What a painful and beautiful reading experience.

It was at times claustrophobic to live inside of our protagonist's head, but I don't think Nolan could have accomplished the goal of making us understand her.

This visceral, gritty, emotional novel is at heart, the story of a lost young woman trying to find a comfortable place to land within herself.

We accompany her (and her inner monologues) on exploitative sexual escapades, obsessive romantic thoughts, and through repeated and completely self-destructive behaviors - until it hurts.

My heart was broken open over and over by this novel.

The best part is that on the surface, this is an easy DNF for me, but Nolan as such a melodic and raw way with words that this was a train wreck of a person and story that I could not look away from.

I will remember my 5 ⭐️ journey experience for years to come. I highly recommend.

P.S. If you hated A Little Life, don't let the few comparisons scare you off. That was torture with NO point (sorry if you don't agree, but I despised that book). This story has depth.