaves them unexplored. There was so much intellectual buildup, all for the story to just...end. I have no idea what this book was trying to say; if the goal was nihilism, it did it well. If it wasn't, I fear this was unsuccessful.

Regardless, I had a great time in this world and deeply appreciate the unique voice and storytelling. Canon is in a league of its own.