Butler returns with her latest novel still emitting heavy malaise. Whereas her previous The New Me focused the singular anxieties of one main character, Banal Nightmare shares the load with having multiple characters encounter their own tiny sufferings. Butler's trick--and the highlight of the book--is how she makes her characters' torment so flexible, knowing when to add hope or despair like ingredients to a recipe only named by the end of the book. While full of feeling, the writing is still honed in without feeling embellished or out of control. The methodical approach to Butler creating characters that live in their own bubble is both funny and an echo chamber, and I think the characters even like it a little that way.

This was such an excellent, fun read. I love Halle’s writing as always, and find her stories to be extremely relatable to women. This is an author I have enjoyed coming to know and look forward to reading whatever comes next!

She’s done it again! Halle Butler’s BANAL NIGHTMARE is a bleakly hilarious masterpiece. Each character is so distinctly unlikeable, and yet I could see my sorrows and wounds in (almost) all of them. I laughed out loud, I reflected upon my life past-present-and-future, and I can’t wait to get this book into the hands and hearts of the masses.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for access to the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh. My. God. What a mean little book! I loved Halle Butler's writing so much but that was about the only reason I kept reading.
I don't think you're meant to like any of the charectors to be begin with but man I wanted something to latch onto. I think this is for a very specific audience, much like Eileen was, but I loved Eileen so I'm not sure I can pinpoint my main issue with it but I just wanted to come up for air after a while and I felt it hard to pick back up because it was so damn depressed.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! Based on the cover alone (I know, I know) I was intrigued by this one - and what a doozy it was.

This book reads like a millennial stream of consciousness in a more realistic way than I've ever seen in print. Which made it fascinating and, at times, a bit overwhelming - I already know what's in my head, ya know? But the vacillations of every character between wants, needs, regrets, and the things they only think is realistic in a way most books are not. As if the author just spilled her guts one page at a time.

I'm not sure if this was the intent but banal nightmare wasn't just the title - it was the feeling I had by the end. These miserable people leading miserable lives sucked life out of me. Sure it's realistic - but reading it didn't give me any satisfaction. It was well written and fun at the start but by the end i was burnt out on the prose.

Butler has amped up her examination of life in your 30s in this novel about Moddie, who has moved from Chicago to her home town and still isn't happy. In fact, I don't think anyone is happy in this novel that hovers over Moddie and her friends, Bad marriages, money troubles, frustrating jobs and the rest dog this group. This is redeemed by Moddie's smart mouth and astute observations, Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. While I found it a bit tiresome (which might be the point in spots), I'm sure others will identify.

I loved Halle Butler's previous novels, especially Jillian, so I was super stoked to get to read her upcoming novel, Banal Nightmare. I love the way Halle Butler writes her characters, I think it's really honest and I find her books funny, too. She writes some of the best and truest descriptions of how people interact with each other. I think I'm a little older than the intended audience of Banal Nightmare but it definitely hit home.

I always recommend Halle Butler's books to readers of Melissa Border & Otessa Moshfegh.

At 50% — I’m gonna tap out, I really, really wanted to love this.

the title: fabulous ⭐️
the cover: even better. ⭐️
the rampant Karen-eque emails roasting and toasting your peers/ friends: gorgeous. ⭐️

Our MC Moddie is a walking, talking impulsive thought and while I do usually love books about spiraling women getting away from shitty men, the more I kept reading the less I was enjoying it. I do think fans of Sally Rooney will love this book and it will be quite enjoyable for the correct demographic. Maybe right now I’m too depressed to be depressed by a book but.. it could’ve so been lovely and I think it will be for some.

3.5 stars.

The song I give this book: Love/Paranoia by Tame Impala.

"𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳."

Crass. Mean-spirited. Ugly. Through and through.

It's the kind of novel that has a stink that stays with you several days after. It 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 stinks on me. Perhaps because Butler has, in essence, created the nightmare of reality. The uncomfortable. The unsettling. The disappointment. The frustration. All of being alive in your 30's. And I just turned 30!!! Thanks Butler!

You're not meant to like anyone here. And how does that line go again? Not everyone is meant to like you? Honestly, how do you put up with that? And how do you try to put up with that with others? Especially if you work with them? Especially if you live with them?

Through awful men, difficult situationships, and the pure disgust of being alive, Butler has held up the mirror to reality 10x magnification and stays put, hovering harsh over the biggest blemishes, in all the ways we endure.

"𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘺."

The book started off alright but it went downhill quickly. I have read a book by Halle Butler before and I know that she has a knack for creating unlikable/unstable characters but it’s almost like Moddie never stood a chance for me based on the name.

Do I have to like every character I read? No. But when it’s an entire books with ramblings of characters I don’t really care to read about, especially one named “Moddie”, it becomes a struggle.

In Banal Nightmare, Butler presents the reader with a cast of characters who are just trying to get through each day- while regretting past decisions and wondering if time has been wasted.
The narrator Moddie is working through major changes but is not able to let go of some past experiences.
Moddie definitely is negative; but I also found her to be self-aware, sporadic, and extremely blunt.
Reading this book feels like you’re looking down on a circle of friends in real time - listening and observing utter chaos but real life problems.
What I love about Butler’s writing is that she puts normal, unhinged, and real thoughts onto paper- explaining experiences in the most outspoken, funny, and realistic way.
I can relate to so many experiences in this book and her other works.
Thank you to NetGalley & Random House for this ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! This was a fun read, and overall I enjoyed it. It got a bit muddled for me because of all of the characters— I had trouble keeping them straight because a lot of them didn’t seem fully fleshed out. I enjoyed whenever the focus was on Moddie, and I really liked the author’s writing style. Overall, I’m glad I read it but I do not think I’d reread it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of Banal Nigthmare by Halle Butler in exchange for an honest review. This book takes on modern femininity, art, relationships, and mental illnesses in a relatable and darkly funny way. Nearly every character in this book is unhinged and I was thoroughly entertained. While I wish it could be stronger in some areas, I was immediately swept away. This is another millennial narrative, but I don't mind it that much as a millennial. I'm from the South and I understand what it's like to be in one of the big cities on the coast. You feel like you're constantly on the go and the things you tolerate tend to build up over time until you lose it. The writing is sharp, witty, and hilarious. I'm just starting this new decade of life but I've already had so many "at this point I just have to laugh" moments and I expect that to continue. Your 30s are weird. People are either still acting like 20-year-olds or they are full-fledged adults. Half of your friends are married with kids and a mortgage and the other half are still on Hinge and getting drunk every weekend. I think that's beautiful and this book describes that.

Peering into the minds of regular people, struggling with monotony and somehow wrapped in the pretentiousness of the art world, Banal Nightmare is an incredible meditation about how life in your thirties will never be as you thought. It is very clear everyone is just "living the dream". Who can you even like in this book? Who even likes each other? Everything is a calculated ploy to get to greener pastures. Hatred stews in everyone's minds.

If anything I love Moddie most because she is decidedly unhinged.

The writing is beautiful even though it is describing an ugliness about life that I think many of us would prefer to tuck away. I did find sometimes the flipping between characters too much to track with.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My new favorite Halle Butler? I think so! My only complaint is that I wonder if it would have been stronger at a similar length to her previous work. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this one! The deadpan, dry humor was absolutely gorgeous.

4.5/5

2.75?? Maybe? I’m so torn on this book. It was painfully accurate. The monotony made the themes of the book 10x more impactful yet made it that much harder to want to pick up. If I was rating this solely based on the visceral reactions I had, it would be a 10/10. The readability was just not there for me. Satirical millennial story at its finest.

As with Butler's other works, this one was fairly bleak, droll, and depressing, filled with off-putting and generally unlikeable characters. However, I didn't hate it. There are more layers at play here, and I think the wider range of shifting perspectives really worked. I wouldn't say it was a fun read, but I read it really quickly, and I found it, for the most part, pretty entertaining.

Halle Butler is back with bite, taking us through the lives of some sad, prickly thirty-ish year olds. Though we spend most of the novel with Moddie, who has moved to the suburbs for a sabbatical from work and city life, we also get glimpses into the friends from her past, and new acquaintances she meets in the cliquey town where she grew up. I was charmed in the past by the misery of Butler's books, and this one delivers - these characters are consumed by their resentment of their friends, partners, colleagues, and families. If they aren't trying to one up each other, they are diagnosing each other's problems, or ridiculing each other. Butler paints vivid characters with her signature acerbic wit, and details both their petty and self-flagellating thoughts. Butler heads expect a different flavour to this one - similar vibes to before but more grown and wider ranging.

2.5 stars. This is my first Halle Butler, so maybe her writing style isn't for me?

I was drawn in by the cover (seriously one of the best covers I've seen so far this year) and the title. But--wow what a let down. Nothing really happens in this book. There are a ton of characters and I found it very hard to keep track of who was who. Most of the characters would have intrusive thoughts that would go on for pages at a time that really added nothing but anxiety and dread to the story. And then the story just kind of meandered and ended. There wasn't any resolution (but I guess there wasn't much plot to actually resolve?). Some lines in the book did make me laugh out loud--that was a plus!

Overall--this just isn't the type of book I enjoy. I need more plot and action and this book was solely millennial doom and gloom vibes.

Halle Butler's debut will go down as one of the best of the past decade, and so I was excited when I saw she had a new book coming out. On the surface, BANAL NIGHTMARE might seem like familiar territory -- a protag returns home and is forced to navigate old friendships and family -- but in Butler's hands there's nothing in here that falls as cliche. And her writing remains hilarious. A master at work.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!