I have complicated feelings about this. I both hated and loved it at the same time. The prose is excellent, but also self-important and dense. The characters are complex, but also extremely unlikeable. I guess what baffles me the most is Eve, the narrator, and her worldview. It just is something I can’t empathize with at all. For me, Nathan always appeared transparently manipulative and coercive, playing with many women like his toys. Even so, the narrator struggled throughout the entire novel to recognize this, and his other partner still seems under his spell. I just don’t understand how such an unhealthy relationship dynamic can be so paradigm-shifting for multiple women?? It also surprised me how Eve was so unsure of herself and kept flip-flopping with her core values and beliefs. Like damn girl you’re almost 30, make up your mind!! Have a backbone!!

also if a man, or anyone for that matter, told me they intuitively “knew” my desires and that I secretly had a rape fantasy, I would punch them in the face. WTF!! and she kept seeing him afterwards. Again, the whole dynamic is baffling to me. Nathan claims to “know” what women want and provide it for them, but for me it seemed like he was just a good fuck and overly confident. His charm enraptured far too many women and I just wish they could be freed from his grasp.