Discipline: A Novel

by Larissa Pham

A taut, electrifying debut about a woman forced to confront unsettling truths about herself, her past, and the life she rebuilt following a ruinous affair with her former mentor, from a “lit world phenom” (Harper’s Bazaar)

“An exhilarating, exquisite book, full of an eerie intelligence and startling compassion . . . a pitch-perfect novel.”—Ayșegül Savaș, author of The Anthropologists

A BEST BOOK OF THE Bustle, Debutiful, Harper's Bazaar

I have the sense that something is being drawn between us. Not drawn as in line but as in arrow pulled back. Yet I don’t know which of us holds the bow, and which of us faces the arrow.

Christine is on tour for her novel, a revenge fantasy based on a real-life relationship gone bad with an older professor ten years prior. Now on the road, she’s seeking answers—about how to live a good life and what it means to make art—through intimate conversations with strangers, past lovers, and friends.

But when the antagonist of her novel—her old painting professor—reaches out in a series of sly communiques after years of silence to tell her that he’s read her book, Christine must reckon with what it means to lose the reins of a narrative she wrote precisely to maintain control. When her professor invites her to join him at his house, on a remote island off the coast of Maine, their encounter threatens to change the very foundations of her life as she’s imagined it.

A pristine and provocative high-wire act toggling the fictions we construct for ourselves just to survive and the possibilities that lie beyond them, Discipline launches a spellbinding inquiry into the nature of art-making and rigor, intimacy and attention, punishment and release.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Literature, Art, Adult Fiction, Novels

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2026

About the author

Larissa Pham is a writer living in Brooklyn. She has written for Adult, Guernica, The Nation and Nerve. Pham studied painting and art history at Yale University.

Reviews

[Roxane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is lovely to see Larissa Pham blessing us with a novel. Like her nonfiction, the prose in Discipline is both lush and precise. There is a satisfying interiority to this novel and a fascinating structure as Christine goes on a book tour for her debut novel and then takes a detour to the Maine home of a former professor and lover who derailed her promising career as a visual artist. In some ways, this reads like a taut thriller even though it really is an elegant cerebral exploration of creativity and commitment to one’s craft and how when we don’t value our craft almost anything can rob us of it. The ending was particularly interesting. An admirable debut.

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

love to read about women making messy decisions where the closest thing to a plot is their reflections on them

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
(review to come)

[Meike]

I was intrigued by Pham's Pop Song: Adventures in Art & Intimacy, and I'm always here for a story set in the art world, so let's check out this brand new novel!

[Dona's Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a smart, engaging book. Wonderful plot design.


Pre-Read Notes: The title and cover grabbed me here, honestly. I'm glad I didn't read the description or I might not have read it.

"And I can see , now, that he’s scared. That I’ve really taken something away from him. I’m filled—and I hate that I feel this way, but I feel it— with a sick, ugly pleasure. That I’ve ruined this. Are you proud of yourself? he asks." p138

Final Review

(thoughts & recs) I enjoyed this read, particularly the unique form. I normally write my reviews right away but it's been a few days, and my memory of this book is sort of vague. I do know I liked the second half of the book more than the first. For me, it pays off in character development reaching it's conclusion and a really compelling treatment of the theme of assisted suicide. Since that's an issue that affects the disabled community in an outsized way, I always like when I find this concept in fiction that treats it with gravity and nuance and even freshness.

This is a good selection for readers of litfic, revenge fantasies, and experimental form. I think you would like this if you enjoyed SKIM or maybe THE WHITE HOT.

My 3 Favorite Things:

✔️ She's both describing and critiquing contemporary fiction's chronic myopia. I agree; meta needs rescued from the first person writer POV.

✔️ She's sort of trying to decolonize fiction dang, bold as hell. It's working too, on a subtextual level at least.

✔️ She doesn't use quotation marks, but the execution is smooth and the effect meaningful, so I like it.

Content Notes: sexual coersion, sexual harassment, revenge, terminal illness, assisted su*c*de, su*c*de attempt, drowning, caregiving, grief,

Thank you to Larissa Pham, Random House, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of DISCIPLINE. All views are mine.

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5 stars] If you enjoyed Intimacies or My Nemesis, I think you'll really enjoy Pham's debut. There's something very special about literary fiction that leverages tension from the onset -- it reads like a thriller, and I was very curious to see how the central conflict would resolve itself.

Discipline is about a former artist whose ill-fated affair with a professor in her MFA program results in her withdrawal from the program and inability to paint again. She turns to writing to try and make sense of her experiences, and her not-so-fictionalized debut novel mirrors her own experiences. We follow her on a book tour where she reconnects with former classmates, lovers, and artists.

There's a lot of substance and nuance in Pham's analysis of power, agency, gender, and artistry. Her book is aptly described as an 'exorcism of the past', and in her introspection, we are presented with meaningful questions about the act of creation itself. Her decision to turn away from painting is mulled over throughout the novel, and unearths philosophical questions about how we express ourselves through art. Her decision to publish the novel was intended to be an act of catharsis, but she is faced with the mirror image: in fictionalizing her exploitation, has she reduced her trauma to nothing more than a performance?

Despite the slim page count, there's a lot of meat in this story that I'll be reflecting on. I did find the second part to veer slightly into cliche territory (with a somewhat predictable ending). Still, there's enough self-awareness from both Pham and the narrator about this that I didn't find it egregious by any means. I'll credit this book for getting me out of a reading slump - a knockout of a debut from a writer to watch.

Thank you to PRH Canada for the e-ARC!

[Michael -- Justice for Renee & Alex! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing the Wrong

Larissa Pham's first novel, "Discipline," explores the intricate connections between trauma, artistic creation, and the search for purpose after a painful event. This striking work has been widely praised for its taut prose and philosophical depth.

The story follows Christine, a first-time author on a book tour for her novel—a thinly veiled revenge fantasy about her former painting professor, Richard, with whom she had a devastating, brief affair a decade earlier. This relationship derailed her promising career as a visual artist. The novel's structure mirrors Christine's journey, split into two distinct parts: the first tracks her book tour and reconnecting with past friends and lovers. In contrast, the second abruptly shifts to a remote Maine island for a tense confrontation with Richard after he reaches out with an ominous email– “That’s not how I remember it.”

The unexpected return of Richard completely disorients Cristine. She had painstakingly rebuilt her life, shifting her creative focus from painting to writing, and believed she had finally expelled his memory by fictionalizing his death in her novel. This hard-won peace came after years of silence; she had never told anyone about the trauma before her book's publication, a deliberate secret that had even sabotaged a later relationship. Given all this, her decision to accept his invitation to stay with him raises a central question: what outcome could she desire? Is she seeking closure, a confession, or simply a confrontation with the source of her pain?

The meeting culminates in an exchange that perfectly captures the lingering emotional warfare: “I have the sense that something is being drawn between us. Not drawn as in line but as an arrow pulled back. Yet I don’t know which of us holds the bow, and which of us faces the arrow.”

The book centers on the theme of artistic life. Christine feels she has been robbed of her creative capacity, no longer the artist she once was. To initiate her healing, she has shifted her focus from visual art to writing. This new medium enables her to fictionalize her experiences, thereby allowing her to regain mastery over her own story.

Pham's fiercely intelligent debut refuses to offer easy answers, instead focusing on a nuanced character study of a woman grappling with her past and seeking purpose. The author achieves this by examining the wreckage of trauma through the lens of creative output, all while maintaining a compelling sense of suspense.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #Discipline #NetGalley

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published January 20, 2026.

3 stars

Christine is a former painter, now a first time author and she’s starting her book tour. Is it fair that she gets to have both artistic and literary talent? No. No, it is not.

Her book is a loosely fictionalized version of a weekend affair she had with a professor in her MFA program; this relationship affected her deeply and caused her to give up art completely and it totally changed nearly everything about her life and sense of self. While she is on the book tour the professor reaches out to tell Christine he has read the book.

I have to be honest, I didn’t relate to Christine very much. There’s no doubt the professor was wrong to take advantage of the situation, and there’s no telling how someone in Christine’s position is going to react to that, I guess, but Christine’s life and growth essentially stopped at that point. Over one weekend, it wasn’t even like the had a full on relationship. I felt like there must have been a lot of blank or hurting spaces that Christine brought to that weekend to have it affect her in the way that it did, for as long as it did. But I’m no psychologist, or anything useful, really. Interesting book (though there was a point I would have cheerfully killed Christine, I don’t care what she went through.)

[Lindsey Leitera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where to even start with this one... I was immediately drawn to Discipline's central conflict, prompting me to do something that I don't do often: read an ARC knowing next-to-nothing about the novel or novelist. I’ve now read the novel -- and I have to admit, it feels much longer than its modest page count. Without spoiling anything, I can tell you that this is a book about the way time changes the people we once knew intimately (and warps our recollections of them)... It's also about the destabilizing experience being young and full of promise, only to have these aspirations derailed, #MeToo-style. After a traumatic and shameful encounter with her much-older academic advisor, narrator Christine abandons her career as a painter and struggles to rebuild her life. When Discipline opens, Christine is now a writer and is promoting her first book: a "revenge fantasy" loosely based on this affair -- only Christine's protagonist humiliates and kills the older male professor instead.

Needless to say, I was primed to enjoy this novel based on its plot and themes. But the style/voice was a massive obstacle to my enjoyment. There's something about the overwrought and emotionally-sterile prose that kept me detached from the main character and the minor (then major) dramas she witnesses/experiences. The narrative sets up character interactions that should be taut and interesting, one right after another: an oversharing stranger, an ex-boyfriend, a college friend / artistic rival. But these conversations felt utterly lifeless to me -- missing crucial vulnerability or realism as everyone in the scene prattles on and on with the singular, artificial voice of an MFA student. And then they just trail off...

For the first half of the book, I thought to myself that, surely, this was intentional -- the stilted writing, and Christine's subtly judgmental vibe, and the way that these character interactions kept building up to nothing, no kairotic moment. I kept waiting for there to be a point to it all. I assumed the crucial switch-flip would come during a confrontation between the narrator and the old painter. But these chapters also fizzle. As soon as the narrator and the painter get into unpacking their conflict -- what happened, and what he intended, and how she feels about it -- something ELSE happens that diffuses or cuts away from the situation completely -- culminating in the ultimate cut-away, which I suppose is the novel's "climax." Beyond two paragraphs at the 97% mark, this reckoning fell totally flat to me. There's extremely limited character growth and insight, in my opinion.

Is it so wrong to want to see blood on the pavement after idling in several miles of traffic? That is why I, personally, read literary fiction: for that scene at the end, with the family around the Thanksgiving Day table, where the characters finally go completely aggro on each other. I don't want a short volley of gunshots, I want a nuclear fucking bomb. And, by the end of this, I just did not get it. The main character makes a series of baffling decisions. She claims to want answers but, at every juncture, evades getting them. She insists that she doesn't want revenge, despite writing a revenge fantasy. She fixates on the notion that she has become a completely different person from the woman who was spurned by this old man and quit painting, but... there's no evidence of this in the text. Why give up painting? Why write the revenge fantasy? Why agree to meet this man? There are no answers to these questions.

There are so many moments in this novel where, in response to another character's monologue, the narrator intones: "I don't know what to say, so I don't say anything." That about sums it up.

[whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I am particularly excited for the release of Discipline. I wasn’t familiar with Larissa Pham before reading this, but I think Discipline has the potential to be a big book in the literary community.

Discipline centers a disillusioned artist who claims she quit painting due to the misconduct of her MFA professor and the twisted relationship they had. The plot begins by following her as she talks to people around the U.S. on a book tour for a novel she wrote about the professor ordeal. I would describe her narration as cold and distant, but reachable through the prose.

I think the only thing I wanted more from this one was a clearer meditation on the protagonist’s difficult logic. As in, a clearer break of what she refuses to see in herself and others. For example, I couldn’t tell whether she knew what she wanted by the end of the novel or whether she actually knew why she quit painting. She was both detached and childish, which played more awkwardly for me than compelling.

At only 140 pages, I was able to read this in one sitting, though I feel it would be enjoyable over a longer period since the novel covers a lot of time. There are a lot of ways to interpret both the plot and the protagonist, so I’d be super interested in discussing this one with others. The sort of disconnected narration reminded me of Katie Kitamura’s writing, particularly Intimacies. It is my understanding that Pham has been mostly writing nonfiction, so I am excited to read more novels from her.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bizarre but beautiful book about a novelist whose muse in college was her professor. and she writes a novel about it. But odd things begin happening. As she looks back at her college years she realizes so many things she should have "seen" but refused to The most lovely line was, "The book stopped being an exorcism and became a project of craft and form." It's bewitching in its innocence and depravity but such an unusual novel that I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the sense that something is being drawn between us. Not drawn as in line but as in arrow pulled back. But I don’t know which one of us holds the bow, and which of us faces the arrow.

Christine is a former painter and first-time author whose debut novel is a lightly fictionalized revenge fantasy that recounts the affair she had with her college painting professor ten years ago. Despite her literary success, Christine feels unsettled and adrift in her life, searching for a sense of purpose. And that’s when the painting professor reaches out to her after a decade of no communication, letting her know he’s read her novel and inviting her to his cabin in Maine.

I don’t know exactly why – maybe the use of the phrase “revenge fantasy” and the setting in a remote Maine cabin – but I was expecting Discipline to veer in the direction of a thriller. It doesn’t, although that’s not to say it’s without tension. Instead, it’s a cerebral, thoughtful portrait of a woman whose life was derailed and her desperate efforts to get back on track, even though she has no idea how to do so. It’s melancholy, poignant, and nuanced in its exploration of agency and art, performance and power.

The last third of the book, it must be said, becomes a bit cliché plot-wise, but both Larissa Pham and her protagonist have enough self-awareness to understand and acknowledge this – and it doesn’t by any means detract from the book’s message. In some ways, it enhances it. Discipline is a quiet but resounding war-cry about creation and healing – and the lingering consequences when an artist doesn’t create and doesn’t know how to heal. Thank you to Random House for the early reading opportunity.

[Misha · Rating 4 out of 5]

(rounded down from 4.25)

This was my introduction to the writing of Larissa Pham, and it's exactly up my alley. The prose is both precise, thoughtful, and appropriately lyrical, while the subject matter, despite the mundanity of the blurb, remains deeply focused on the interiority of this young woman's mind and what was taken from her as an artist when she was used by a much older artist professor and then discarded. If you don't enjoy a leisurely examination of periods of time, relationships, and events in the life of a person on their way to getting over a traumatic event when they were young, this may not be for you, because the plot is necessarily sparse here.

Deeply focused on the mind of an artist and how she interacts with the world, with a background of her writing a revenge fantasy book about the trauma, and then dealing with the person in question and trying to come to terms with the trauma. I really enjoyed this and will definitely check out her othe works!

[Amy Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Today (1/20/26) is publication day!

In Discipline, Christine is on book tour for a novel she wrote about her past relationship with a former professor. As the tour unfolds, she reconnects with people from her life—friends, ex-boyfriends, and eventually the professor himself. Each encounter pushes her to reflect on who she was then, who she is now, and how much control we really have over our own narratives.

This was my first book by Larissa Pham, and I really enjoyed the writing. It’s sharp, introspective, and emotionally thoughtful. The novel does a great job exploring memory, power, art, and self-examination, especially how we reinterpret the past as we grow. A strong, thought-provoking debut that stayed with me after I finished.

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating, thrilling, exciting, well written read. I love how we learn bits and pieces from Christine as she reflects on them. Her story and what she seeks now is so relatable. With references to art and through conversations with others she’s seeking answers and trying to work on herself. I was yelling at some of the decisions she made but that just made everything that much more relatable.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ebook. A young novelist cobbles together a small book tour to celebrate her first novel, but also to get away from her real life and examine the huge turn her life has taken. Namely, that she was a much admired painting student, whose painting career came to an abrupt halt after she had a brief affair with an older professor who happens to be her largest fan. But no more. She eventually drops out of graduate school, switches to writing and failed relationships, that all led to this book, basically about her college life, except in this book, she kills her professor. Now retired from teaching, the professor invites her to Maine so they can talk. Feeling that maybe she needs this before she can move forward in her life, the author agrees.

[Liz Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Thought I didn’t need/want any other writing on this subject manner. Turns out, I did with Pham’s prose.

[Lindsey]

Thanks PRH & Goodreads for this giveaway/ARC!

The premise gave me great intrigue, and Phram didn’t disappoint. The conversational style wrapped in Christine’s search for closure made for a thought-provoking and captivating read. A few times, during her earlier journey with past lovers and strangers, I reflectively sat in the beauty of everyday experiences we often think as mundane. Phram really captivated my attention. I’ll be curious to reread in the future after sitting with my thoughts on this one.

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

For some, hindsight is 20/20. For Christine, a look back is not enough. She has some major past issues that have made lasting impacts, so her approach to return to them through art and IRL is both brave and at least a little bit bonkers.

Christine's initial commitment is to painting, but that falls apart via a challenging encounter with a mentor/professor. She's forced to face this critical change in her life in several ways. By comparing herself to a former peer, she has an automatic measurement for exactly how far from her artistry she's fallen. There's also Christine's book, where she's used some very true-to-life inspo to not only engage her audience but to also process some of her personal challenges. And finally, there's a reckoning that may help her heal or could help her devolve into writing a revenge fantasy sequel.

I have a particular distaste for the mentor/mentee relationship turned gross because it's so common in life and in art, and I hate it. As a result, I had some challenges with this book, but those are more about me than about the writing or conceptualization. Since I'm a whole person, it's tough for me to separate the motif from the art. While this is her trauma to process as she likes, I also found Christine's outcomes frustrating.

What I love about this speedy read is the depiction of the tie between an individual and their art and how tenuous any part of our sense of self or identity can be when we have a challenging interaction with another person. There is some really impactful discussion here about Christine seeing herself literally and metaphorically, and that scene on its own made this worth the read (not that the rest didn't - this was just particularly well devised).

This book, like all literary fiction, isn't going to be for everyone, but there's an undeniable spark in this writing and a message that will resonate with the artists among us.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Madison Dettlinger at Random House Marketing for this widget, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

My exhaustion with this book is mainly due to the fact that I’m just tired of reading about relationships between women and their higher education professors. I just am! Even if the writing is technically good, and there’s interesting side characters, the story beats are the same. There’s a reunion, there’s resentment, there’s a woman left broken, watching an older man grow older and leave her with a new trauma. Christine, in this book, barely felt like a character. I understood the outlines of her life, but her growth stopped at a point in her life that predates this book’s events, making her feel deeply uninteresting. Consider this my lesson learned, I will not read books with this plot anymore.

[Lanesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, wow. Discipline by Larissa Pham is a masterclass in writing a novel on longing, grief, desire and the quiet moments in life. The novel takes place over a few weeks as we watch Christine, an author and former painter, who is on tour for her novel that focuses on relationship between a student and older professor—reminiscent of Christine’s own experiences ten years ago. While on tour, her ex-professor reappears and she must confront truths she’s held dear for years.

I’ve never highlighted so many passages in a book, maybe in my entire life. Pham’s writing style is slow, methodical and made me reflect on the little in between moments in life - when I’m looking up at the sky or watching waves crash against the rocks. I was so grateful to sit with her words. And while a quieter novel in terms of plot, it did tie together threads that I wasn’t sure would become resolved by the end. However, if you’re looking for a book to answer every question this isn’t that, and in my opinion, it does a beautiful job toeing that line. So much of our lives have unanswered questions and this novel felt acutely human. Pham’s writing gorgeously embodies how our lives are lived, for better or worse.

As someone who is not a painter, I had a little difficulty getting fully into the hyper specific scenes detailing the craft of painting, but it didn’t take away the beauty of the writing. An area I especially loved beyond the reflection on the relationship between Christine and her previous professor was that of her friends and ex-boyfriend. Showing even glimpses of their lives and illuminating the faults and moments of love between them really filled in the color of the life Christine loved before the opening of the novel.

I was lucky enough to get an arc of this last year thanks to NetGalley and immediately ordered a copy for myself. Pham is now officially on my automatic buy list and I can’t wait to see what she puts out next.

[francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

thank you penguin random house for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

what a beautiful book, and honestly a very unexpected one. i’ve found myself reading a lot about this kind of subject matter (both for school and just because) and this took me by surprise. the novel follows Christine, a painter turned writer scarred by her experiences with her professor while she was in grad school. this was a beautiful story told in a very raw way, which took experiences of depression and imposter syndrome and turned it into something absolutely worth reading. i saw myself in this character a lot, which i wasn’t expecting to, and allowed me to fall into the story even more. how do we categorize the pain imposed on us from situations that we are taken advantage of? how can we reclaim pieces of our identity that are lost or taken away from us through various trauma? i think these questions are answered in this novel.

this was really good, i really recommend it!

[Ashley Scow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well written, intentionally lacking quotations so the reader is meant to slow down and properly analyze who is saying what and why. Possible spoiler alert, but let’s just say the main character is rarely doing the talking.

This was a meandering yet uncomfy snippet of life from a worn out and depressed woman who doesn’t seem to realize she’s the only one who has been holding herself back from happiness. While I appreciate the author’s literary analysis of blaming someone else for our own unhappiness, I didn’t enjoy the journey.

Thank you to Random House for the physical ARC.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 my last book of 2025! ending on a very contemplative lit fic note reflecting on art, writing, and memory. 'discipline' has a few meanings, from punishment to self control to an academic study, all of which this book circles around. this felt like the right read for my contemplative year end moment, especially as i really start feeling in my 30s- i've been reaching towards the past and reconciling those memories with who i am today. how do we let certain moments define us and maybe control us? I had struggled with her earlier book Pop Song but the way she talks about art here felt more accessible to me - someone who kind of doesn't get how to look at and analyze visual arts- and served as a good window. i really enjoyed this. also kind of funny to read post katabasis- everyone is so traumatized by grad school!! this also had a real life 'i love maine' moment and listen, same!

"how we think: this wound feels like home, I will make my home in this wound. bTu I had done that. I had believed this wound was all I know"

"Either you will let me ruin your life or you will get on with it. What will it be?"

[jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Larissa Pham’s “Discipline” is a book that offers an intriguing premise: “A woman forced to confront unsettling truths about herself, her past, and the life she rebuilt following a ruinous affair with her former mentor.”

Unfortunately, the execution never fully lived up to its potential for me. The plot, the characters, and the dialogue created a lot of distance and I felt like I was forcing myself to finish the story without being particularly invested in the plot. The lack of quotation marks—which I usually don’t mind—only added to this; the narrator’s thoughts are often tacked on in the same line as the dialogue, making it difficult to tell them apart.

Overall, this was a 3 star book for me and one than I’m not convinced I’d recommend. Huge thanks to Random House for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. “Discipline” will be available on 1/20/26 ✨

[Cait (Luckycharmedlovesbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this novel. While overall an interesting story, I found myself rereading pages to understand them. I appreciated the similes throughout the story that the narrator uses. One that sticks out to me is shaping a person compared to shaping clay before it is put in a kiln. By the end of the story I found myself contemplative and wondering what I just read. This one will be one I think about for quite some time.
Thank you to Larissa Pham, Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read with a very original premise! A great debut novel.

Christine is an author who formerly studied art and was a painter before dropping out of graduate school and pivoting to writing. The book opens with her on a book tour promoting her recent novel, which isn't strictly autofiction but is loosely inspired by the events of her own life. While on tour, she hears from someone in her past who inspired a character in her novel. As she engages with that individual, the events that led her to drop out of her masters program are eventually revealed and she comes to confront her own experience with creating art and the memories with the figure from her past.

Although this novel isn't a thriller, there was an anticipatory tension in the writing which kept me turning the pages. I also really enjoyed the prose and writing in this book; although there were many asides and tangents, most of them were sharp and incisive and added interiority to the main character. I loved Frances and the contrast between her and Christine, as well as the author's musings on what it means to be an artist. And the “book within a book" meta element was creative.

I only wish she had used quotation marks because I was genuinely confused at times!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Kion You · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opens like a Cusk copycat, then takes on the eerie sexual ambiance of a Kitamura book, but eventually settles into a more traditional realist form, one of confrontation and realization, which felt exactly right

[Chelsea O'Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[lys]

The number of novels about inappropriate teacher-student relationships I’ve read throughout my life…..disturbing. I can’t look away. Sue me!

[Bridget Tee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. My first 5 star of 2026.
I felt very connected to this book. Pham is an exceptionally talented author- I can’t wait to read more from her.