I inhaled this book, which was darkly satirical and so much fun to read. It centers on the Rubin Institute, a neoliberal fever dream of a university where disgraced public figures are exiled after being fired for saying or doing something unforgivable in the public eye. Helen is a brilliant physics grad student and her mentor is an irreplaceable genius; they believe themselves close to making a breakthrough that would decelerate climate change, so when her mentor is invited to Rubin after sleeping with another graduate student, Helen feels compelled to go with him. Life at Rubin is pretty plush, the sort of palace a billionaire might design for his pleasure when he is ejected from polite society: there are parties, expensive food, unlimited resources and amenities, no rules. Reading about it is great fun--most of the institute exists within a phallic tower called, hilariously, "The Endowment"--but living there brings Helen and her husband to the brink.