"Banal Nightmare" by Halle Butler is a darkly comedic exploration of returning to one's roots and confronting the complexities of relationships and personal identity. The story centers around Margaret Anne “Moddie” Yance, who moves back to her Midwestern hometown after ending a tumultuous relationship. As she reconnects with old friends and navigates the dynamics of their changing lives, Moddie finds herself immersed in a world of parties, resentments, and simmering tensions.

Halle Butler excels at portraying unlikable yet compelling characters, each grappling with their own flaws and insecurities. Butler's writing is sharp and incisive, capturing the absurdity and disillusionment of contemporary life with precision. However, I did find that at times the book was filled with meandering passages that delve into the characters' inner thoughts and elaborate revenge fantasies, which added some depth to the story, but occasionally slowed down the pace for me.

Despite its occasional meandering, "Banal Nightmare" is a captivating read that offers a darkly humorous take on the complexities of human relationships and the search for identity. Butler's keen observations and vivid characterization of unlikable and messed up people make for an engaging and thought-provoking exploration of modern existence.
Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the digital arc in return for an honest review! Banal Nightmares comes out July 16th!

I really enjoyed this book. It felt like if Seinfeld was about a group of women in their thirties in the Midwest. If you identify as a woman, a person in their thirties, and/or a millennial, you will see facets of yourself and your friends in all of these messy but real characters. It felt very real, which I can't say about a lot of characters or plots these days. Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Copy.

For those like me who enjoyed Jillian, the “feel bad book of the year”, is another satire infused stream of consciousness work of fiction from one of the most unique voices today, albeit not always the most enjoyable. Definitely one to keep an eye on moving forward. Perfect Hansel.

Halle Butler is talented at writing an unsettling, uncomfortable story. This was a unique read - you'll hate the characters, but enjoy the story overall. Is this what schadenfreude is? I don't know that I'd recommend it to everyone, but I'd recommend it to those who enjoy the pain of seeing into the brains of terrible characters that you kind of hate that you relate to.

Like the time I binged $35 Doordash chili oil noodles: one-note dopamine hit, well made, strangely satisfying but woke me in the night needing to cleanse my palate, left chili oil smell/residue everywhere, cost of admission too high but won’t stop me from repeating the experience 6 months later when I’m depressed again.

This is a deeply unsettling book about the ugliness of life in your thirties. In this novel, no one is happy. No one likes their friends or their partners. The single people are just as miserable as the ones who are married or in committed relationships. It’s a bleak portrait of life as a 30-something. It will also make you feel less alone if you’ve experienced anything close to what the characters face. Halle Butler shows us the worst versions of ourselves, our most hideous thoughts and feelings about life and other people, and makes us feel seen and understood. She puts unhealthy relationships on display - why they’re so hard to get out of, why even though we are absolutely better off by ourselves, it’s still so painful to be alone at the end of the day. This book left me feeling haunted, gross, exposed, and validated all at once. I’ve loved Halle Butler’s previous works, and I’m so thankful she wrote a much longer book this time. Worth the several years between novels.

I think maybe I am too old for this book lol (I am 37!) Sort of awful people doing sort of awful things? Honestly it all made me feel very anxious. I think if I had read it when I was 23 I would be alllll over it though so I’m sure it’ll find its (younger) audience. The writing though is sharp and witty and sour - great.

I don't have much to say about this one--I enjoyed Butler's writing but being inside the heads of people who all seemingly hate their friends and significant others was anxiety-inducing and painful at times. Four star rating is for the work itself, not the experience of reading it.

The characters were all so easy to hate. Not a single one was enjoyable, which made the book somewhat enjoyable. 3.25

My full review will be posted to Goodreads the week the book is published.

Halle Butler has a phenomenal way of writing characters that are painful to watch but you just can’t help but stay tuned in to. Her writing style complements the characters perfectly by oscillating between meandering rambles and choppy, no-frills sentences.

diving into ‘banal nightmare’ felt like a plunge into chaos, and the title truly nailed it. these characters were a certified mess, yet oddly relatable? the mundanity had me kinda bored at times, but then again, maybe that was the point? i did feel personally victimized by the marathon of internal and external monologues. moddie is me and i am her.

it was dark, cynical, and downright strange narration from all angles. a journey into old friendships, the messy dance between our past and present selves, pure millennial dread, and the raw work of untangling traumas. a weird mix of discomfort and emotional release. i honestly can’t tell if im going to continue to think about this long after reading or if im going to attempt not to.

thank you to netgalley and random house for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I started out loving this one but it kinda started losing me around 40% - I originally really liked Moddie and how dark and cynical and strange she was, but didn't care for the way the book started following the other characters. it felt like a lot of them lacked their own unique personalities and the general voice kinda felt the same for everyone. the voice itself was so hysterically honest and equal parts awful and awesome, but just kinda got old after a while.

I loved the exploration of old friendships, hurting, healing & growing up. I am still a fan of Butler as a writer, just wish this one did a bit more for me!

thanks netgalley and random house!

Halle Butler is one of my absolute favorite authors, and when I saw she had a new book coming out, I knew I needed to get my stupid little hands on it. Banal Nightmare completely holds up to the Halle Butler standard. I laughed out loud innumerable times! I found her characters disgustingly relatable and familiar! We get many POVs in this book and I couldn't get enough of each. Butler grossly and intimately understands the millennial experience and today's political climate. As always, I don't care where the author takes me, I trust her writing implicitly.

"...she spent roughly half of every waking moment praying to become more stupid so that she could bear the crushing tedium and confounding horrors of her life."

Absolutely gorgeous and dark and unique work abiut the bad sides of academia and friendship. Thanks so much for the arc

Something I often see people say when reviewing books is "I wish I could spend more time with these characters" - and this is how I felt about Banal Nightmare, though I am probably not supposed to. Moddie and her circle of friends/acquaintances/nemeses can be annoying, close-minded, self-righteous - almost always hilarious. A lot like people in real life. I love Butler's books about twenty-something malaise and was delighted with her take on how that develops in your thirties.

I am such a fan of Halle Butler! I'll be recommending this novel to all my friends this summer. As usual, could not put this one down.

Ugh I love Halle Butler! The novel weaves a lot of social commentary on the frustrations of being a woman with a group of defeated characters who are just trying to navigate life and the challenges that come with adulthood.

I gave this 3 stars only because I found this book to be a bit boring at times with too many personalities to follow. That being said, I will continue reading anything that Halle Butler writes!

DNF. a little too political and intense for the social climate for me, but other literary enthusiasts would really love this.

This is hilarious!
I've very much been enjoying these books about unhinged women fed up with society and unable to articulate what they want in the world as they struggle to engage in society like a normal person who has a filter when it comes to talking about the horrors of the modern world. This book gave me what I wanted. With similar themes and characterizations as Jen Beagin, Mellissa Broader and Ainsley Hogarth, Banal Nightmare follows a woman who upon breaking up with her toxic, limiting boyfriend, moves back to her hometown and tries to reconnect with old friends. She's a bit of an oddball who doesn't quite fit into the rules of how to engage in society. Unnamed, but clearly struggling with some mild mental health issues, our heroine navigates and tumbles through life in this mildly dark comedy. The book jumps from Moddie's pov to the people around her and we get glimpses into their dysfunctional and odd lives as well.

I forgot I had another Halle Bulter book on my reading list, and now I'll be sure to push it higher up on my list. This type of book, I feel, isn't for everyone. It's a bit dark, and has some raging feminism, commentary on society and inappropriate jokes that might not be fun for everyone but quite literally made me laugh out loud. From the first two pages, I knew I'd like this book and once I put it down, I immediately wanted more. 

The writing is so good! It's in short sentences and we're gifted all the information about the main character that we need. It's clear the Moddie is selfish and unable to read the room. She's a bit lost and her mental stability is wavering, alongside her breakup and lonely disposition, she's clearly hanging on. The narration reminds us over and over again that she's selfish, just shy of straight-up saying it, and we get the impression that the narrator in the book itself, is fed up with her.

This whole book is long meandering uncomfortable conversations among people who either hate each other or think hate each other but have history and therefore think they need to interact and have longer, more meandering conversations that are uncomfortable and awkward for everyone involved but they all pretend it's not. 

Don't get me wrong, I kind of loved it, but also as it went on, I was kind of bored. It's one of those books where nothing really happens but the narrator is really focused on the mental and emotional state of everyone. It's from the pov of a character who is specifically and very clearly meant to be unlikeable, however, she's incredibly relatable so it's all just like "why is this happening and why do I like it?" kind of reading. I did zone out a few times because truly it's very meandering, but also like, funny.

I honestly don't know if I loved or hated this book but it's kind of brilliant, and also a bit of a banal nightmare to read... I'll let myself out, thank you.

Unfortunately I DNF'ed this at around 40%... I wasn't able to get into the story and I spoke with others online who'd read it and gave it lukewarm reviews as well. I think a story like this that's built on a pessimistic protagonist and witty writing needs to move at quite a fast pace to hold attention... I'm thinking of the way Emily Austin writes or even Butler's other book, The New Me. This moved quite slow, and almost halfway in I still didn't see what direction this was going.