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Hoo, boy, this was tough. “On Earth…” was one of the best books I’ve read this century — I absolutely loved it — so maybe my expectations for this much more straightforward novel were too high. But I found it incredibly disappointing. It was a bit corny and predictable, something I might expect to be picked for Oprah’s Book Club. Except for a few beautiful sentences, it was missing much of the creatively poetic prose of “On Earth…” I didn’t find any of the characters’ actions and emotions to be particularly believable. Even the ending could have basically read “and they all lived happily ever after.” I hope Vuong redeems himself with his next book.

This book wanders about, somewhat aimlessly, in the territory between memoir and sociological examination of how divorce has been treated in different eras and cultures. I loved this weaving in and out, and so much of what she says about her own marriage and divorce really resonated with me, but it may irritate some readers. A cautionary note about the audiobook is that the author reads it herself, and pronounces “with” as “whiff,” which became surprisingly grating over the course of an entire book. Maybe opt for the print/ebook version.

For the first 3/4 of this book, I found it very tedious, a literature’d-up romance novel. I had hoped that some details dropped in the beginning of the story would turn into something interesting, but they didn’t. However, the remaining 1/4 of the book changed my mind entirely.

Loved it. I’ve worked in tech for 20+ years, and so much of this resonated. The author is a very entertaining writer, and she makes her points while keeping the plot moving.

So slow and long that I couldn’t finish it. Got about halfway through. The character development was interesting, but not interesting enough for a plot that hasn’t gotten anywhere by the halfway point.