Honey: A Novel
A dark, provocative, adrenaline-rush of a novel about a graduate student who murders bad men and justifies it in the name of feminism, by a bold new voice in fiction
“Might be the most-anticipated debut novel of the year thanks in part to its perfect-for-Hollywood premise.”—Esquire
“A darkly comic novel about the tricky politics of race, sex, violence and love . . . the entertaining (and quietly damning) read you’ll need to kick off spring.”—Elle
A Most Anticipated Book of the Year: Glamour, Debutiful, Book Riot, Esquire, SheReads, Elle, Stylist
She just wants to know what justice feels like.
Yrsa is bored: bored with her PhD program, her entitled students, and the never-ending pages of racial violence and feminist theory she has to read. But most of all, she’s bored with the men in her life—especially the bad ones.
And then, one sunny afternoon, she accidentally kills one.
Suddenly a problematic professor is dead, and Yrsa, well—she’s no longer bored.
Emboldened, she starts to chase the high, and soon no misbehaving sexist man within commuting distance is safe.
Finally Yrsa’s academic research feels useful. But how long can killing in the name of feminist and racial solidarity justify her actions? And how long until her actions—and buried family secrets—come back to unravel her?
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Community Reviews
Yrsa is a PhD candidate at Cambridge University. Though she is smart, often the best, she lacks goals or ambition, just does what comes easily. Yrsa understood as a child that she was different, lacking patience, humility, empathy. These characteristics are on display in this story as is the negativity that might come with not having direction or a challenge. Then there is the tedium she feels, the might-be boyfriend who is ghosting her, and the hatred she directs at her students for their hair or texting or the stickers on their Mac. No real reason. Yrsa is also bored, but that will change. Nothing planned, just doing what comes easily.
This novel is hailed as a darkly comic novel, an adrenaline rush. I must have blinked when the comedy happened and fail to imagine where the adrenaline could come from with a character whose affect is so flat you could iron on it. Perhaps this characterization supports the notion that Yrsa has no empathy or conscience. Either way, that fed into her inner dialogue, actions, and interactions with others. It was hard to stay interested.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing this e-galley.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for goodreads.
Yrsa is a character that is morally gray. She's selfish and little lost in what she wants in life as she's working on her PhD on Afropessimism at Cambridge. When she ends up witnessing the death of a horrible man, something awakens in her, something that may have always been underneath the surface since she was a little girl.
As the book progresses, we follow Yrsa as she seeks the high she felt by attempting to murder another bad man. As Yrsa delves deeper into this world, we learn about her family dynamics, her research, and what happened to her when she was younger that has made her the way she is today.
The book felt disjointed at parts especially when it would hop time. Reading about unlikeable women can be hit or miss for me. I like reading about them if it's either obviously satire and funny... a little absurd and sometimes Yrsa's inner dialogue feels like this, but most of the time, I just felt so bad for her and a little sad. Rather than killing men because she felt justified in it, there's a sense that she can't help it and is looking for an excuse to murder. I did try to connect her actions with her thoughts on liberation regarding her thesis work but the point didn't come through solidly. The ending also felt abrupt.
Yrsa is a character that is morally gray. She's selfish and little lost in what she wants in life as she's working on her PhD on Afropessimism at Cambridge. When she ends up witnessing the death of a horrible man, something awakens in her, something that may have always been underneath the surface since she was a little girl.
As the book progresses, we follow Yrsa as she seeks the high she felt by attempting to murder another bad man. As Yrsa delves deeper into this world, we learn about her family dynamics, her research, and what happened to her when she was younger that has made her the way she is today.
The book felt disjointed at parts especially when it would hop time. Reading about unlikeable women can be hit or miss for me. I like reading about them if it's either obviously satire and funny... a little absurd and sometimes Yrsa's inner dialogue feels like this, but most of the time, I just felt so bad for her and a little sad. Rather than killing men because she felt justified in it, there's a sense that she can't help it and is looking for an excuse to murder. I did try to connect her actions with her thoughts on liberation regarding her thesis work but the point didn't come through solidly. The ending also felt abrupt.
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