Tuesday, July 21, 2020

A Quick Take on Leigh Stein's Self Care



I need a cleanse of my own after reading Leigh Stein's new novel, Self Care

There was a lot of pre-publication buzz about this book, so I suspect that I'm in the minority on this because I really did not enjoy this novel. The character development is very cliched, it lacks depth, and the structure of the novel needed more editing to give it more shape. Stein brings in sexual assault charges and childhood trauma at the end in what feels like an unsuccessful and emotionally-loaded attempt to add depth. 

And I'm not at all sure what to make of the ending. What am I supposed to take away from it? It just made me mad, but I'm not sure that's the effect Stein was going for.

Overall, the topic of this novel is timely and appealing, but ultimately I found it unsatisfying.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.