This just didn't hold my interest at all. I'm glad others are enjoying it, but ultimately it wasn't for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read it early.

This book was really interesting; it was full of things I didn’t expect. For one, I did not expect the main character to have an imaginary friend that she genuinely saw and heard speaking to her. Second, I didn’t think the writing would be so blunt and matter-of-fact. Alice leaves very little room for interpretation when it comes to her inner monologue.

I was intrigued by Erika and who the heck Pablo was. I wish we had gotten to know more about how Erika got into her profession and how she learned to do what she did. For me, it was a little to vague to understand how she could do all the cool stuff she could.

I honestly expected the writing to be more humorous considering the genre was listed as a comedy, or maybe it’s just that the humor wasn’t for me. Alice’s sociopathic view of the world and the people around her made her difficult to empathize with and I found it difficult to care about what happened to her. For example, she kept calling a runner “the anorexic runner” because she was thin, and then refused to believe she had any other condition other than anorexia despite being told differently by the woman herself, and THEN bogged her down with cynicism until she didn’t want to run anymore, despite doing so for years. I found it difficult to root for someone so callous and with little redeeming qualities.

Also, I don’t think it was too clear why the “wealthugees” chose to move to that particular city in New Zealand; it was never explained why the wealthy kept picking that spot despite prices being driven up and things sucking all-around.

The book was good, but not the right kind of book for me.

I truly loved this book and am so thankful I was able to read an advance copy of it via NetGalley!
“Satirical dystopian cli-fi” is the genre I never knew I needed in my life. This book is set in the pretty near future, but climate change has escalated even more rapidly than it currently is. The main character, Alice, is dealing w depression, serious ennui, an eating disorder, her dead-end job, and her mother (enough said), when a wealthugee named Pablo and his daughter Erika walk into her life. I laughed out loud a bunch of times, mainly because it was too real. Human beings… we’re going nowhere fast but at least there are some super talented ones who can make art about it before we all burn up when the sun explodes, amirite?

I really wanted to love this book. The description sounded amazing, but the book didn't quite do it for me.

Is is good - the characters are beautifully, and weirdly, written and the plot is really interesting, although it felt much longer than it needed to be and at times I felt a little lost.

Perhaps with an annotation re-read I would be able to follow it more.

This is set in a near-future climate crisis with wealthugees from other countries buying chunks of New Zealand, where our cranky, middle-aged, near-genius but mostly unambitious, heroine Alice lives on the floor below her difficult mother. Her imaginary childhood friend has returned.

I absolutely loved the first half of this book--insights, laughs, nods of agreement--it was headed for a quirky 5 star not for everyone rave. I could relate to the location because I live in a place which is repeatedly touted as a climate refuge and where housing costs and class differences have exploded. And I have more in common with the narrator than most people would probably consider healthy.

The second half didn't work as well for me; didn't dislike it, but found it less compelling as it became more like an unusual action novel. Very glad to have read it, though.

Thanks to Gallic Books and NetGalley for the early copy to review.

3.75 stars.

I don’t know how to accurately describe this book. Alice is a *near* genius who is tasked with housing a teenage girl genius, with much more ambition than Alice herself ever seemed to have. To me, Alice is nearly a neutral character, I had no strong feelings of like or dislike towards her. I think that is part of what makes this book work, as Alice herself has no strong feelings towards most things. The plot keeps you moving and invested the whole time, and there is a sense of paranoia throughout.

I loved that the imaginary friend is named simp, and that the rich people moving to NZ are called wealthugees. This was an interesting critique of the world in which we are living in through the lens of slow-paced climate apocalypse. It’s unfortunately not hard to see how parts of this story could become some type of reality! That being said this book never feels preachy, the plot works WITH the social commentary, not in spite of it.

This book was weird. Mostly I just love the pineapple on the cover. The characters were interesting.

One of those books, that every time I set it down, I'd immediately forget what had happened, so for me, it was at its best when I had chunks of time to give it.
When I could see how ridiculous some things were, enjoy the bleak future we could be facing....
The main character though, left me cold.