Goddess Complex was everything I hoped it would be. It was a more tame version of books like Natural Beauty and Rouge, focusing less on the beauty standards for women and more on the pressure to reproduce. This novel really switched gears in part two but it kept my attention all the same. There’s an uncomfortable vibe and eeriness that lingers through the entire thing. I thought this was an insightful and honest study into the differing feelings women have on pregnancy and motherhood. Some simply aren’t interested and others would do ANYTHING ( and I mean anything) for it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Press for the ARC. I really liked the first half of the novel, Sanjena Sathian has got a great writing style, and the characterization and plot in the first half was really interesting. There was also some really nice sarcastic humor. Its in the second half that the plot starts to lose its shape and things become a little weaker.

Absolutely loved this. Related in many aspects to our main character's flaws and her aimless search for purpose. I was deeply impressed by the author's storytelling. The commentary on our society's expectations of women (and their reproductive capabilities and choice) and also their expectations of themselves was done artfully with the appropriate nuance and care for the subject. Definitely a new—extremely strange, but in a good way—favourite, that I will be recommending for years to come.

2/13, post on 2/25
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Goddess Complex by Sanjena Sathian is a first person-POV literary novel with strong themes of choosing not to be a mother, being othered as a South Asian woman, and how obsessed society is with having children. Sanjana had an abortion and left her husband, Killian, in India a year ago and is now unable to contact him to get a divorce. He’s not responding to her messages and is now being photographed with a woman who looks sort of like Sanjana. And other people are now messaging Sanjana, assuming that she’s Killian’s new partner. As time goes on, Sanjana’s life and the life of this mystery woman become more and more entwined.

It was bold of Sanjena Sathian to have a main character with a name not only incredibly similar to her own, but also to have a character with a name identical to her’s (Sanjena) and then feature that one letter difference as a plot point. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an author do that. I feel that so many authors would be afraid of being called a narcissist for including their name or readers acting weird about it. Sanjena Sathian goes full speed ahead and not once did I think it was weird because, if anything, it made the novel feel more like either a work of autofiction or something deeply personal with her exposing parts of herself that people could reject.

The complex themes about not choosing motherhood are directly tied to infertility and rapidly losing time to give birth when you hit your thirties. This hit hard for me as someone who definitely wants kids but can feel my clock ticking. Sanjana doesn’t want kids as far as I could see, but she still has that knowledge that she is running out of time as her best friend finally gets pregnant and Killian became desperate to have a family with her when his career was going nowhere. The woman who slowly starts to assume Sanjana’s life is even a pregnancy influencer. I think it is such a difficult topic for so many women because it becomes so much harder for us to have kids before half our lives are even over and we feel pressured to do it, but what if we decide later to have them and it’s too late? A lot of women grapple with this and we need to keep talking about it until society accepts that being a parent should be an active choice but also that having fertility issues isn’t some kind of failing.

Content warning for mentions of racism, sexism, abortion, depictions of pregnancy and sexual assault

I would recommend this to readers looking for books with themes of infertility and choosing not to be a mother and themes of identity

I absolutely hated the main character from the first sentence, but that made for somewhat enjoyable reading. Sanjana is struggling in the year after her last argument with her husband. She left him behind at a commune in India, and has been trying to get herself back on track, but can't shake the feeling that she should be more aligned with the life goals of her peers. She can't quite get there -- her marriage is failed, her hook-ups go wrong, she is so apathetic to children that she can't even be happy for her pregnant best friend. Worst of all, she is being stalked by strangers who lead her to believe that her shadow self could be living her best life in India with the husband she left behind.

And what Sanjana finds in India is really a reckoning with herself, told in the most absurd way. At some point in the story I kind of threw up my hands, and just accepted this book for what it was -- a barely believable set of circumstances that hold a mirror up to Sanjana (and her ilk) so that we are forced to see our inability to roll with the punches of life, and how that can lead to our downfall.

Sanjena Sathian’s Goddess Complex is a tumultuous love letter for women and their choice, for the ones who do not want to become mothers and have to slave away in motherhood. It also intricately explores infertility and the uncanniness of what one’s obsession can lead to because of an inextricable longing for a child, someone to be born from a womb.

This satirically strange novel breaches the idea of a thriller but emerges as more of a commentary on women’s bodies, the idea of choice and gaining freedom from that. Mix in the complexities of the South Asian diaspora and navigate through the character Sanjana’s beautifully chaotic life.

Sathian has a unique way of addressing herself—author-as-main character. In a very intriguing way, she broke the fourth wall as she addresses her ‘not’ self whilst they convene about ‘mirroring’ in their book. It was an enjoyable read.

[Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.]

This book is funny all the way through and halfway through that humor turns dark. Sanjana is so messy but working on herself. Her relationships are all hanging on by a thread. Both her sister and her best friend ask her to find a different place to live so Sanjana goes back to India to find her estranged husband which turns into a single, white (but not white), female type of situation. There's a cult, the mystery of where her husband went, and finally, the confirming of Sanjana's most profound beliefs. I like that this is a "closing doors" kind of book. Sanjana can see in real time how her life would have played out had she stayed with her dumb husband. This books has horror-esque qualities and I could not get enough.

*Wow, this book hit at just the right time for me. As someone creeping up on my mid-30s, I've recently had to come to terms with my own questions about having kids vs. living a childfree life forever, and Goddess Complex was a thought-provoking ride through that same dilemma.

Sanjana Satyananda is in a messy spot—her marriage is on the rocks after a blowout argument at a commune in India, she's couch-surfing at her annoyingly perfect sister’s house, and she’s stuck trying to salvage her dissertation while her peers obsess over babies, houses, and Pinterest-perfect lives. Just when she’s ready to finalize her divorce and move on, her ex goes missing. That’s when things get...weird. Fertility consultations, unsettling phone calls from women asking her for pregnancy advice, and surreal encounters that force her to confront the life she could’ve chosen.

I loved how smart and biting this book was. Sathian tackles everything from the fertility industry to influencer self-care culture with dark humor and sharp insight. It’s equal parts feminist satire and psychological thriller, which sounds chaotic—but it works! The twists kept me guessing, and Sanjana’s voice was relatable and honest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the free ARC in exchange for this honest review.

This slyly written book pinpoints the dilemma all modern women have: to breed or not. It's never an easy choice and sometimes you don't get to choose what happens within your body. Desi MC Sanjana doesn't want to have kids, and is living what should be her best millenial life (but so is Not) as married-yet-separated. Her husband is in India and due to some strange vagaries of WhatsApp, filtered photos, and dopplegangery, her friends and fam think she's there too, and is expecting. As someone without kids, and frankly with no other choice, she tries to hunt him down, but becomes embroiled in a fertility complex. And complex it is - we get sucked into the aesthetic of not-Sanjana's influencer lifestyle. And that doppleganger's lady's name is Sanjena (as is the author's). Getting confused? Yes, it's nuts. It could be the psychedelics, it could be the concussion, it could be these modern times. Strange yet appealing book!

This is messy and unsubtle, but I couldn’t stop reading it. Sathian is very good at poking at the absurdities and soft spots of modern life.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

very interesting, literary, and at point hypnotic and very well made. it has two sections but it's very cool. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the advanced copy! 3.5 stars! At first, when I started reading this was a five star read for me. As someone who does not want children, I absolutely loved the main character. It’s so rare to read a book where the main character doesn’t want children (and I loved how she didn’t have a change of heart by the end!). I loved how she was such a strong character and didn’t care what anyone thought and was just trying to survive her thirties and figure out the messiness of life. But the second half disappointed me. I really wish it went into a different direction (I don’t want to give it away). But overall, the writing was fantastic and really reminded me of Ottessa Moshfegh. I recommend this book to fans of Ottessa Moshfegh and Melissa Broder or Megan Nolan.

When I started this book, I thought the author was trying to impress. The first sentence was overly bizarre to the point of pretentiousness, followed by descriptive phrases like "Pepto-Bismol pink" and "snow globe synecdoche." But once the book found its flow, it either lost that edge or became assimilated into Sanjana's personality, which I found to be endearing despite being overly negative at times.

Ultimately, this book blew my mind; the author did end up impressing me. She's a brilliant storyteller who crafted an interesting narrative while tackling big topics like feminism, abortion, motherhood, identity crises, and tumultuous family relationships. I found myself relating to much of Sanjana's inner journey, and I think most readers can find at least something to relate to with the wide net Sathian casts.

One thing I do have a question about is the fact that the author gave one of the characters her own name. Maybe it speaks to how personal the story was for her, but I thought it was an interesting choice.

This book is one of my new all-time favorites. The author's writing ability is some of the best I've encountered, her storytelling just as great. But what really captured me was her ability to weave deeper meaning into the text in a way that was both layered and natural. 5/5, I hope this book takes over the internet this year.

MY FRIENDS. This book was gripping and magnetic - a total fever dream of a book. I had read Sanjena Sathian's "Gold Diggers" (which I also very much enjoyed), but this was so different and fresh.

This is the story of our protagonist, Sanjana Satyananda, who is going through a bit of a spiral after the breakdown of her marriage. We watch as she has prickly exchanges with her friend Liz and her sister, both of whom are in very "together" and domestic parts of their lives in contrast to her current experience. Sanjana is trying to formalize the end of her marriage, but as luck would have it, her husband Killian (a white man who really took his alleged Indian ancestry to heart) is missing. This is the story of how she ends up in increasingly bizarre scenarios in pursuit of Killian and a clean-cut divorce.

There are elements of unreliable narration here that I LOVED - it was done in such a fresh and dizzying way, I found this to be an unputdownable read that is so unlike anything I've read before. I highly recommend!

This starts with the classic tale of a chaotic FMC going through a tough time, but really comes into its own when the strange occurrences start ramping up and we dive headfirst into psychological thriller vibes with a side helping of feminist satire and black comedy.

The unravelling of the truth is delightfully unsettling and was an unexpectedly perfect backdrop for Sathian’s insightful commentary on childbearing and the right to choose.

As a woman that doesn’t have children and doesn’t intend to, the premise of Goddess Complex sounded interesting. Sanjana has an abortion after her husband gets her pregnant and she doesn’t want to have children. She is then left dealing with being in a position that’s in direct opposition to what women have been told they should want, to be married with children. It’s a stigma that’s dated that makes women question their purpose and self worth if it’s something they don’t want. In Sanjana’s case, her formerly feminist best friend is expecting and then to add insult to injury there’s someone who appears to be masquerading as her that appears to be pregnant by her husband that she isn’t yet divorced from. So naturally, Sanjana decides to go back to India to find her husband and Sanjena, the pretend Sanjana. Then it gets really weird. While it’s plausible it feels surreal, and beyond normal reality. I already wasn’t a fan of Sanjana’s entitlement and behavior (and I still want to know why characters like this are pitched by by marketing publicists as prototypical millennials) but this made the book unappealing to me. By the end it returns to a sense of more normalcy but it was hard to pull myself out of the fever dream of what happened in India. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Two and a half stars.

I liked the beginning of this novel, which centers on protagonist Sanjana, a "messy," recently single woman who in some ways seems self-assured, as in her desires not to have children, but in other ways seems stunted and unable to become a full-fledged adult. The book becomes stranger as it progresses and Sanjana discovers that her ex is dating a somewhat more attractive (and possibly pregnant) doppelganger named Sanjena. (Note the similarity not only in the characters' names but to the author's own). From there, Sanjana tries to track down her ex to obtain a divorce and becomes enmeshed with Sanjena through this process.

From this point, I found the book bizarre and it didn't read like a thriller, although there are some strange and slightly chilling plot points, to be sure. I saw it through to the end and while Sanjana does evolve, I didn't feel invested in her story or its conclusion.

2.5 stars, rounded up

I'm feeling a little sad to rate this book so low. The first half of the book was quite good. It was a good look at motherhood and pregnancy, and the pressure that women like our main character Sanjana feel from those around them. Sanjana is the daughter of Indian immigrants whose relationship was the result of an arranged marriage, and her views surrounding marriage and motherhood are influenced by this background. I felt like the first half of the book did a pretty decent job weaving all these topics together and digging into Sanjana's feelings on them.

In the second half of the book, though, the analysis just felt way shallower. Once in India, Sanjana goes into a daze and stops thinking so hard about pregnancy, even though she is surrounded by women who are trying to conceive (which is in sharp contrast to how she felt around her friend Lia in the first half of the book). We also get what I would consider a "villain monologue" towards the end that would have been a great segue to talk more deeply about the pressure many women face to become mothers, but Sanjana's strongest reaction to that is basically just thinking, "I understand why she feels that way and I don't blame her". I don't think Sanjana needed to have her own monologue on the subject, but a bit more than what we got would've been nice.

There were also some writing choices in the last parts of the book that just left me feeling dissatisfied. First was the fact that a few of the things Sanjana did in India were motivated by her thinking "it felt natural" to do. Each time that type of descriptor popped up, my immediate reaction was, "Why, though?" Also, going back to the lack of depth, the ending just felt a little too neat. I can get that Sanjana's experience with Sanjena in India probably helped her figure out a lot of her complex feelings around motherhood, but I don't feel like we got to see that. While in India, she spends so much of her time in a haze that there's not much room for her to consider her own feelings. And so, when the ending comes around and she's seemingly made peace with a lot of her problems from the first half of the book, it just felt unsatisfying.

Much like her earlier Gold Diggers, Sathian's Goddess Complex is a contemplative and humorous saga, both dreamy in its storytelling and cutting in its cultural criticisms.

Sanjena Sathian’s Goddess Complex is a rare gem—an intricate and thoughtful examination of women’s choices around motherhood. Sathian navigates this deeply personal subject with nuance, avoiding easy answers and allowing her characters the space to grapple with societal and internal expectations.

What truly shines is her portrayal of relationships between women. From friendships to sistehood and to rivalries, she captures the transformative impact of pregnancies, babies, and the decision to have children with stunning authenticity.

Beautifully written and emotionally resonant, Goddess Complex is a powerful exploration of identity and connection that lingers long after the final page. A must-read.