i warmed up after a few essays - maybe around “pure heroines”. at first i didn’t like the voice, and found the essays boring, nothing new or revolutionary. eventually either i got used to the voice or the essays became more interesting, or both. nothing extraordinarily remarkable, story of a generation in seven scams felt just like reading multiple wikipedia entries around different topics... but there were elements that made me felt like i knew jia, that we had crossed paths or known each other at a bar, but weren’t close friends.