Overall, this book was very creepy and interesting. Suma's characters are pretty well developed. At times though, she could do more showing and less telling. Like there's a character who liked to run into the door and knock herself out because it gave her a sense of control. Suma directly states "this gave her a sense of control". I think if she left that sentence out, the story would be stronger. This happens several times which annoyed me, but this is a personal peeve. I really liked the fact that she focused on a relationship between two female characters and showed how painful female-female relationships can be, especially when growing up. The character of Ori felt slightly unbelievable, like a modern day Gandhi... Like okay, she goes through all of that and still isn't acting out? Alright. The ending felt a bit much though, like she was deliberately trying to solve everything and still leave it *mysterious*

Overall, Roose presents a fun, light book that appeals to the 20 something who just wants to know what it's really like to be on Wall Street. The main downside is that it was confusing keeping the narratives together when Roose splits up each character's story over several interwining chapters. Another critique would be that the chapters themselves could have been longer and covered more material than separate and unsubstantial. In terms of content, Roose could have also gone deeper into the sociopolitical causes of Wall Street's breakdown, the protest, and its eventual revival.

Absolutely amazing read! Very high tension throughout the book, engaging and thought-provoking. Though it's set in modern times, you can easily imagine the book's relation to the past.

Short, pleasurable summer read. The author reminded me of Franny from Salinger's Franny and Zooey. Though wispy, she's endearing and her portrait of the fall of Old New York is quite enchanting.

Okay, but got preachy toward the end.

The book was really boring until the last third when it actually started to be moderately amusing. At first, it was very stale, like the author was trying to do a bad Jonathan Franzen impression. I guess she was trying to be funny or something in a sarcastic way but it just read as cold.

Just really beautiful writing even if the story seemed to drag toward the end. Ornate, gothic even.

As a Muslim woman, I really appreciated the fact that Zoepf focused on providing the correct sociological, historical, economic background as well as input from current Islamic scholars when she talked about the stories of these young Arab women, elevating the book from being a mere travelogue to something much deeper, less voyeuristic.

Overall I liked this book (especially Chapter 2!) but I wish there was more discussion of the philosophy behind HCZ and more of a followup with the students/parents. It could also feel a little bit judgmental at times.