This book kept me guessing. I read Babel earlier this year and I really like the style of the author's writing. I'd read more of her work. I preferred that setting (timeless fantastic Oxford) to this setting (current DC area inundated with social media and the publishing industry). But the thing they both have in common is the depth of the character's Asian history.  

Where this novel shined (shone?) for me was the intense female rage, her overt racism,  and entitlement to be a successful author by any means necessary. She had so many opportunities to set the record straight and never did. It gave me Roxy Hart vibes. It's weird watching someone else's social media addiction spiral too. It's familiar (it could happen) but also unrelatable (dear God, that would never happen to me). 

While I read of Juniper's deep depression, I pictured a despaired yet numb Otessa Moshfegh in her year of rest and relaxation. I wondered a few times during this book if Moshfegh and Kuang are anything more than contemporaries. I enjoy their styles very much.