A pair twenty-one-year-old party girls spend a summer in the New York, sharing a sublet, living off favours, and working under the table to make ends meet. They haven't worked out anything they want to do past go out in the evenings and meet interesting people who will buy them drinks, which is expensive in the big city. We learn bits and pieces of their backstory as we go, but never a clear picture beyond what they construct themselves as.

I was initially cool on this book; I think I noted about a third of the way in, "Still waiting for the plot to start!" Readers, the plot never started. Not having a plot was the point. The book was plotless, just like its main characters! (It wasn't quite as on the nose as that, but I think the drifting structure was an intentional reflection of the aimless protagonists.)

Much of the book is about what society values. Everyone asks the young women what they're doing, if they're making art, what their jobs are, and seem unable to deal with the idea that no, they're just trying to enjoy life. The only thing they are valued for is being young and pretty, and being young and pretty is simultaneously dismissed, as is fashion sense as a skill. I kept thinking of that Ani lyric (and, yes, I fully realise the issues with Ani): "I want you to pay me for my beauty, I think it's only right, 'cause I have been paying for it all of my life."

Because the young women themselves are interesting people with inner lives, and histories, and their own opinions and stories to tell. They see that in each other, even if no one else does, and despite arguments and falling out from time to time, it's the feeling of getting each other, and of someone having your back that carries them through.

I ended up really enjoying this, and am glad it was on the Canada Reads longlist, as I wouldn't have read it, otherwise.