I was totally enraptured by this book and stayed up until 1AM to finish it. But by the time I read the last page I thought “Wait, that’s it?”

There’s a lot of potential in this book, and I kept waiting for the threads I saw placed throughout the story to tighten into a complex, fascinating thriller. While there were intriguing snippets that had commentary on colonialism and feminism, it hit the halfway mark and started to drag. I felt like I was holding my breath throughout, thinking "This is it, it's gonna start digging into the meat of the story NOW" and then continued to feel that way up until the very end. 

We had such a fascinating premise, with a narrator that feels unreliable, and themes touching on wealth, exploitation, colonialism, the nuance of translating languages, female friendships, and more! This had all the ingredients of a five star read for me...but instead, it felt half-baked. 

If you're looking for a lighter contemporary version of Babel, perhaps this is it. While I wasn't a fan of how it ended, I did zip through it pretty fast and could see how others might enjoy it.