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Medium Rare
Not yet published
Expected 3 Mar 26From the author of The Portrait of a Mirror, a modern tragicomedy transforms the myth of Icarus into a blazing romp through bureaucracy, B-list fame, and college basketball…
Phil is ordinary. A mid-level Washington lobbyist for a decidedly unsexy organization, unhappy in the way all mildly successful, minimally influential men are. That is until the spring of 2019, when Phil’s picks for the NCAA March Madness Tournament start panning out, and heads begin to turn his way. He really may do it: predict a perfect bracket, for a billion-dollar prize.
At first, Cassandra is just along for Phil’s soaring rise—she had foreseen it happening, after all. Despite moving in different circles since their shared university days and Cassandra never much liking him, she recognizes in Phil the making of a legend worthy of the highest art. What Cassandra fails to predict, though, is just how much she’d grow to care about Phil’s wife, Raleigh—and that the grandest narrative arcs sometimes unfold at the steepest of personal costs.
Dazzling in its absurd comedy, Medium Rare is not only a gambol through the upper echelon, but also a shrewd examination of madness, desire, and credibility—why don’t we listen when prophetic women speak? A. Natasha Joukovsky delivers a story as layered and incisive as it is high-flying fun.
Phil is ordinary. A mid-level Washington lobbyist for a decidedly unsexy organization, unhappy in the way all mildly successful, minimally influential men are. That is until the spring of 2019, when Phil’s picks for the NCAA March Madness Tournament start panning out, and heads begin to turn his way. He really may do it: predict a perfect bracket, for a billion-dollar prize.
At first, Cassandra is just along for Phil’s soaring rise—she had foreseen it happening, after all. Despite moving in different circles since their shared university days and Cassandra never much liking him, she recognizes in Phil the making of a legend worthy of the highest art. What Cassandra fails to predict, though, is just how much she’d grow to care about Phil’s wife, Raleigh—and that the grandest narrative arcs sometimes unfold at the steepest of personal costs.
Dazzling in its absurd comedy, Medium Rare is not only a gambol through the upper echelon, but also a shrewd examination of madness, desire, and credibility—why don’t we listen when prophetic women speak? A. Natasha Joukovsky delivers a story as layered and incisive as it is high-flying fun.
- GenresFiction
304 pages, Paperback
Expected publication March 3, 2026
3 people are currently reading
534 people want to read
About the author
A. Natasha Joukovsky
2 books246 followersA. Natasha Joukovsky holds a BA in English from the University of Virginia and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She spent five years in the art world, working at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before pivoting into management consulting. The Portrait of a Mirror is her debut novel. You can find her on Instagram @joukovsky and on Substack. She lives in Washington, DC.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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October 8, 2025this cover is GORGEOUS
December 24, 2025
An extremely fun read that combines a sports narrative (that feels like an adventure story) with a relatable and witty Beltway commentary. I read it over holiday break when there wasn’t much college basketball on, which added to the charm. I could see this being particularly popular that appeals to the sportbro who reads a couple books a year and would make a good couple read.
Phil’s story about having a perfect bracket offers wish fulfillment and becomes a plot device to situate his relatable dorkiness (he’s a “medium rare bird”)in situations where Jokavsky can let her main character Cassandra and some thinly veiled politicians solve political problems. His is all background for the novel’s main theme which is what makes antagonizes Cassandra about Phil’s personality. Through her psychoanalysis, Joukavsky suggests their animosity is more about misperception and contrived competition than it is about substantively different paradigms. This feels true, although there’s some political cherry picking going on here because Phil is a moderate conservative and Cassandra is a pragmatist. How much that can be extrapolated to the rest their political society is questionable—but it feels good.
The novel works because it fun and Joukavsky’s style is sharp and witty and has an eye for social irony. It would be even better if she had avoided stretching her humor too far (she’s more of a Michgoose than a Michigander was one of a handful of duds; “he was humbled by my power, even as he dismissed my ways and means” is slightly better ).
The brackets could be also be paired down to make it easier on the reader (the second half of the novel is basketball free), UVa fans might also enjoy the nostalgia for the 2019 team.
Phil’s story about having a perfect bracket offers wish fulfillment and becomes a plot device to situate his relatable dorkiness (he’s a “medium rare bird”)in situations where Jokavsky can let her main character Cassandra and some thinly veiled politicians solve political problems. His is all background for the novel’s main theme which is what makes antagonizes Cassandra about Phil’s personality. Through her psychoanalysis, Joukavsky suggests their animosity is more about misperception and contrived competition than it is about substantively different paradigms. This feels true, although there’s some political cherry picking going on here because Phil is a moderate conservative and Cassandra is a pragmatist. How much that can be extrapolated to the rest their political society is questionable—but it feels good.
The novel works because it fun and Joukavsky’s style is sharp and witty and has an eye for social irony. It would be even better if she had avoided stretching her humor too far (she’s more of a Michgoose than a Michigander was one of a handful of duds; “he was humbled by my power, even as he dismissed my ways and means” is slightly better ).
The brackets could be also be paired down to make it easier on the reader (the second half of the novel is basketball free), UVa fans might also enjoy the nostalgia for the 2019 team.
Read
December 15, 2025DNF - the numbers in the beginning are making my eyes glaze over
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
She DID IT AGAIN!!!! So grateful to have received an ARC of this book. Just finished it and have too many thoughts, so I’ll have to come back later. All I will say for now is the narrator, Cassandra, is an ICON, and that no one writes like Joukovsky - she’s brilliant and cutting and her sense of humor is unparalleled (also severely underrated because not enough people are talking about it as far as I’m concerned). I miss this book already
Ok:
Medium Rare is a first-class, grade A skewering of the average white American man. I’ve lived in south Florida, DC, Manhattan, LA, and now just outside of Raleigh (lol if you read the book), and nowhere - nowhere - is the average white American man more painfully average, white, or American than in our nation’s capital, making it the perfect setting for a transformation reimagining of the myth of Icarus.
(Disclaimer: if you are one of the very, very few men from the DC days who follow me on here - I am not talking about you🫶🏻)
I worked on the hill for four years and am unfortunately all too familiar with the Phils of the world. Everyone knows a Phil - a supremely unremarkable lobbyist who fills out the first perfect March Madness bracket in the history of the world, and, even though he chose one of the Final Four teams because he liked the mascot, is offended by the mere suggestion that luck, or literally anything other than skill and mastery of statistical analysis, had anything to do with it. He wins a billion dollars for this feat, thinks he earned it because he’s so smart and special, and THEN thinks he should very well be the next president of the United States (though he would settle for the Senate).
Phil is a beautiful modern-day Icarus: blind to the fact that there is nothing special about him (except that he convinced a woman out of his league to marry him, and even that’s not that special these days), he’s all too ready and willing to bet on himself, ignoring the counsel of those wiser, smarter, and more experienced than he.
Which brings us to the plight of Cassandra, our narrator and oracle. Cassandra plans and executes fundraising events; her gift is foresight, and her curse, of course, is that no one believes her. Cassandra’s character reminded me of a line from White Ivy by Susie Yang: “Never does a woman lie in a more cunning way than when she tells the truth to a man who doesn’t believe her.” Cassandra corrects Phil when he refers to the oracle at Delos: “that’s Delphi,” she tells him. What is Phil’s reply? “Where on earth do you get your confidence?”
Cassandra sort of ushers us onto the ride she herself is on, and the reader gets to be an observer for the ages as Phil flies higher and higher with his waxy wings, oblivious to nuance and insight. I looooove the details - there was a moment at Brown when I thought I would concentrate in the classics, and all of the allusions and references in Medium Rare are so well placed and at times so subtle (like I’m sure I did not catch them all), that the whole trip is just a delight. Cassandra’s twin boys, MEROPE, the DaedaDome (the arena proves the ultimate labyrinth for poor sweet Phil) - I couldn’t get enough.
Medium Rare is a familiar tragedy and comedy transformed: it’s dressed in diamonds and exuberant Versace, ready to co-chair the 2019 Met Gala, Camp: Notes on Fashion.
Ok:
Medium Rare is a first-class, grade A skewering of the average white American man. I’ve lived in south Florida, DC, Manhattan, LA, and now just outside of Raleigh (lol if you read the book), and nowhere - nowhere - is the average white American man more painfully average, white, or American than in our nation’s capital, making it the perfect setting for a transformation reimagining of the myth of Icarus.
(Disclaimer: if you are one of the very, very few men from the DC days who follow me on here - I am not talking about you🫶🏻)
I worked on the hill for four years and am unfortunately all too familiar with the Phils of the world. Everyone knows a Phil - a supremely unremarkable lobbyist who fills out the first perfect March Madness bracket in the history of the world, and, even though he chose one of the Final Four teams because he liked the mascot, is offended by the mere suggestion that luck, or literally anything other than skill and mastery of statistical analysis, had anything to do with it. He wins a billion dollars for this feat, thinks he earned it because he’s so smart and special, and THEN thinks he should very well be the next president of the United States (though he would settle for the Senate).
Phil is a beautiful modern-day Icarus: blind to the fact that there is nothing special about him (except that he convinced a woman out of his league to marry him, and even that’s not that special these days), he’s all too ready and willing to bet on himself, ignoring the counsel of those wiser, smarter, and more experienced than he.
Which brings us to the plight of Cassandra, our narrator and oracle. Cassandra plans and executes fundraising events; her gift is foresight, and her curse, of course, is that no one believes her. Cassandra’s character reminded me of a line from White Ivy by Susie Yang: “Never does a woman lie in a more cunning way than when she tells the truth to a man who doesn’t believe her.” Cassandra corrects Phil when he refers to the oracle at Delos: “that’s Delphi,” she tells him. What is Phil’s reply? “Where on earth do you get your confidence?”
Cassandra sort of ushers us onto the ride she herself is on, and the reader gets to be an observer for the ages as Phil flies higher and higher with his waxy wings, oblivious to nuance and insight. I looooove the details - there was a moment at Brown when I thought I would concentrate in the classics, and all of the allusions and references in Medium Rare are so well placed and at times so subtle (like I’m sure I did not catch them all), that the whole trip is just a delight. Cassandra’s twin boys, MEROPE, the DaedaDome (the arena proves the ultimate labyrinth for poor sweet Phil) - I couldn’t get enough.
Medium Rare is a familiar tragedy and comedy transformed: it’s dressed in diamonds and exuberant Versace, ready to co-chair the 2019 Met Gala, Camp: Notes on Fashion.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
No, this is not the scathing memoir by Anthony Bourdain, but a perceptive, meteoric journey highlighting the absurdity of power and ambition in America.
Cassandra, our narrator, is a DC fundraiser and perhaps some kind of oracle. In fact, she is one of two characters in the story potentially harnessing superhuman predictive powers. We also have Phil Fayeton, a man competing in a billion-dollar contest with infinitesimal odds. Anyone able to correctly pick the winner of every game in the March Madness college basketball tournament, the impossible ‘perfect bracket’, rakes in a cool billion from a mega-rich businessman looking for publicity. Phil, a middling DC lobbyist with a pregnant wife is the rare medium in Medium Rare.
This is a novel flawlessly placed in modern times. Even caring little for basketball, the first half gripped me with all the suspense of Seabiscuit racing War Admiral. Sports and politics serve as a genius backdrop for this gorgeously composed story. Raleigh, Phil's pregnant-wife will surprise readers as her personality is shown to be far more complex than first imagined. Sharp, insightful prose demonstrates how those that work on Capitol Hill are no different from many wannabe celebrities. If you make it big in politics, or gain incredible fame as a prognosticator, LA is the next logical step. Also, it’s the falling off point for so many who reach for stardom.
Medium Rare will please many types of readers. I discovered it on a whim and what a well done (wink), riotous surprise. Highly recommended to sports and mythology lovers, or anyone with interest in our insane, inane, political system.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Melville House for a review copy.
Cassandra, our narrator, is a DC fundraiser and perhaps some kind of oracle. In fact, she is one of two characters in the story potentially harnessing superhuman predictive powers. We also have Phil Fayeton, a man competing in a billion-dollar contest with infinitesimal odds. Anyone able to correctly pick the winner of every game in the March Madness college basketball tournament, the impossible ‘perfect bracket’, rakes in a cool billion from a mega-rich businessman looking for publicity. Phil, a middling DC lobbyist with a pregnant wife is the rare medium in Medium Rare.
This is a novel flawlessly placed in modern times. Even caring little for basketball, the first half gripped me with all the suspense of Seabiscuit racing War Admiral. Sports and politics serve as a genius backdrop for this gorgeously composed story. Raleigh, Phil's pregnant-wife will surprise readers as her personality is shown to be far more complex than first imagined. Sharp, insightful prose demonstrates how those that work on Capitol Hill are no different from many wannabe celebrities. If you make it big in politics, or gain incredible fame as a prognosticator, LA is the next logical step. Also, it’s the falling off point for so many who reach for stardom.
Medium Rare will please many types of readers. I discovered it on a whim and what a well done (wink), riotous surprise. Highly recommended to sports and mythology lovers, or anyone with interest in our insane, inane, political system.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Melville House for a review copy.
November 21, 2025
I can't really tell how I feel about this one yet. None of the characters are particularly likeable, and the 'resolution' of the ending feels half-baked.
Phil is a right-wing lobbyist, thoroughly ordinary until the spring of 2019, when his bracket for NCAA March Madness starts looking perfect, and a billion-dollar prize has been promised to anyone with a perfect bracket. His wife Raleigh is eight months pregnant, and begins spending a lot of time alone as Phil becomes more and more drawn into the public sphere. The story is told from the perspective of Cassandra, a college acquaintance of Phil and Raleigh's who has vaguely move in the same circles in Washington. As she and her husband become closer to Phil and Raleigh in the wake of their fame, both families become shaped by the highs and lows of Phil's 'success'.
Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this novel.
Phil is a right-wing lobbyist, thoroughly ordinary until the spring of 2019, when his bracket for NCAA March Madness starts looking perfect, and a billion-dollar prize has been promised to anyone with a perfect bracket. His wife Raleigh is eight months pregnant, and begins spending a lot of time alone as Phil becomes more and more drawn into the public sphere. The story is told from the perspective of Cassandra, a college acquaintance of Phil and Raleigh's who has vaguely move in the same circles in Washington. As she and her husband become closer to Phil and Raleigh in the wake of their fame, both families become shaped by the highs and lows of Phil's 'success'.
Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this novel.
November 18, 2025
This was an easy and entertaining read. Phil is a relatable character and Cassandra is endearing. The book moves a good pace and kept my attention even though the basketball references and bracket talk was over my head. I laughed while reading and really enjoyed the simple flow of this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
tbr-arc
October 21, 2025it had me at my steak preference and absurd comedy.
*thank you to Melville House for the ARC*
*thank you to Melville House for the ARC*
November 6, 2025
this was awful
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews