What an amazing debut! Witty, sharp, darkly funny, and packed with irony, I was absolutely enthralled by this book from beginning to end — even when it (purposefully) made me feel so mad. 

 

While the main focus of this book is undoubtedly the absurdity of elite prep school parents and administration, and their unwillingness to actually address racial inequality instead of just pandering, my favorite aspect of the novel was the exploration of fraught mother-daughter relationships (Aki and Meg) and the struggles of being a teenage girl. It felt so raw and authentic. The reader can see that both Aki and Meg are imperfect human beings, blinded by generational differences and differing expectations, who are under immense pressure and deal with it in different ways. 

 

I admit that I sometimes felt immensely frustrated with Aki because she really was such a doormat for most of this book, even to the detriment of her daughter and their relationship. But the novel did a good job in exploring why Aki behaves the way that she does and her growing a spine is a big part of her character arc. 

 

The depiction of modern-day teenagers wasn’t perfect. 17-year-old Meg and her social justice-minded friends sometimes sounded more like cartoonish right-wing caricatures of “the woke mob” than actual teenagers doing activism for the first time. A lot of the lingo/slang is outdated and made the book feel like it was set in 2017 rather than 2024. 

 

My biggest disappointment with this book was the narrow scope. This story really narrows in on racism and to a lesser extent, classism with other forms of bigotry (sexism, homophobia, etc) only in the periphery. There were a few scenes around homophobic or misogynistic behavior but considering this is a novel about an elite private school, I was surprised that it wasn’t explored more. This honestly makes the book feel pretty unrealistic at times. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.