Sucker Punch is the perfect title for this absolutely gut-wrenching collection of essays by Scaachi Koul.

Koul brings the reader into her world as she navigates a divorce while balancing familial ties, cultural layers, and a very online life. With wit and humor, as well as honest and unflinching prose, Koul manages to put words to feelings that were at once familiar and foreign. Having gone through a divorce myself, I was laughing out loud, clutching my heart, and time and time again thinking, “exactly!” even though so much about our lives are different.

I’ve been a fan on Koul’s writing for years, and I continue to be. Her voice is unique and her ability to tie in her culture, her family, and her friends into her writing makes you feel like you know her (though she also reflects in the book about the perils of a line of work that has made readers feel entitled to her life — I’m sorry, Scaachi!)

I loved this book so much! If you’re looking for a funny and engaging read, you’ll love this too!

A deeply personal and hilarious essay collection focused on what it is to be a woman in various contexts, specifically daughterhood, wifedom, ex-wifedom, single situationships and sexual assault survivor. Wryly illustrating the perils of modern womanhood, this collection is perfect for fans of Samantha Irby and Sloane Crosley. Very relatable material for millennial women in particular. Thank you to St. Martins Press and MacMillan Audio for the gifted copies.

This is the first book I have read of Scaachi Koul. It was essays of her life and the things she has gone through. It felt so honest, and sometimes it felt like she was figuring things out as she wrote. There is a lot she went through, and she is working through it, in a way that is right for her.
I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

I loved Scaachi Koul's first essay collection, so I was deilghted to receive an advance copy of her second, Sucker Punch. There have been an array of works of non-fiction coming post-pandemic about divorce, and Koul's work stands at the top of the group for it's humor and honesty. It's a book for anyone who thinks life is going to go one way and realizes that life has punched them in the face.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul, another brilliant writer whose work, I'm ashamed to admit, I was unfamiliar with before reading this. I absolutely loved Koul's sharp, smart voice, at times both hilarious and heartbreaking. Like all great writing, excellent essays are not in the *what* of what happened, but the *how* of its retelling. Scaachi Koul has to be one of the best working in this medium today. I also loved how she continues to analyze and deconstruct her past published work here. I've already ordered a hard copy of Sucker Punch and a copy of her prior book.

Unfortunately, I felt sucker punched as I was reading this one. Scaachi Koul supposed her marriage and life after Covid would resemble what it’s supposed to, but instead the lock down turned everything on its head. Used to fighting with everyone and for everything, Koul comes across as a victim, time and time again, and I could not relate to the constant whining over the outcomes of her experiences and the choices she’s made. Koul’s need to fit in and please everyone seems to explode in the most minute detail, and I wanted to yell to her “would you just be yourself?!” Heavy hitter topics of date rape, race and body image were explored, but I couldn’t relate to her internal dialogue about much of it. Maybe as a Gen Xer, this missed my generational attitude, but my patience for the majority of the book and its voice ran out early on. It seemed to me a long journey of self discovery which I was annoyed with and struggled through. I’m so disappointed, I really wanted to like this one.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved this book so much. It was deeply personal, and I almost felt like I was reading the author's diary at times. I am sure this was a challenging book to write and to relive, but I am so thankful Koul told her stories for all of us to read.

Thank you again for the ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC: My rating is 3.5 and rounded up. Koul writes well and this memoir--it's not really stand alone essays, of the end of her marriage is still so raw. It's full of anger, betrayal and feels as though she hasn't really processed the many traumas to the point of clarity. She writes of her marriage/divorce/betrayal, her mother's illness, her own issues, her rape, the pandemic--just a boatload of trauma, and while the writing is compelling it's somehow nebulous. It's both oversharing and undersharing.

Scaachi Koul has written a book that feels honest and vulnerable to her. I found myself rooting for her and then rooting for her to seek therapy to make meaning from her difficult experiences. When she writes about her divorce, her relationships with her mother and father, and her job, the experiences still seem very fresh to her. She is obviously smart and a compelling writer, so this book felt premature. I would be curious to read about the same experiences in 10 years after she has healed more.

This is my first experience with Scaachi Koul as an essayist (I recognize her from TV and podcast appearances), so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was a tightly composed, thoughtful, and sneakily humorous set of essays.

The bulk of the book is about Koul's divorce from her husband, a husband that had been heavily integrated into her earlier works. Because of that, Koul not only examines what happens in a failing marriage, but also what happens when so much of that marriage was fodder for public consumption. Koul examines the lies she told readers and the lies she told herself about her love story. While I'd like to go back and read her first book, I'm not sure I should after reading about how she feels about it!

Woven throughout the collapse of her marriage is the aging and illness of her parents, especially her mother. You can tell how much love she has for both in those portions. You can also see how being the child of immigrants and having fought to marry a white man kept her in her marriage for longer than necessary. There's a desire not to disappoint, but also admit one was wrong, in many collapsing relationships, but for Koul it is exacerbated by the world she grew up in.

The book, while tackling a lot of serious and sad issues, is also very hopeful. Hopeful that Koul will be able to reclaim her love for herself (there's a lot of deep introspection about how poorly she treated herself during her relationship) and that she'll be able to find love again.

As noted above, the book is also filled with Koul's wit and humor. There are so many great asides woven throughout the book that made me laugh.

* Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review! *

A well written memoir about a marriage that falls apart and the reflection of should she have married. The author writes beautifully and I loved the comparison of her marriage to her parents marriage, who fight daily but have been married over 40 years.
I was a little bored at times and I’m thinking that maybe I would have liked it in audio better. I didn’t dislike it but it wasn’t a page turner for me. I didn’t reach for it first when there were choices for me to read from.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for a honest review. 3.5

I really enjoyed this book! I laughed out loud so many times!! The author definitely has a gift with her storytelling.

I went into this book knowing it was a divorce narrative gearing myself up for a depressing spiral into the author's state of mind as her marriage crumbles, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't depressing.

The author is a memoirist who has made a living having a public persona of all her most intimate moments out there online for people to gawk at and pick apart. She thought she'd be writing a collection of essays about her hard-fought majestic four-day Indian wedding to an older white man on the eve of the pandemic, and instead the book is a tender and wholehearted examination of love and all the ways it functions in our lives or falls apart. I was surprised that this book was more about presence than absence of love.

The author takes an unflinching look at her life and decisions, ranging from her striking up an adult friendship with her college rapist boyfriend to the way her boisterous family fights to show their love and how that taught her to be loud and argumentative. Because she now regretted how much she held back to protect his feelings in her first essay about her college boyfriend, I couldn't help but wonder if even as she detailed all her raw earnesty whether she was holding back now to protect people. This felt very honest and full-dimensional but I always wonder this with influencers, how much of what they share is real and what they hold back to protect their privacy or to craft the image and brand they want to project.

I liked how she ruthlessly examined that aspect of her life as well and the parasocial relationships that now demanded an explanation for her divorce. I admit I too have felt entitled to explanations from people I only know online when they constantly brag about how happy of a couple they are online and post happy couple pictures and then it just ends. This book is that explanation. It felt like a journalist reporting on a human interest portrait but it became a deep dive into her own life and emotions.

I appreciated how she didn't hold back in criticizing her own actions and I really felt her family's love for her and her love for them bleed from the page. But she showed their love in all its ugly complications.

Most of all I was surprised at just how tender and earnest this collection was. I left it feeling hopeful and that there are different paths to happiness despite cultural expectations.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I laughed, I teared up, I felt every emotion possible while staying endless entertained. Her narrative voice is so strong and I felt so invested in her journey.

A sharp, honest collection of essays that captures the end of the author’s marriage and life after divorce. Through a mix of personal reflection and social commentary, she examines race, family, and relationships with a meandering style. Witty and unfiltered, it’s a compelling look at life’s complexities.

The cover pictures brass knuckles with a diamond ring on one finger and it says a lot about what you're about to experience. Scaachi Koul is a fighter. She throws a lot of punches and she's on the receiving end, but it's the one you don't see coming that hurts the most. In this collection of deeply personal and raw essays, we get a glimpse of her life as a daughter of immigrants, body image battles, and the demise of a marriage. Infused with humor and sharp observances, it was impossible to look away.

This is a good book for those that have been through a breakup or divorce and need salve on those cuts.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy

Truly phenominal, heartwrenching storytelling.

I remember reading One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter and being spellbound - I still think of this title regularly because it's stuck in my brain. I related to her essays, even though we live very different lives, because her writing at the time was peak millennial. Of course I would identify with the difficulties of the late twenty-somethings who were now not young per se but definitely not the adults in the room.

Now, I feel I have grown alongside Scaachi. Her writing this time around is more mature, more soulful and gut-punchingly sad. I still can't wholly relate to her experiences but I can relate to her ennui, her recognition of the realities of life. Scaachi's writing, then and now, feels like catharsis - like validation for feeling emotions. For milennials being classified as the "everyone gets a participation trophy so no one's feelings get hurt" generation, it sure is hard to talk about emotions and how they affect us.

I want Scaachi to succeed. I validate her emotions for her, because I too have needed emotions validated. And I eagerly await her next collection of essays that will no doubt resonate with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW

I personally want to start off by saying I was unfamiliar with this author and her previous works before this book. I had seen this book on several “most anticipated books of 2025 lists” and wanted to give it a go! I did not know anything going into it and from chapters 1-3 and 5-9 I really enjoyed some of her storytelling and thought the writing overall was fine.

I do not write lightly that this may be one of the most triggering books I have read yet as someone who grew up with a parent with an eating disorder. I cannot believe some of the content that was published within this book. I understand how common eating disorders are and how important awareness can be. I feel the way it was gone about was incredibly irresponsible when there are lines and passages like the following:

“I missed my eating disorder more than I missed my ex husband”

“If I could strangle myself with my own hands then I was beautiful”

“Will I emerge from divorce skinny? Because at least people will look at me with their sad Scaachi is getting divorced looks I’d look good”


I honestly wish I was taking these out of context but sadly there is no remorse, resolution, or reflective detailed in this book about the graphic bulimia the author suffers from. There is no sharing of how this mindset was reset or fixed in the slightest. It is not looked at through a lenses of regret or remorse. In a lot of ways I feel this book glamorizes eating disorders.

While some of the writing and details about her divorce was solid this extremely graphic chapter (and other bits sprinkled in throughout the rest of the book) soured the rest of the memoir. I hope there is a TW at the beginning of the book once it is actually published.

Scaachi Koul delivers a sharp, witty, and deeply personal exploration of resilience in Sucker Punch. With her signature humor and unfiltered honesty, she dissects the unraveling of her marriage, career setbacks, and family struggles against the backdrop of an unpredictable world. Her reflections on conflict—both internal and external—are insightful and relatable, making this book as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

While Koul’s writing is as engaging as ever, some sections feel slightly repetitive, and the emotional weight of her experiences occasionally overshadows the humor that made her first book so memorable. Still, Sucker Punch is a compelling read that balances vulnerability with biting wit, offering a fresh perspective on growth, loss, and the fights that define us.

This is my first time reading something by this author and I’m presently surprised. I was immersed in the essays immediately and her vulnerability about her divorce is impressive. Her culture and humor is woven together masterfully and I can’t wait to read more from this author.