This is NOT a likeable book. This is not a book I would ever, ever read again. This is not a book I would run to the theater to see the movie adaptation for. However, this IS a book that I am OK with having read once.

TifAni (yeah, that is her name), now Ani (ahhh-neee) has it all now. We know she has survived some sort of humiliating teen trauma, the details of which are teased out slowly through the story. She doesn't really have a shocking secret like the book blurb teases about (a la Gone Girl), but she has a completely fake, horrid, "perfect" life. A life that she is absolutely miserable in. Now that she is weeks away from locking in her marriage to a wealthy NYC finance guy, Ani has agreed to participate in a documentary regarding the shocking high school situation.

This book is completely riddled with trigger warnings

Spoiler

teen gang rape, black out drinking, assault, emotional assault, active shooters, teen killings, anorexia, bulimia, you name it, it is in here.

. None of the women characters eat, and all of them are rewarded for their horrific "diets" and what they do to their bodies. "She's getting married" is the excuse thrown around. This fixation almost overwhelms the other plot points of the book, and it is treated so glibly. There are never any ramifications for the behavior, even at the end.

Basically, give this a go if you are looking for a real bummer of a time. I didn't give two shits what happened to Ani in the end, but I did find a bit of closure with one of her last moments

Spoiler

when Ani realizes that if she HAD been handed the gun, she would have shot the balls off her rapist and then killed Arthur

.