a slightly better blockbuster

Come and Get It, by Kiley Reid, is another one of those books that was highly recommended by, like, local news and the ~author scene~. It follows the ill-fated professional and sexual relationship between Agatha, a lifestyle journalist and visiting professor, and Millie, a super-senior RA, at a state college in the American South.

Like Housemates, another locally hyped-up book, that I deeply hated (i'm not going to bother linking the dw post where i systematically explain how not worth my time it was, because it's not worth my time), Come and Get It is DEEPLY literary and DEEPLY pessimistic and DEEPLY concerned with positioning the author as a Good Person. I Get It, You're Smarter Than Me! That is not, uh, the relationship I want to have as a reader with an author. It's so, like... EVERYONE in this story is a deeply bad person in ways that are often parodies of themselves. And sure, that's part of the point: money makes people do stupid shit. Millie wants to buy a house so bad she accepts a bribe from a resident; those residents are themselves so spoiled that they're incapable of being kind people (which, you know, I did go to a college with a substantial amount of Rich Girls, Reid isn't necessarily wrong about girls like Jenna and Tyler existing in the world); Agatha is literally just hanging out and performing deeply unethical and unsupervised research (and she's like, deeply vengeful, actually, too). But there's a total lack of affection for the characters, I feel, besides MAYBE Millie, that I really struggle with a little.

Specifically, I'm bothered by the book's treatment of Kennedy, one of the college students. Kennedy's relationship with money takes the most backseat out of all the characters, and the novel focuses a lot more on her desperate struggle to feel liked/wanted/happy. She has a bad relationship with her roommates through no REAL fault of her own (excessive consumerism, maybe, but aside from the inciting incident where this is brought up it never really comes back). Despite being a POV character she mostly serves as a catalyst for her roommates' and RA's bad decisions. Which kind of sucks. And, spoiler, she self-harms in a very dramatic and public way towards the end of the book, and listen. It gets kind of written off as a thoughtless action and, like, juvenile or immature? And, again, it's a catalyst for the other characters sort of but not really facing consequences for their actions? But throughout the book, despite her treatment by the narrative, she's the character I feel the most for. As someone who has been ostracized, who's struggled to make friends, who thinks everyone hates me sometimes (I'm going to therapy and working on my intrusive low self esteem thoughts I promise), like... I really want things to turn out okay for her, and they just don't. I get her impulse! I get the almost unconscious, incoherent, accidental way she hurts herself, I've Done That! And the narrative doesn't really care. It just gives up on her and makes her pitiable and a source of Millie and Agatha's guilt. Fucking stupid.

One thing I will say for it, though, specifically in relation to Housemates, is that the prose is enticing to read. It was a really quick read actually--where Housemates got bogged down in leftist jargon and overy-specific temporal positioning, Come And Get It actually moves, and despite my dislike of the story I nevertheless found myself wanting to FINISH IT and would reach for it on the train or while sitting around waiting for something.

I guess the central thesis, of Money Makes You An Asshole Sometimes, is sound, but I just... I don't like the path that Reid took to get there. That make sense?

and finally: wtf is her problem with uptalk. it is annoying I Guess but it is not a cardinal sin?