I liked Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women enough that I decided to read her debut novel, Luckiest Girl Alive. I am glad that I read Bright Young Women first because I probably would not have bothered to read any other of Knoll’s novels if I had started with Luckiest Girl Alive. That is not to say that I think Luckiest Girl Alive is a terrible novel. I actually ended up liking it by the time I finished it. But Luckiest Girl Alive is a more sensationalistic story compared to Bright Young Women, and it is a real exercise in empathy with one of the most disingenuous protagonists I have come across in my literary travels.

Luckiest Girl Alive is about a twenty-eight year old woman named TifAni FaNelli (she goes by Ani because it sounds more sophisticated) who has carefully curated a new life for herself after her reputation was destroyed in high school: she is a writer at a popular women’s magazine; she has a WASP-y finance bro fiancée who comes from old money; and she has an expensive wardrobe to dress her tiny figure. However, Ani is – to be very blunt – a two-faced bitch. The person that she presents to others is not exactly nice, instead she is just catty enough to not be completely mean, but because the novel is told through first person narration, the reader gets full access to the viper’s nest of nasty thoughts in Ani’s head. She really is an unpleasant person. But things start to unravel for Ani as someone from her past re-enters her life, and as the date for Ani’s participation in a documentary about the events that happened at her high school draws closer.

What happened to Ani in high school is suspensefully revealed in flashbacks of the past when Ani was just fourteen years old and desperate to fit in at the prestigious private school she transferred to. It quickly becomes obvious what happens to Ani, but then Knoll throws in an unexpected (and kind of off-putting, in my opinion) twist to dogpile on Ani’s trauma. Now, one might think it is Ani’s trauma that has made her such a mean person, but no, Ani was a bitch even before certain events happened to her, not to say that she deserved it. It is sad, though, that a strong-willed person like Ani does not fully comprehend the effect these events have had on her.

The reason why Ani is who she is, is because of how society treats women. Society sets unrealistic expectations for how women should look and behave. Society encourages women to tear each other down. Society slut shames and victim blames women for the things that men do to them. Society makes villains out of women. And although Ani may appear to be a strong woman, she is not strong enough to rise above this nonsense. She cares too much about what other people think about her, until she finally gets to the point where she doesn’t anymore.

It is easy to begin to sympathize with Ani when you realize every other character in the novel is just as bad, if not worse, than she is. Her own mother has pushed her into caring about a superficial life and then blames her for her trauma. Her father is an asshole who is largely uninvolved in her life. Her fiancée wants her to keep her trauma buried because it is distasteful to him and his family, and he gets mad at her when she expresses emotions that do not cater to his fragile ego. When Ani finally rebels against the need for a so-called perfect life, I was cheering her on. Luckiest Girl Alive is not the sophisticated story that Ani would like it to be, but it ended up being an entertaining one.