this book is an amazing exploration of love, obsession, and the path to self-discovery. as someone not typically drawn to lit fic, i was pleasantly surprised by the raw and relatable portrayal of messy (and toxic) relationships, especially within the context of the LGBTQ+ narrative.

the way anna writes, i felt like i was just reading the diary of my messiest (but maybe most fun?) friend. i have added all of anna’s books to my TBR list and i’m excited to dive into more of her work!

thank you netgalley and simon & schuster for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I very much enjoyed this book. I read BAD LAWYER which was ok, and I know flailing, unhinged women who have no filter and are constantly self-medicating through alcohol and adderall might not scream endearing and funny to all, I did really enjoy it and couldn't wait to get back to it. I appreciated the infusion of 1950s lesbian pulp fiction, the peripheral friends, her literary zoom sessions, and how judgy and yet insouciant she is about everyone and everything.

It's like this book was made in a lab for me!! The Satchels of Gold reference? The Jenny Schecter Tumblr? The Patricia Highsmith of it all? And you already know I tracked down every perfume mentioned! Luckyscent x Anna Dorn collab — WHEN?

i loved this! was completely drawn in almost immediately to astrid's wacky little mind. compelling, compulsive read. again, not crazy about disordered eating being part of every single female protagonist's personality, but this one only makes brief allusions to it and it's thankfully not part of astrid's interior monologue at all. great for fans of dykette and big swiss, i think

Seriously I did not love this at first... I was unsure if I was going to finish, but then all the sudden I couldn't put it down. I realized I was put off by the character because I recognized myself in her. Her bad habits and self loathing, her attraction to red flags, consistently victimizing herself. And then she started to transform and change with the book, she was funny, charming even. The ups and downs kept me hooked. I felt seen by this book and felt a sense of community that I don't find often in literature. I love love love this book and will definitely recommend.

Perfume and Pain centers Astrid Dahl, an LA based lesbian writer who is recovering from her mild cancellation. As various women weave in and out of her life, Astrid is grating and thought provoking, a walking contradiction. When I thought the story would fizzle out, Anna Dorn keeps the reader entertained. Like the 20th Century lesbian pulp it pays homage to, Perfume and Pain is both repulsive and delicious.

i think i've said this before, but no one writes obsession the way that anna dorn does. it's something that i look for in a lot of fiction but i don't enjoy how it's written because it insists that you believe that a decent person just fell into bad behaviors. anna's characters don't pretend to be good, they just are, and it's refreshing because though i can't pretend that i'd go out of my way to be friends with some of these people, i absolutely luxuriate in reading about them.

so, what's this then?

astrid, a subversive writer with some success, is back in her writing group called the sapphic scribes (literally would kill to be in a writing group like this ok) and trying to keep her head above water after she's (minorly) canceled for something she said at a barnes & noble book event. she tells you who she is right off the bat: her first book was essentially kendall jenner dyke fanfic, she's over the commodification of queerness as social media currency (ie, using the term "sapphic" or "queer" instead of the word lesbian), and her writing has been heavily assisted over the years through a cocktail called the Patricia Highsmith - alcohol, adderall, and sativa.

life was bliss on the sauce and her writing had never been better, but after causing a ton of disaster, astrid is trying to learn how to write without the boost and coasting off funds she's accumulated from the movie option of her astrology book.

from there, we get to follow astrid's obsession with a woman in sapphic scribes, ivy, and their subsequent toxic relationship where ivy's constantly romanticizing the drama of the lesbian pulp novel and thinks if she keeps pushing adderall into astrid's mouth then maybe they can create one of their own. when astrid moves in next to an aging millennial lesbian who makes friends with her brother and constantly checks in on her, astrid realizes that maybe the drugs, maybe the rollercoaster lifestyle is something that she's growing out of.

i don't really know how to tell you how much i loved this. astrid's a mess and i need more messy lesbians to read about. anna dorn, i think you've been enshrined as one of my auto-buy authors.

I don't know if Anna Dorn considers her work autofiction or if she thinks that is stupid - what I do know is that I love autofiction and I loved this take on the lesbian pulp novel. As the main character Astrid thinks to herself, "I realized I liked books about angry, quick-witted women with interpersonal issues" - same. I think lovers of that particular niche will enjoy this book - funny, abrasive, horny, romantic, cynical.

Wow. This novel was brilliant! This is my first time reading from this author, and now I want to go back and read all her previous novels. I loved Anna Dorn's writing style. It was so cynical, hilarious, and poignant. I love quirky and satirical novels. You will love/hate Astrid. She's such a messy and deeply insecure character. I loved the tone, the vibe, and the characters, but I could've done without Kat Gold (she seemed like an immature teenager than an adult woman). I really didn't want this book to end. It was so refreshing to read about lesbian pulp fiction in a modern setting. "Perfume and Pain" was razor-sharp. This is how literary fiction is supposed to be written. Memorable story and memorable protagonist. The cover art is absolutely stunning. This book was EVERYTHING. I'm officially OBSESESED!

Thank you, Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital ARC.

Oh my God, Anna Dorn did it again! I absolutely loved Exalted, so I had to jump on requesting this ARC as soon as possible. This novel is wittier than it has any right to be, and such a wild blend of humor, unhinged women, and just those weird vibes I've come to expect from Dorn as an author.

Astrid is an icon, truly someone that we all should all recognize as being that cool girlie we all wish we had whispering questionable choices into our ear. Kind of like if your conscience was a biker chick and wanted to spice up your life.

The language in this book was so lusciously evocative, particularly the imagery around scents and it truly harkens back to the lesbian pulp novels that we can thank for being a stepping stone towards wildly enjoyable romps like Perfume and Pain.

Thank you to Anna Dorn, Netgalley, and Simon and Schuster for this eARC! I loved it and I can't wait to add a phsyical version to my collection.

This was AMAZING! Unhinged, messy, problematic? Gahhhh! YES PLEASE ! I ate it up! Anna Dorn’s Perfume and Pain was witty, and downright hilarious! Astrid was my absolute favorite kind of unreliable narrator! She’s a weird, messy, lesbian and I LOVED her! This book is definitely going to be a hit! So descriptive, so addicting, so all consuming! I couldn’t put this down till I finished it! I love when a book makes me give it 110% of my attention and this one demanded it! I can’t wait till it hits shelves because all of my friends will be receiving a copy! While I wait I am definitely going to be picking up another novel by Anna ASAP!

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is honest, unbiased, and completely my own.

Girls just want to smell like patchouli, drive a Subaru Impreza, and have their own year of rest
and relaxation!! The descriptions of perfumes were a favorite; think tattooed women smoking cigarillos scented. This book is completely of the times- hot lesbians living in LA, wearing sambas with Levi’s, and listening to the audiobook of The Secret History. I am obsessed. This book reminded me much of other books I have rated five stars and it did not take long for me to realize that this was a five-star read. Another banger for the character-driven, unlikeable characters girlies.

Thank you Netgalley, Simon and Schuster, and Anna Dorn for this advanced reader's copy. This is the first ARC I have ever rated five stars.

I started this book, but did not end up finishing it as I found the main character’s inner monologue to be too cringe. It’s honestly not the worst book, but not a good fit for me.

I'm giving this a neutral rating because I truly think the audience for this book is out there, it's just not right for me at all. I thought I would love this, seeing as I find lesbian pulp history fascinating and often enjoy "unlikeable" main characters, but instead every little thing just rubbed me the wrong way. the writing was great and the premise interesting, but the pop culture references were grating and I just am not in the right headspace to enjoy hearing a successful woman 10 years older than me be so cynical and about every little thing. Like I said, i'm sure someone will absolutely love this book, that person is just not me.

more books about messy, weird, off-putting lesbians, please!

this book seemed like it’d be a total delight, and it really, really was. it was sharp and funny from the very first chapter, and i genuinely laughed the entire way through—something that kind of surprised me. usually, i think books that make loads of references to Contemporary Culture veer into being (sorry!) kind of cringey, but it worked well here! it reminded me of something mona awad might write, if she decided to take the leap into super gay fiction. the way it tackles writing, being queer, etc, was super on-the-nose in, i think, a really fun way, too; astrid isn’t always a likable main character (but who among us is?), but a lot of the things that came out of her mouth felt like something you might hear a funny-slash-outrageous friend say, and the way she grows and comes into herself was satisfying to read!

thanks to netgalley for the e-arc!

Towards the beginning of reading this, I developed a distaste for the writing. But as I got further into the reading, I did realize that the author purposefully wrote this character to have these borderline cringey millennial inner workings. She was purposefully written to be self-destructive. She was purposefully written to be somewhat unlikeable. Even further into the reading, I do begin to develop a love-hate relationship with the main character, mostly because I was understanding the character so much more than I initially thought I was going to. I will say, the highlight of this book was the main character. I thought she was incredibly well written, and I knew exactly who this girl was by the end of the story.

However, my main gripe with the story, is that I felt like there was no motivation or good reasoning as to why the main character flipped and all of a sudden felt the way that she did about her neighbor. I felt like the author decided to make this change in the story without really building a reasoning as to why it happened, and unfortunately, this is a big gripe as it is the entire basis of the second half of the story. In addition, I didn't feel a fair amount of the dialogue was very natural or would realistically happen. This took me out of the story a bit.

Perfume and Pain is a solid shorter read that can be entertaining at times. It does a solid job of building a story around a stereotypically self destructive main character with a different lens and lesbian perspective.

this book should’ve worked for me. this book had everything i typically love: gay characters, drugs, sex, intense relationships, discussion of important life values. but it didn’t hit the mark.

the writing is good, but it drags. it’s too current, too much “stan”, “cunty”, contemporary fiction. in the first 120 pages i considered dnf-ing multiple times. and while eventually i actually got into the characters and wanted to read the book, i shouldn’t have had to fight to love it in the first half.

Astrid, although far from perfect, is a great main character. a little dense and stupid, but she is very well fleshed out in this book. very unreliable as a narrator, very easy to hate and then see yourself in a little and then understand. as for every other character…i couldn’t stand. everyone was simply added to further move the story along with giving anything really to the story.

i feel like those who enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation will love this book. The girls and gays who get it will get it. But i’m a girl and gay who didn’t. 2.5 rounded up

If you know me you know I was OBSESSED with exalted when I read it last year. I would talk about it to anyone who would listen and loved everyone who read it after I told them about it. Anna Dorn’s writing is so fun and fresh and nihilistic and silly in the most intelligent way possible. So of course I freaked out when I received an eARC of her newest novel set to be published May 21st of this year. Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Perfume and pain is a hilarious homage to 1950s lesbian pulp that is done in such a sharp witted way you can’t take your eyes off of. The novel tells the story of Astrid a mildly successful writer with a perfume obsession trying to revive her career in a zoom writers workshop after a recent event had her lightly blacklisted in the publishing world. Astrid may also have an addiction to love and sex with toxic women she knows are bad for and the drugs and alcohol they often provide her. We take a journey with Astrid as she tries to revive herself and her career while navigating the messy landscape that is her love and sex life.

Dorn writes such unapologetically feral female characters who you can’t help but root for no matter the circumstance you’re introduced to them in. Her books are steamy and provocative and full of so much life. Every time I read her work I get sucked into the worlds she creates. I am best friends with these girls. I am making horrible life choices with them but I have agency and I’m smarter and sexier for it! Her books are honest and vulnerable and messy and honestly? We need more messy lesbian books! One might even call her compelling ;)

I loved Exalted, and pressed it into the hands of countless lesbian/queer friends, and I was so excited for this one. Dorn did not disappoint!

In the vein of the unhinged queer protagonist genre, Astrid Dahl is a semi-cancelled novelist trying to stay sober and stop dating while her agent tries to negotiate the adaptation of one of her books. This does not go well.

This book is hilarious and occasionally heartbreaking, with real insights into lesbian culture both good and bad, as well as the Hollywood machine that Astrid both can't stomach but can't refuse. The tie in with lesbian pulp novels was fantastic, and I just couldn't stop reading to find out what would happen. Astrid is a lesbian car crash, but in a mostly funny way.

My only gripe is that the development and redemption at the end of the novel felt a little fast, but maybe it happens that way sometimes.

Overall, really recommend this one if you like queer messy women, lesbian writing groups, and good portrayals of Los Angeles.

This was such a propulsive romp! I read this so quickly because I was eager to find out what happens to Astrid and with her professional life and with the women whom she’s romantically, professionally, and platonically involved with. Astrid is an entertaining narrator, perhaps a bit more self-aware than feels true-to-life but makes for fun storytelling. I do think that some of the book started to feel repetitive, such as when Astrid is on a “bender,” and I felt that some of the romantic storylines wrapped up a little too neatly. But overall, I’m glad I read it and I was snickering through a lot of it!