There are only two ways to respond to pop culture references in media. Either they flow through the story and enhance the discourse (Ready Player One and Gilmore Girls are examples of this) or they stab the reader's brain and have no reason to exist. Within the first few chapters of this book I felt the latter. The story felt forced and the references just pushed to remind the reader to say "Hey! It's the 90s. Look how crazy everything was. We had to wait to download stuff back then. 90s! 90s!"

It detracted from an already boring story. The concept was cute but the execution left me wanting something more. I didn't even finish the book. I skipped ahead and discovered it didn't improve. The ending was predictable and not worth the time.

There's a scene of dialogue in the beginning of this book that threw me off so much that I had to put the book down for a bit. When I returned to try and finish the story, I found I wasn't interested in it anymore. This bored me and I don't think I should force myself to read something that isn't very engaging.

I got about halfway through this book when I noticed a huge shift in the story: this book was actually a romance and not just science fiction. Normally I'm all for mixing genres but this shift threw me off so much that I felt that I was reading an entirely new book. I might revisit this book in the future but for right now I'm just gonna return it to the library and find something different.

Please note that I felt that the romance came out of nowhere even though it had been building for quite some time. I know that sounds like a contradiction but the build-up seemed forced as well. One second it's time travel and its repercussions and the next it's about how this guy has been in love with this woman all of his life. It felt rushed and it didn't have the flow that the previous chapters possessed.

I just finished the audio edition and my head is whirling. There's a part of me that wants to call this brilliant and another that wants to scream in frustration. I am not Olga; or at least I don't think I could be. I don't know what it would be like to deal with children while their father decides to leave for a younger woman, putting his needs before his family, annoyed when the mother of his children demands equality and support. I don't know what state I would be in if my Husband choose to leave and never look back. I would like to think that I wouldn't enter the depressive state that Olga finds herself but I don't know and that's the scary thing about this book.

This could be considered a horror story for women. What do we become when we are abandoned by our loves and the world that follows afterwards? I would like to think that I could push past expectations and go beyond the archetype of what we perceive woman should react, but would I? Would I really?

I appreciate Ferrante's honesty about life and children. This was a rough audio but worth it in the end.

I'm not sure what to think about this one. The story felt flat. The character's journey and the various consequences had no impact on me and I walked away from the story feeling annoyed. I had to push myself to read it, which added to my frustration. Zadie Smith is a talented writer and I'll still be waiting with baited breath for her next book but this isn't my favorite of hers.