This was a real page turner! I picked it up because the blurb on NetGalley sounded interesting, and it really was. Anna was despicable and so well written, she was flawed and had me wanting to scream at her. Caden was equally as unlikeable, and usually I struggle with so many unlikeable characters, but somehow this worked.

I found the middle of the book a bit of a drag to read through, but it was still entertaining. The plot twist at the end came out of no where and completely shocked me, making the entire book even more compelling.

Plaything by Bea Setton gives similar vibes to The Idiot by Elif Batuman and The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Setton's previous work - Berlin.

Plaything is wonderfully dark and always compelling. The plot set at Cambridge is intriguing from the beginning, and the writing is sublime throughout.

Sorry, but this just didn't work for me: the blurb sounds so enticing and the cover is fab - but the writing feels jumpy and doesn't flow, and the constant flashbacks are distractions. I couldn't see how the story comes together: there seems to be no connection between the central relationship, the PhD research and the onset of covid.

Cambridge is one of my favourite places and this novel transported me there: the author’s prose is so vivid that you yourself are strolling along the River Cam and watching the rowing teams, then stopping at the pub along the way and talking loudly with your friends about classes and the uncertainties looming in the future.
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At its core, this is a story about self-image and how insecurities always keep us on the edge, without truly letting us experience anything. Anna is smart, paradoxically seeing herself as a ‘low maintenance, self watering succulent’, so when she starts a relationship with Caden, she’s always expecting something bad to happen. The fact that Caden is super closed off and traumatised by a past relationship doesn’t help at all, making everything 100x more intense. His half-compliments are a direct hit that make Anna spiral and constantly feel in a competition with Giselle.
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What I loved about the story is that I had different expectations plot wise, I thought it was a messy love story set in an academic town, but it was much more profound, especially towards the end. Anna’s thoughts and family dynamics make you feel raw, as a powerless witness, but I also felt myself empathising with her struggles.
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Is this book on your TBR? I’m definitely reading Berlin soon!
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Thank you @doubledaybooks for the copy!