After reading Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s excellent New York Times Magazine piece on Taylor Swift, I remembered the buzz around this novel and thought I’d give it a shot. The dense and expository writing was a lot to process at first, but once I settled in, the story was compelling. Chiefly, ‘where did  Fleishman’s ex-wife Rachel disappear to?’ and ‘how she could abandon her children?’ was the driving force of the plot. 
I felt like I absolutely should have seen the twist of this story, the misogyny laid bare, because one cannot help thinking about how powerful career woman Rachel would have been viewed differently if she was a man and vice versa for Toby the caretaker. It was like reading a much more entertaining version of Fates and Furies. The premise, the narrative choice, and the prose is so thoughtful that I won’t soon forget this book.  There is so much to chew on, and would make the perfect book club choice.
In the end, the excessive introspection on the narrator’s part becomes a little didactic and read more like one of Taffy’s essays. I was immediately reminded about her appearance on The Daily podcast after her Taylor Swift article was published, because the story she is telling coincides with Libby’s in such a way that one can’t help wonder about how much of this story is her lived experience. I definitely plan to check out the adaptation on Hulu, and will probably pick up Taffy‘s new book that’s coming out later this year!