much better than it had any right to be. a compelling narrative balancing a variety of different concepts and ideas that end up all coming together pretty neatly for the most part. some of the author’s attempts at authenticity do end up coming across as a rather vapid understanding of “womanhood” and I find these do end up cheapening the novel and its message a little bit (referring to someone as “mr manspreader” and explaining that mary has to carry pads around with her because her period is unpredictable in menopause). there are already so many strong depictions of menopause and “womanhood” present in this novel that I found myself scoffing at those smaller details as they were really the only things present in the book that reminded me that this was written by a man that really does not want you to remember that he is a man. the best writing occurs at the goriest sections which I absolutely adore, I find it very fascinating when you as a reader can discern what the author is most excited to be writing throughout the course of the novel and I extra love when that happens to be the very weird and disgusting. had a lot of fun with it!