A review by illtakethenightshiftx
Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn

dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster* for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved every second of this!! Astrid is the messiest character I’ve met in a long time. She is a tornado of booze, drugs, sex, and transactional relationships that leaves a path of destruction 100 miles wide in her wake. And yet, you can’t help but root for her the whole novel and want to see her do better and make better choices.

Dorn’s prose is brash, unflinching, honest, and compulsively readable. At times, it feels like you’re reading someone’s journal or secret Tumblr account. I also got major Ava from ‘Hacks’ vibes (just less funny) from Astrid, which I enjoyed. I liked how Dorn wrote the side characters and how the reader gets to watch their relationships to Astrid evolve over the course of the novel. 

There was one point towards the middle of the novel where Astrid’s cyclical shenanigans got a bit old for me, but that feeling quickly went away as the story progressed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and will be reading the rest of Anna Dorm’s catalogue immediately!! Perfume and Pain is for anyone who likes to watch mess and drama from a safe distance, until you inevitably get swept up in it in some way.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings