That was a wild ride. The book was just a roller-coaster. Things would get bad, then magically fix themselves. Then, sometime after the middle it all goes bad. It’s just a downward spiral. It's one of those books you just don't know if you like or not. The story was interesting I haven't really read anything like it. I find it such an insightful book into how publishing works and all, and I love how contemporary it is as well, like real time actually relevant stuff.
All the characters were very not likable but at the same time very human in the worst way. Basically every person in this book sucks lol. I enjoyed all the themes and the insight into the publishing industry (and all its flaws). I also like RF Kuang's writing and enjoyed her portrayal of June (even though she's an awful person lol).
The chapters up to the ending were very thrilling! The ending itself was good but it did fall flat a little. To be honest I wasn't expecting the ending to be kinda ambiguous . I wanna see if June's lies still work or if most people are just done with her. I wanted a little more justice but unfortunately this ending is pretty realistic. Lots of people will probably believe her spin, especially people who agree that she was cancelled for being white.
It was really sad to me how much June lies to herself and rationalizes her behavior. and the sad thing is that i don’t think any of that really made her happy. imagine if she had just been honest in the first place, how much anxiety she could’ve avoided. the author’s choice to stay in June’s perspective for the entire novel really gives the novel its punch - I feel like the book is about how we all have a tendency to rationalize whatever is most convenient.
I think the message of the book is for the reader to examine the way that white people benefit off of others’ suffering, and how we rationalize this behavior, and how we refuse to listen to the voices of those who ask us to examine our behavior. For example, in the book, even when people were being perfectly reasonable, June would say that they were just being jealous or unreasonable.