Losing It is cringingly insightful about sex and dating and all the ways we tie ourselves into knots over both ... Rathbone slyly constructs a female protagonist who is a product of a sex-crazed culture but not a victim of it ... The genius of Losing It is that Rathbone resists turning her novel into a conventional romance. Julia wants sex. She never mentions love.
Rathbone writes with pinpointed accuracy the feelings of discontent and despair that can arise from feeling lost or stuck in life ... Rathbone imbues Julia with such warmth and humor, and writes her with such affection, you can’t help but root for the misguided character even when you want to shake her ... Losing It is a terrific and funny meditation on the deep pockets of discontent in life, growing up, and seizing the right opportunities for connection when you can.
There are many instances in Losing It which invite deeper reflection than they actually elicit...When we’re so desperately rooting for Julia to show integrity, to respect herself, and to place more of her energy into developing herself as a fully alive, well-rounded individual, we feel let down by such evasion of reflection ... Rathbone deftly portrays the complexities of Julia’s adulthood — wry intellect jostling with pervasive insecurity, college-educated with a high-schooler’s expectations of love and sex ... Losing It is aided immensely by Rathbone’s sparkling prose: she writes with a painter’s eye and a diarist’s heart.
