I literally couldn’t stand this book, and couldn’t even bring myself to finish it. I love bizarre and strange novels, and even if I don’t like them I can normally find some appreciation in them. However, this novel just really dragged on and on and on. I have little sympathy for the heroine, she is as hollow and uninteresting as the rest of the characters in the novel, and I don’t feel invested in the story whatsoever. All that really seems to happen is a young woman who already has quite limited autonomy goes pining after some strange middle aged man. Maybe this could’ve been interesting, even with their relationship built upon an unsettling case of transactional sex, but really, there’s nothing interesting about their relationship after this incident, and it’s completely lost on me why the heroine feels so fixated on this man who gives her absolutely nothing and is completely bland. Maybe that’s the point and I just missed it, but you’d think one could some up with something slightly more constructive and empowering for a heroine in a novel published in 21st century…like c’mon…give the girl some depth and agency.