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bookcrazyblogger 's review for:
The Smash-Up
by Ali Benjamin
In 2018 Starkfield, Massachusetts, a smash-up is coming. Ethan and Zo Frome are a married couple struggling with differences in life. Zo, angered by Trump’s presidency and Kavanaugh’s election to the Supreme Court, has begun a local women’s group, dedicated to resisting against the alt-right. Meanwhile Ethan is struggling financially when the Hollywood influencer company he founded with his former college friend begins coming under fire from the #MeToo movement. Meanwhile, their live-in, paid babysitter, Maddy, is beginning to cause problems, seeing as she drifts from around searching for purpose, while flirting with Ethan but not fulfilling basic requirements by Zo, to watch over their daughter Alex, an eleven year old who has an intensive form of ADHD. Financial problems, political unrest and problems within the marriage are a clear sign that somethings wrong in the Frome household. Will this little family make it through or will they be forever altered? Okay. This is a really interesting book to review. On one hand, it’s incredibly well written and relevant to what’s happening today. On the other hand, my god was Zo completely insufferable and Ethan a spineless twat. I found myself really only connecting with Alex, a girl whose parents were so obsessed with their own drama, they couldn’t even correctly help their daughter with her neurological condition. I found it really hard to sympathize with Zo: she took things too far. She’s peak white, feminism and reading her obnoxious rants, her lack of self-awareness, her bullshit attempts at inclusion for POC-well it was like being locked in a room with a thousand screaming birds and I hate birds. Just because I couldn’t connect with Zo’s character until the very end, doesn’t mean this is a bad book. It’s actually the opposite. This book was brilliant, showing the dirty side of liberal politics. While the far-right is extremely concerning, I think the far-left is just as concerning, which believe me! I know! Is controversial! This is a book that’s going to strike up a lot of debates and is genuinely compelling.