... bizarre, surreal and heartbreaking all at the same time, especially as Bonnie’s artificial reality starts to break down. It’s easy to imagine, given the novel’s premise, that her story is farcical or jokey, but it’s really not. Instead, it’s a fascinating and at times painful exploration of grief, an absurd and tragic vision of what life looks like when someone desperate to erase one’s self from one’s own life is given an unexpected outlet in which to do so.
Engaging ... The conclusion might not satisfy everyone, but there’s much to appreciate in Hutson’s deft exploration of the toll trauma takes as well as both the lure and dangers of disappearing into a fantasy world.
Affecting and ingenious ... This darkly clever work dramatizes the necessity and fragility of illusions, showing how they can crumble when broadcast to the world. Hutson is off to a brilliant start.
Hutson is far too smart, though, to turn Bonnie into an easy case study on the effects of trauma; Bonnie is both self-aware and resolute that her turn away from the world is justified. Hutson’s prose, too, is as cleareyed and convincing as the novel’s premise is farcical ... Looks at trauma, wealth, and infatuation through a startlingly original lens.
