Can you still love someone after watching them make huge mistakes? This book attempts to answer that question with a yes. Fueled by the world of academia, the title begins with an accidental death in a research lab. Affairs, classwork, and botanical experiments make up the rest. While all the characters are thoroughly unlikeable for various reasons, they are all loveable and searching for love while making life changing errors in the process.

It's a slow read for so few pages, but that's because you are savoring each word. This might be unappealing to some, but those who love stream of consciousness prose will enjoy.

HEX is puzzling, dangerous, and compulsively readable. Set at Columbia University, Nell is a botany PhD student obsessed with poisoned plants and her advisor, Joan. The book is written as a sort of love letter to Joan as their personal lives become complicated and intertwined. It is shocking and humorous, and as sharp as teeth.

You will want to give Nell a big hug - she is a lost character and as the reader, you can see where she is being led astray and it will break your heart. Unrequited love can do that to a person, but Nell is especially helpless. It is a perfect takedown of academia though, something I always enjoy (especially when the school is the one I work at!). Dinerstein Knight nails the language, and vibe, of higher education and my only complaint of the book is that I wanted more actual poison! The book begins with a shock, and ends with a whimper, and the in between is an interesting ride of love and obsession.

2.5 Stars: Admittedly, I thought I was getting a much different book when I initially requested this. With a title like "Hex" and talk about poisons . . . . well, yeah, I thought I was getting something sinister and dark. So when I started reading this book filled with incredibly toxic people and their extremely "poisonous" relationships, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement (and I LOVE metaphors!). That aside - I still think I could have enjoyed this story, if there was an actual story here. Additionally, it was hard to justify this as a thoughtful character driven novel either - because I honestly began to resent every single one of these horribly entitled, whiny, and boring humans. Don't get me wrong, I like unlikable characters, when they're written well and with purpose. Unfortunately, that's not what was happening here, at least for me. Despite all this negativity, I will say that Knight is a pro at writing banter. Honestly, my favorite part of this novel is her ability to write such witty (often hilarious) dialogue and that, ultimately, is what pushed me through to the end.

I gave this my best shot but couldn’t get into it. The use of language is poetic and beautiful, but I just don’t want to spend any more time in the mind of this mentally ill obsessive narrator. The plot is just not that interesting and the characters are flat.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My Synopsis:

I thought this book was going to be about Nell Barber’s work with poisons. It’s not. It’s about Nell’s relationships, her obsession with Joan, and the inter-relationships of everyone in Nell’s immediate circle. The poison research was a backdrop to all of that.

My Thoughts:

So, working from the outside in, I love the cover. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. I like that it does sort of tie into the story that I originally thought I was going to be reading – the one about the study of botanical poisons and antidotes and detoxification of poisonous plants. The skull of flowers is really kind of lovely. And I suppose in its own way it also sort of fits the story I got. Regardless – gorgeous cover.
I actually like this alternate cover even better.

This is Rebecca Dinerstein Knight’s second book (her first being The Sunlit Night in 2015 as Rebecca Dinerstein), but it is the first I have read by her. I think that the quality of her writing supports that this isn’t her first time out of the gate. Although this novel is written in the form of journal entries by Nell, it does come off as believable and well-written once that has been established (I learned this about halfway through the book, which made me like it significantly better since I finally understood the logic behind what had previously seemed like a really bizarre narrative choice). She has dedicated them to Joan, her obsession/advisor. As Nell’s ability to cope with her reality (loss of her program of study, expulsion from university, Joan’s complete lack of romantic interest in her) is diminished, her journal entries become increasingly fractured. It is fascinating to watch her emotional decline.

I found that I didn’t like any of the characters in the story- but I think that was intentional. They are all unlikable people. And everybody loves someone who doesn’t love them back. Or enough. Or only might love them, but they’ll probably never find out one way or another.

Rating:

I honestly feel like I would have enjoyed this story more if it had started prior to Rachel’s death and the beginnings of Nell’s true decline, but ultimately, I’m not unhappy. Once I figure out why the style of writing was the way it was (journal entries for an academic study program) I found myself much more engrossed in the story where beforehand, I just kept getting caught up in the seemingly odd format.

I think if human dramas and stories about the intricacies of human relationships and obsession are your thing, this is going to be a great read for you.

Nell is a botanist well on her way to a PhD. After the death of a colleague, Nell's research lab is shut down, and she is expelled from Columbia University. Nell is no longer a student or researcher, and she has just broken up with longtime boyfriend Tom. In order to cope, Nell creates a series of notebooks dedicated to her former doctoral advisor, favorite professor, and object of unrequited affection, Joan. The notebooks begin with relevant botanical references and a list of verifiable facts, but as Nell experiences a significant decline in functionality and mental state, the notebooks become both more fascinating and more difficult to read. Knight's novel dives deep into the world of coping with unrequited love and a loss of identity in a beautiful stream-of-consciousness style. Additionally, Knight's unflinching portrayal of academia in all its messy glory is both fascinating and much needed. I deeply enjoyed this book and would highly recommend giving it a try.

I thought the description of this sounded really interesting and fun; I hate to use this word because it sounds so objective, but this is a weird book. That's all I can think to say. Maybe I missed something? Didn't finish, really weird.

Nell Barbour may no longer be working on her PhD in biological science (ugly back story), but she’s still in thrall to her former professor and mentor Dr. Joan Kallas. Nell is working with poisonous plants, trying to find antidotes to help save lives. But as her obsession with Joan grows and the number of poisonous plants in her apartment multiplies, Nell, Joan and the oddball cast of characters on their life are on a deadly collision course. Strangely beautiful