I read this book 4 months ago and neglected to leave a review because so much had already been said extolling its wonders, and I agreed with all the 5 star reviews. Now that the details are hazy in my mind, what's stayed with me are 1. the lush, lyrical imagery 2. the incredible mastery of two very challenging elements: time travel AND second-person narrative, and 3. an obsession with lady knights (never understood the fascination with Medieval Times until now)

This is really a 2.5 personally but objectively I think it deserves a 3 star average rating across all readers so I'm doing my part, despite quality/craft lacking.

An unashamed self-insert that suffers from the author not having enough emotional distance from her protagonist. Cantor clearly knows how to write, but she's still learning how to tell a story. The plot builds and busts, ultimately leading nowhere and leaving a ton of potential on the table. Each time the story could have veered towards the absurd, dark, or uncomfortable, it swerved into milquetoast territory.

There's some interesting meta commentary happening here: the author seems to respond to potential criticisms of this book through critiques of the protagonist's TV scripts. For example:

A thought had while reading: I don't understand Caroline's motivations. What does she want? Why isn't she doing anything?

Critique of script: The female lead doesn't have a clear why. We need to give her trauma, make her more interesting. Let's give her absurd plot points.

While I understand perfectly what Cantor is trying to do, the meta exercise can only be so interesting without accompanying commentary. I don't actually know what Cantor is trying to say: is she trying to normalize not having it all figured out in your mid-30's? Is this meant to be a comfort read for other women still carving their paths? Without an attempted message, the book is simply an enjoyable peek into the world of TV production and the mind of a stressed out millennial.

PS: Requisite complaint for the absurd amount of poop jokes. As a comedy writer, you'd think we could have avoided pee pee poo poo humor, but here we are.

Excellent introduction into the world of AI. A must-read primer to understand the characters and motivations leading the tech. Really appreciated how much time was spent exposing the environmental harm and exploitation of workers in developing countries. Hao spends a lot of time telling Sam Altman's sister's story and detailing her abuse allegations; all in, she probably spends about 20% of the book on this topic alone. While I think it was necessary to include, I wish she would have spent more time on the impact of AI on the arts and the job market. Had she dove into these topics with the same vigor, this would have been much more impactful.

Decadent, edgy, over the top in the chic-est of ways. I ate this up and savored the crumbs 🍽️