I know I’m late to the party, but this is possibly my new all time favorite book. I’m so glad I didn’t read this in high school or even college. I’m so obsessed I’m definitely unable to adequately articulate my love of this novel. Every paragraph reminded me that I’ve never had an original thought AND that the experience of girlhood is timeless.

It was either detrimental or fundamental that I finally found my way to this novel in the early days of Trump’s second presidency AND the week I ran out of Lexapro.

So many books are either feminine and fun or depressing and heavy for the sake of being heavy. This book balanced them both while keeping its personality and quirkiness. Esther will be relatable for any former gifted-over-achieving-good girl who finds herself a race horse without a racetrack on the other side of academia.

She wrote a character that is relatable, timeless, and universal without ever once feeling cliche. She captures the character’s consciousness in a way I’ve never experienced.

I’m literally going home to reread/skim my copy and mark the hell out of it. (10/10 recommend the audiobook read by Maggie Gyllenhaal!) and now I need to read all of her poetry books and watch the film. Sylvia Plath was the OG beautifully tragic girlie (just rewatched Wicked sorry not sorry). Okay the real OG was Emily Dickinson, and fine I’ll rewatch all three seasons on AppleTV+ again.

I don’t care if this new obsession makes me basic as hell. It’s simply the best book I’ve read in a very long time. I never thought I’d be one to have “a classic” as my favorite book, but here we are.


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There’s a thing that happens that I usually hate in books and I loved the way it was handled here!!! Like how on earth!!!!!!!!!