a stunningly taut psychological thriller novella from Craig. such a short book packs a hell of a punch, we really get to dive into the jealous psyche of our narrator. will be reading more from Craig in the future!

My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig is a tale about envy. It follows Tessa, a writer, and her “nemesis” Wah as they navigate romantic relationships, motherhood, and their purposes in each other’s lives.

Tessa is the most selfish character I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. She is arrogant, fiery, and often just plain rude. She uses feminism as a performance, and clearly does not understand that feminism means that women should be anything that they want to be without fear of judgement. Throughout the majority of the novel, I found myself angry at Tessa and sympathetic towards Wah.

However, writing a character that is this unlikeable and makes me this angry takes talent. Charmaine Craig is undoubtedly talented. Her writing is lovely and her characterization is powerful.

Despite this, I found myself hoping for more. I felt that the plot was weak at points, but the characterization and writing were strong.

What first seems to be a recounting of a woman’s slightly obsessive relationship with a professor (Charlie - another woman’s husband) soon becomes an intensely thought-provoking piece of (at times) complex prose. While our protagonist Tessa, hates Wah (the other woman) seemingly inexplicably it becomes apparent the hatred stems from the way Wah makes her confront her own firm, rigid ideas about femininity, motherhood and marriage.

This is a highly philosophical read with an unreliable and untrustworthy main character which is right up my alley! I will say that because it is such a short book, Tessa’s thoughts sometimes came off as rushed but honestly that only aided my interest in her even though she was highly unlikeable. It was one of the aspects of Craig’s writing that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

My Nemesis is a deeply philosophical, fascinating, perceptive novel that places the reader firmly inside the head of a thoroughly insufferable protagonist. Tessa is a white female writer who begins a friendship with a philosopher and scholar named Charlie. They are both married -- Tessa to Milton, and Charlie to his mixed-race Asian wife Wah -- so their affair never goes beyond the intellectual. On the surface, Tessa and Wah seem to have a lot in common. They are both successful memoirists and mothers of complicated daughters: Tessa has a fraught relationship with her college-age daughter from her first marriage, Nora, and Wah's adopted daughter Htet was rescued from a Malaysian sex trafficking ring. But in Tessa's mind, she and Wah couldn't be more different. Tessa thinks Wah is "an insult to womankind" -- and during one martini-fueled debate, she tells her so.

The narrative is intentionally one-sided, written in Tessa's voice to an individual who is at first unnamed, and Tessa's sense of perception is skewed to say the least. She is entitled and hypocritical and condescending, demeaning Wah for being servile, for displaying emotion and fragility, while applauding her own self-perceived woke feminist approach to womanhood, motherhood, and art. But as Tessa and Wah's relationship becomes more complex, we begin to see that Tessa is not at all who she thinks she is. Often, her outer and inner lives coexist in blatant contradiction. And Wah isn't who Tessa thinks she is, either.

Is there one "right way" to be a woman? A right way to love, to suffer, to exist, as a woman? These are just a few of the questions Charmaine Craig poses in My Nemesis, as she explores traditional gender roles, feminine and masculine ideals, parenthood, marriage, race, cultural identity, and feminine rivalry in its pages. The writing is cerebral and dense and intentionally intellectual as Craig fully inhabits Tessa's voice. I'm sure there is a lot that I missed, because I couldn't help but devour this book. There is so much tension in the narrative as Craig brings both women to their individual breaking points.

On the surface, this is a book about an insufferable white woman constantly justifying how insufferable she is, but there is so much more simmering beneath. Recommended for readers who enjoyed Vladimir and other literary novels with unlikeable protagonists. Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for the digital ARC.

Sometimes the shortest books have the meatiest content, and this is certainly the case in My Nemesis. If anything, I was reminded of Zoe Heller's remarking that a reader shouldn't look for friends between pages of novels, in that none of these characters would make good friends but are damn interesting to spend time reading about.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

This was totally gripping and I liked it so much more than I expected to! When I started it I must admit I felt a bit alienated by all the conversations about philosophical theory and the air of intellectual elitism coming from Tessa (the narrator), however a couple of chapters in I no longer felt like I was too dumb to be reading this book and had realised that this air of elitism is totally intentional. Tessa is an unlikeable and unreliable narrator and I loved it, but if you dislike books where the main character is hard to empathise with then I wouldn’t recommend this one!

This book explores themes of perception, truth, connection (or lack thereof), motherhood and privilege so eloquently and I found it to be completely absorbing. When I had to stop reading to go and do something else I just couldn’t stop thinking about the characters in this book and so it’s lucky it’s not very long haha.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

In just over 200 pages, this book discusses a duality of feminism and motherhood between two very different women, Tessa, a white woman, and Wah, a mixed race Asian woman. Tessa becomes enamored by philosopher and scholar Charlie, but is in a constant rivalry with his wife Wah because of her “traditional femininity and subservience to her husband”. Tessa’s husband Milton enjoys the company of Charlie and Wah but recognizes the unhealthy and uncomfortable relationship between the three. Structured as a letter written from Tessa’s point of view, we witness friendships and relationships build and crumble between the two couples.

I have so many thoughts about this book but the first thought is, it is not what I expected at all and I really enjoying it. Tessa is very unlikeable, kind of full of herself, and is constantly projecting her own shortcomings onto others but it is so, so entertaining. Once you start reading, it’s really hard to put down. It can be a bit dense at times with discussions of Camus and Nietzsche. I wish I was better versed in their writings because some references fully went over my head. It didn’t create too much of a disruption for me as the author explained certain concepts well, but I just felt like I was missing something. The writing just flows and is really quite beautiful.

My Nemesis is told from Tessa’s perspective. She is addressing an unknown reader, narrating the events during the time she and her husband, Milton, start spending time with another couple, Charlie and Wah.

There is tension throughout the book, even though none of the characters is particularly likeable. Tessa is infatuated with Charlie, and they spend their time apart from their spouses, having intellectual debates about moral philosophy. Tessa pushes back against the norms of gender roles, motherhood, and femininity. She is hostile towards Wah, believing her to be too self-sacrificing.

I really wouldn’t want to spend time with any of these characters. The tension comes from the characters putting themselves in the same space (staying in each others’ homes) and blaming each other for their own insecurities.

This novel reminded me, in a way, of Second Place by Rachel Cusk.

I wanted to love My Nemesis but I found the main character extremely hard to like. I usually don’t mind an unlikeable main character but I just could not connect with this story. This is a very intellectual and philosophical novel and the writing was great but overall this book wasn’t for me.

Who knew 200 pages of an insufferable narrator justifying her shitty personality would be so entertaining! Tessa is so delusional and unlikeable in the best way possible. I couldn’t stop reading and looked forward to picking the book back up every time I had to set it down.

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks to GroveAtlantic and Netgalley for allowing me to review this short but beautiful read.

When I saw the description of this book: intellectual people talking about Camus and Nietzsche I immediately put it on my list. The book becomes very philosophical at times which is something that I like but can maybe be harder for people who prefer visual descriptions. My Nemesis deals with love in all shapes and forms, but especially the feminine type of love and its limitations. Tessa and Wah are two different women with each their own conceptions of love and motherhood. The story is told from Tessa's perspective. She describes Wah as a weak, subservient woman. Wah tells her she likes it that way; that feminism should not mean that womanhood is held to one certain standard. Throughout the book Tessa learns more about Wah's life and that of her child, Htet. The seeming privilege of Tessa's life contrast with that of Wah's life and Htet's, and it shows that it really is madness to judge someone's philosophy of life based on our own preconceived notions, because we never know what someone's point of reference is and how privilege may affect the way we think.

I think this book will be very popular with the crowd on Instagram/TikTok that are into dark academia / unreliable narrator / unhinged women stories. I love books like these, because from the start you begin to question the reliability of the narrator. The prose is absolutely flawless. Every sentence flows smoothly into the other. If you like philosophical meditations on love and philosophy itself and you want a challenging read dealing with motherhood, marriage or the role of the woman in contemporary society then this read is recommended for you.

This book really tested my usual adoration for unlikeable female characters. Tessa, who spins a tale of marital unrest and bitter jealousy of the wife of the man she finds herself infatuated with, is selfish and un-self-aware to a worrying extent that makes the story difficult to access. I would have loved a few chapters from someone else's perspective just to have a break.

It didn’t help that the novel is littered with quotes and allusions to Camus and Nietzsche and often felt like reading a textbook rather than a work of fiction.

By the end, I came around to the points the novel made about femininity and womanhood, but it took some time to get there - and that’s saying something when the whole book is only 200 pages.

Read if you like: philosophy, adultery of the mind, contemplating the pointlessness of human existence

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, Grove Press for my arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

"My Nemesis" by Charmaine Craig is a story purposefully told to us from the one-sided perspective of Tessa. Tessa is a successful writer who begins a friendship with Charlie, a philosopher and scholar from Los Angeles. The pair exchange ideas about Camus and Nietzsche and Tessa feels that they have a connection deeper than that of friendship. However, both Tessa and Charlie are married; Tessa's husband Milton adores Charlie and his few visits to them on the East Coast, but for Tessa, Charlie's wife, Wah, proves to be a frustrating image of womanhood. Complicating the friendship is Charlie and Wah's adopted Burmese daughter, Htet, who was the central figure in Wah's last publication. Our story comes to a head when during a dinner between the four of them, Tessa calls Wah "an insult to womankind." In the months following her outburst, Tessa must reconcile Wah as a figure of true weakness and the possibility that her perception of Wah was too narrow and too privileged.

I have to say that this is a story that's better read without too much information prior. It's a difficult read, at least for me, and I often found myself getting frustrated with Tessa and her white feminism. Craig's writing is absolutely fantastic and so enjoyable and the frustrations I felt with Tessa is a testament to Craig's writing. I think that Craig really hits on something that is really rarely discussed today that has to do with how privileged everyone in academia is even those who see themselves as being "woke" or liberally intellectual. Tessa is such an engaging character because she is a memoirist who specifically writes from her own experiences in order to dodge any cries of appropriation and while she is intelligent and conscious of intersectionalism/feminism, she is still bound by her own narrow perceptions of herself and those around her, especially Wah.

While we only get Wah through characterizations of Tessa, Charlie, and Milton, I absolutely adore her. I found a lot of myself in her because I too have been told by white feminists that I was "weak" or "not feminist" because of how I presented myself whether that be in clothing choices, how I spoke, how I conducted myself, etc. I think once we actually get to see Wah, we're not in the same place as Tessa who is shocked but instead, at least for me, we feel validation for Wah. I don't know if I'm phrasing all of this right, but I think so often, there is a particular form of feminism and the strength presented in that particular form that Charlie rightly calls Tessa out on, which involves denouncing traditional femininity and traditional feminine choices having to do with motherhood and relationships. This is especially highlighted in the contrasting relationships of Wah and Htet and Tessa and her daughter Eleanor.

Anyways, without going TOO deep into the story, I also want to say that Craig did a great job of exploring the themes of feminism, racism, gentrification, and class while also looking at the pretentious blindness of "woke" academics and scholars and the ways in which we further divide and set ourselves up as competitors in the name of liberalism.

Obviously, I highly recommend this one but warn that it is not an easy read!

received this one as an arc, again not knowing anything about it. It‘s a really quick read with just a little over 200 pages and the writing is amazing but sadly this one just wasn‘t for me at all. I decided to look at the reviews of this book on Goodreads and read so many positive ones on this one and maybe the point of this book just really went over my head. Sure it is a thought provoking novel but sadly for me it was a complete miss. I almost dnf‘ed it to be honest but decided since it‘s such a short book to just finish it. And honestly this will probably a book that I have forgotten in just a few days because it just wasn‘t for me at all. Nonetheless the author has a way with words that I really like, so maybe I need to read one of her other books instead. This one sadly wasn‘t for me at all.

Not my cup of tea unfortunately. Though I am a picky reader and sometimes unfairly harsh on what I like, I don't think this is a necessary addition for our collection. Felt a bit trite or 'done".

3.5 rounded down

My Nemesis reminded me of Vladimir: not just thematically (a white. educated middle-aged female protagonist recounts an intense story of obsession which is ostensibly about the subject of her obsession but tells the reader much more about the protagonist herself) but in terms of the intense reading experience it provided. I think this is best enjoyed by going in blind, but is one I would recommend (rating only rounded down because I would have preferred a bit more character development - I think this would have given the book more of an overall impact).

On a rooftop bar in downtown Los Angeles, Tessa calls Wah “an insult to womankind” in front of both of their husbands. Through their mutual correspondence, Wah’s husband and philosopher, Charlie becomes the object of Tessa’s yearning. Their intellectual bond builds as they discuss ideas set forth by Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche. While on the topic of children, Charlie reveals he was attracted to Wah’s traditional soft femininity. Imperceptibly threatened by their differences, Tessa views Wah, an Asian author and university lecturer, as weak for her subservience and self-sacrificing behavior.

Race plays an important factor in Charmaine Craig’s latest work in contemporary adult fiction. Charlie and Wah’s recently adopted daughter from Kuala Lumpur of Burmese descent, Htet, additionally challenges Tessa’s worldview. Told from the intentionally one-sided perspective of Tessa, “My Nemesis” is a white woman’s reckoning of orientalism and co-opted mainstream feminism. A well-read memoirist—by her own admission, writing only her experiences in avoidance of appropriation—aware of privileges and the intersectionality framework, is still limited by her own perceptions.

An elegant deep dive into the inner workings that demand male validation but moreso a deconstruction of internalized misogyny, Craig subverts the classical canon. The author writes with psychological prowess, casting doubt on her characters’ realities, motivations, and projections. The best literary fiction leaves the reader with their own nuanced perspective. As such, “My Nemesis” questions the ways we publicly define and privately deceive ourselves. Reminiscent of Julia May Jones’ forbidden attraction in “Vladimir” (2022) and Ottessa Moshfegh’s insufferable narrator in “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” (2018), this novel is for the readers that demand satisfaction.

[soon to be edited for publication on Mochi Mag]

reading this book felt like trying to pick up a thin needle from the floor several times until you give up in frustration.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for the e-ARC! My Nemesis is a story of two tangled strained marriages and women’s rivalry heavily dosed with feminist and philosophical prose. This was a miss for me aside from some thought provoking moments here and there but I’m sure it would be a great read for someone more well versed in philosophy.

I stopped reading at 16% as just hated the navel gazing and the "intellectual affair" left me cold. Too verbose and full of psychobabble. I finished the book a week or two later, but still disliked. Wouldn't recommend to anyone. A bit of a twist at the end but certainly not worth the pain to get there!