2018: Dude, the people love this book, and I did not find it to be all that engaging. This was thrust onto my radar by Reese's book group, which I am starting to have serious doubts over, not having enjoyed the last couple of books she's recommended. I understand that the whole point of the story is that E.O. is NOT completely fine, but I reached a certain point where I just didn't care. Mean? Yes. Should the author have done a better job convincing me she was a character I should care about? Yes.

2018: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I thought it was a fresh take on narrative non-fiction, and included a ton of popular science that I was totally into. I have always been interested in and fascinated by memory, and if you share any interest as well, I would certainly recommend this book. It's an easy read, but it sticks with you throughout your day to day and I am still thinking about it.

2019: Mehhhh I really did not like the format of this book. I like that Picoult switched things up and took a risk, but I could not keep the characters straight. It seemed way more confusing than it needed to be in terms of who was doing what, and I am going to blame that entirely on the format throwing me off. Basically, go read Small Great Things instead - it’s brilliant.

2019: A terrible thing happened to two naive young people, and their lives will never be the same. I loved the style of this book and appreciated hearing Dre’s side of the story. This was totally worth reading and I’d recommend everyone keep it on their lists.

2019: I greatly enjoyed inhabiting this world created by Wolitzer, but I think that’s mostly because I am a reasonably well off white woman who lives in New York City and spent time at a summer camp for the arts when I was young. If you want to read a book about exactly that (and her other, well off, artsy New Yorker friends who never actually get what they want) then this is the book for you. But I very much liked that world and how the characters were unsatisfied with it, and would revisit if I could.

2019: Okay, I’m sorry, did no one else care about this child enough to save her from her mother? Where are her grandparents? She had no aunts or uncles? There’s no way this child abuse could have gone on for so long without anyone noticing. Super flawed premise, actually a cute story, but there’s no way any of this could have ever happened.

2019: I love a good non-fic about the power of the independent woman, but there was absolutely nothing new in this book. Every single thing that Schaffer references, I had read/seen/heard before: the concept of “my person” from Grey’s Anatomy, the podcast Call Your Girlfriend, Galentine’s Day from Parks & Rec, the TEDTalk about female friendships, Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter, Bridesmaids/Ghostbusters/Ocean’s 8

2019: I loved parts of this book for the community organizing and thought experiments of how to best prep the world for a future in which more people are living alone. I thought the first couple of chapters were super interesting, but that the last couple fell very flat. Maybe because of the impending doom of everyone I know and love getting old and dying alone in their houses and their bodies not being found for days? Sounds fun.

2019: This was a tricky book, but I was overall disappointed compared to how much I enjoyed A Visit from the Goon Squad. I almost wish Eddie HAD just died so I could keep learning about Anna’s kickass job as the first female diver. I even loved her torrid affair with Dexter, until all the daddy drama got in the way. The ending was weak and disappointing and totally avoidable. Would have loved to see her continue to live on her own in New York and have a successful career, but apparently women didn’t do that in the 1930s, not even in fiction.