I enjoyed Anna Dorn’s memoir, Bad Lawyer, so I decided to pick up her newest fiction offering.

Perfume and Pain is a love story focusing on Astrid Dahl, a lesbian writer who was cancelled when she self-proclaimed herself a “faggot” at a Barnes and Noble Reading. Astrid hasn’t put out any new work since her exile, and she’s been putting more effort into her relationship with Patricia Highsmith (addarall) and relationships she knows are not good for her because the coincide with the drugs and booze. Astrid’s older work is being optioned by a celebrity model and she has to keep it together to get that production made to get paid. On top of that, she’s continuing to date women who are wrong for her. Dorn’s writing is fresh and kept me invested in the book.

My thoughts: This book was not for me and it’s my fault. I do like to go into books blind, but that is not always a good idea. Perfume and Pain is a romance and I am a very prickly romance reader and only read like 3 a year. So, if I knew this was a straight romance, I would have not read it. However, if you like romance, this is a good pick.

This book is smart and funny. Gave me a Melissa Broder vibe but even more gay. I was thoroughly entertained.

This book has a lot of buzz around it so I am bummed that it is not working for me. I love changing up my reading options and dipping into different genres and this one sounded so intriguing based on the synopsis.

I am enjoying the writing style but this book just isn’t for me. I am DNF’ing at 12% because I just cannot connect to the characters. Should I keep going? That’s the dilemma I face and why I always struggle so hard with not finishing a book. Ultimately there are too many page turners for me to stick to something I am not enjoying.

Thank you anyway to @SimonBooks #SimonBooksBuddy for the free book.

i adored this book. it was laugh out loud funny and i quite enjoyed the main character. it was a really refreshing read because i think we are used to reading about politically correct characters that have no bad thoughts and this was not that. it felt like grown up glee and i mean that as the highest compliment.

If you like matching your perfume to your outfit, toxic romantic relationships, and books about writers in the age of social media, I highly recommend this novel. As a perfume lover, I loved the representation of a fragrance-addicted person as the main character in "Perfume and Pain." I also was not familiar with the genre of lesbian pulp, and this novel was a fun "meta" way to learn about it. It also reminded me a little of "Yellowface," with the way the protagonist interacted with social media and her management and publicity teams and the public. I also appreciated that the main character pushes herself and experiences growth, so it's somewhat a "feel-good" reading experience, which I did not expect going into it. Overall this was a 5 star read for me and I can't wait to read the rest of Anna Dorn's work!

2.5 stars rounded up. This book was incredibly slow to start and it took me a long time to become invested in Astrid Dahl, a lost, formerly successful novelist whose addictions and impulsivity have landed her in a serious rut. She’s supposed to be getting healthy, no more drugs, no more women, and no talking to journalists, but she keeps finding herself in the same destructive patterns.
The title, Perfume and Pain, a nod to the 50’s and 60’s era lesbian pulp that the book is a self-reported homage to, also references Astrid’s obsessions with both. Every experience is carefully coupled with a particular scent Astrid selects for the occasion, and usually ends in pain. It should be a powerful theme that weaves the novel together, but it fell flat for me and just came across as trite.
I struggled to get through the first 60% of this book, then I was really invested in Astrid for about 15%, then I got annoyed with how the deus ex machine revelation changed everything about Astrid’s perspective and approach almost instantaneously and was really only back with the story for the last scene between Astrid and Penelope.
It is not a genre I have a broad range of experience with, so I’m not able to contextualize the novel in a meaningful literary way, but I would not recommend it to many people.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC. I appreciated the opportunity to read this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Anna Dorn, and Simon & Schuster for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Obsessed with this!!! Literally like lesbian candy in such a fun way; this book was juicy and dramatic, and I simply couldn't put it down. This is my favorite kind of "unlikeable" narrator who is definitely kooky and unlikeable at parts but still someone who you root for at the end of the day. Astrid cracked me up so many times throughout, and I could definitely relate to some of her complicated feelings throughout. I'm not super familiar with lesbian pulp novels, but I sure do want to explore the genre now!! All the side characters were charming or crazy, and I just had a really great time reading this. Definitely checking out Dorn's other works now!

I'm going to be the outlier. A chaotic dark comedy/satire that I admittedly struggled with, especially in the beginning. Astrid is a mess, a mess of her own making and of others- but I liked her. It's all the other stuff that was just a bit too much for me, especially the cancellation and the twitter and all the other pop culture references which likely will resonate more with others. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Dorn clearly has her finger on the pulse of her community.

Greatest Hits:

“But astrology is the great lesbian elixir!”

“I guess God is using me as a vessel to capture the hysterical female experience.”

“..sober I hardly ever think about sex, only about being adored.”

“I don’t like to be around women who are prettier than me…”

Have you ever been high? Anna Dorn’s writing is a constant swing from “Oh no, Astrid” to “Omg, what next?” I was truly on the edge of my seat, unsure of whether I wanted Astrid to get healthier or continue reading about this complex maelstrom of a person.

When it comes to craft, I found this book masterful. On a line by line basis, Dorn is articulate and poetic while building a rich and concrete setting, believable characters, and ample tension in the plot.

For subject matter, I think this Perfume & Pain is two things: a story of a flawed human with unhealthy coping mechanisms finally decide to heal themselves and a f*ck you to Anna Dorn’s fiercest critics- she is going to continue to write “vapid, unlikable” characters and she doesn’t care if you don’t like them!

To give context, after finishing this advanced copy (thank you publisher), I immediately ran to my local bookstore and had them pre-order me a copy which I almost NEVER do with advanced e-copies!

A very messy but entertaining story and a look inside the entertainment industry reminiscent of Bojack Horseman and Barry, but Lesbian!! Astrid Dahl is a writer with a stagnant career and an inferiority complex who has recently been "cancelled" online and thus is under media probation by her agent. It was definitely a painful read at times but there is nothing more I enjoy than a toxic woman with hobbies so definitely do not regret anything!!!!

Anna Dorn does an excellent job with both inner dialogue and dialogue between characters, and I particularly enjoyed getting to know characters through Astrid's perspective. The side characters definitely kept me hooked. I could feel Astrid's obsession with both of the love interests, Ivy and Penelope physically, even uncomfortably at times, The beginning felt a bit slow but towards the end I was basically inhaling the book, so I would definitely recommend this book!!

I had never heard of the lesbian pulp genre before so this was definitely a very fun introduction. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing I love more than unhinged batshit women in books. And Astrid might be my new favorite. She’s messy, self-destructive, hilarious and I adored her.

Perfume and Pain follows Astrid Dahl as she tries to stay afloat while her life spirals into chaos (usually by her own doing). She’s constantly fighting against her lack of filter and love for the Patricia Highsmith (mix of Adderall, alcohol and cigarettes). But her self awareness and general cynicism makes it so much fun to live in her brain for a little while.

I truly can’t put into words how much I loved this book. I never wanted it to end. I can’t wait to go back and read more from Anna Dorn.

This is one of those books that need a sixth ⭐️. Definitely in my top 20 of all time.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I love me a hateful woman main character and boy, this one delivered. She HATED everything and everyone. But that also led to the book being hilarious in a dark sort of way (as a hater by default, I had to wonder if this is how I come across). This is for the messy/unbothered/hater girlies.

This leans into the best kind of self destructive trashfire lesbian with an addiction problem and in the middle of a writer's block who finds a new romantic fixation and an easy praise fix in her lesbian writer's group, and we get to watch everything spiral from there. Would highly recommend pairing this with a deceptively powerful drink and a night at the local lesbian bar, or at least with a pool read. You'll have a good time with this one this summer, and this comes out in a little more than a week from when I'm writing this review!

a character driven messy gross girl literature with so many pop culture references and a lot of mention of patchouli! i think this was a prophecy of what my future could be if i became an LA girly.

okay i liked this book but did not LOVE it. i went into this thinking it would change my life and as i had a lot of fun with it, i don't feel changed by this experience. i typically love an unhinged main character but really struggled to like Astrid, she felt very surface level and messy in a way that was supposed to shock instead of inspire.

suddenly inspired to listen to the audiobook of The Secret History and read more by Anna Dorn!

Thanks NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

Astrid Dahl (no relation to Roald Dahl) is an author, a lesbian, and a perfume collector, and after an incident at a Barnes and Noble, she has found herself ‘cancelled’ online. While dealing with the aftermath of this, she becomes obsessed with another woman in her sapphic writing group and is also forced to move apartments where she ends up living next door to a Gen X hippy-ish lesbian about whom everything irritates Astrid, but she can’t deny that her attraction to her new neighbour. At the same time, her novel is being adapted into a TV show by a famous actress who worms her way into Astrid’s life. Perfume and Pain follows Astrid as she juggles these women, as well as her college friends and family, and their places in her life in an ode to the lesbian pulp fiction genre of the 1950s.
This is a very easy read, funny at times, and Astrid is an interesting and compelling (if unlikeable and frustrating) character. The story was engaging, but the whole thing felt incredibly surface level. There were several interesting concepts introduced (namely being on the other side of ‘being cancelled’ and who can reclaim and use slurs in the queer community) and yet they are basically forgotten about and given the most superficial consideration. One of the first things the reader learns about Astrid is that she has been ‘cancelled’, although we don’t find out why for quite a while. While I think the overall concept of cancel culture is generally blown out of proportion (it really does not seem to have any serious long-term impacts on a person’s career when they’re cancelled), I do think it’s sort of interesting to consider what it might be like for the person who is on the receiving end of an internet pile-on in that short-term time period where it would affect their life, especially when it’s for something that is really not terrible. But this was just not explored at all. The story would have been essentially the same without that plot point just with Astrid making fewer snarky remarks about her supposed cancellation. The single time this seems to affect her publicly, the character who is addressing it to her reads as a completely one-dimensional caricature, but other than that it’s essentially irrelevant to the story.
To that end, most of the characters other than Astrid read quite one dimensionally. The character growth that Astrid experienced also happened so quickly and suddenly that it seemed to skip over the build-up. She just went from A to B overnight. Also, often Astrid felt like a mouthpiece for the author to weigh in on discourse and it really took away from the parts of the book where the opinions being expressed came out of nowhere and were just ranted about for significant lengths of time. The book is also heavily rooted in sort of niche, current pop culture, and while it was fine to read right now, I do wonder if this will be readable to people in 10 years time (or frankly even to anyone right now who is not chronically online).
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc!

picked this one up despite having no previous knowledge of lesbian pulp fiction and didn’t quite know what I was getting myself into but it was a very enjoyable ride and i wish i could live in the minds of dorn’s characters for longer

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC. I loved reading Perfume and Pain. I normally don't like messy dramatic books, but I make an exception for lesbians. I really like perfume and women which was why I requested this ARC and I got a nice amount of perfume and women. This book was so fun to read, I was constantly smiling and laughing while reading. This book follows Astrid, a writer who has been "lightly cancelled" and her various distractions and coping mechanisms.. While I don't think I would be friends with Astrid in real life, I loved her character and just loved reading about her life, her writing, and her various relationships. I was even surprised to find some cute moments. This is a really fun book and I love how conversational the tone of the story felt, it was like a friend was telling me about the drama in their life. I really enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to check out the author's other books.

4.25/5 Stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC.

I was recently saying to a friend that I want to experience more narratives about difficult or "unlikeable" women, particularly queer women. And boy was I glad to come across this book. The wonderful thing about Astrid Dahl, a b-list author and self declared perfume connoisseur protagonist of this story, is while she often made me frustrated or roll my eyes, she challenged the way I think about millennial Sapphics and the way they've been depicted for centuries tbh. And then to tie in the genre of lesbian pulp novels and how a lot of those stories were written by MEN (fun fact) and how they've potentially dictated a lot of cliches about sapphic culture, which leads Astrid down a spiral and ultimately, to some clarity and growth.

All in all, I really loved this book and it's made me want to read some pulp novels and find a cute femme artist with a penchant for patchouli and Cat Power.

If toxic lesbians with bad attitudes are your schtick, this is the book to read. Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn pays homage to lesbian pulp, a genre of novel popularized in the late 50’s and early 60’s. The book follows Astrid Dahl, a mildly successful novelist who is trying her best to stay under the radar after being canceled, but only a little! Honest! When one of her novels is optioned by famed actress Kat Gold, the pressure is on to remain on the straight and narrow- especially when Ivy, a lesbian pulp scholar, and Penelope, a vegan artist come into the scene.

Funny and irreverent, Perfume & Pain is one of my most entertaining reads of the year so far. Astrid’s wannabe cynical narration found me snorting out loud. If BRAVO were to make a reality show about writers, Astrid would be at the top of the list- which I’m sure she would consider a compliment of the highest order.

However, despite her penchant for making the worst decisions for herself whenever the opportunity presents itself, I couldn’t help but root for Astrid throughout.

If you’re a fan of The L Word, Real Housewives, or the original novel of the same name, I highly recommend Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn.

Oh I absolutely loved this one! It's the messy lesbian novel I've been waiting for. Pure entertainment. I ran through this one in a day; I couldn't look away from this sapphic (lol) trainwreck. I'm going to need to pick up more of Anna Dorn's works immediately.