The main character reads exactly like the privileged white woman that she is— acts as if her small glimpse into negative criticism gives her the credibility to speak for others experiencing worse; educated enough to know how to say things about experienced racism, but only to profit off them either with money or ego. You spend the entire book being convinced every character is a horrible person, and the ending doesn’t have a sense of justice for anyone. The main character is dramatic in the dumbest way possible, and aside from her “friend’s” death, it was all very predictable. Characters try to be relatable by trauma dumping or playing off others trauma as their own, but it just reads as self pity and pathetic— unfortunately a lot like RF Kuang’s other main characters in her other books.