Vita Woods is struggling from an illness no doctor can seem to diagnose. They’ve run every test imaginable and all come back to the same conclusion, there’s nothing wrong with her. But that doesn’t change the fact that Vita struggles with leaving her bed, is constantly exhausted, feels unwell and spends the majority of her days inside “The Pit” as she refers to it. Vita’s boyfriend who she also lives with is a doctor and seemingly, everything is perfect in their relationship, but she still finds herself thinking back to former lovers. With a twist of fate, Vita one day finds herself leaving her apartment and interacting with the neighbors upstairs and gradually, everything starts to change each day moving forward.

Vita spends the limited time she’s conscious talking to Luigi, who’s been dead for a very long time, and her goldfish, Whitney Houston. Throughout her days, she’s either in “The Pit,” or disassociating and fantasizing about events from her past and mentally changing the outcome. One of the characters she refers to most is her sister Gracie but we come to find out in the end that Gracie has actually been dead the whole time - which was a good addition. Overall, to me it felt like a story of someone who was severely depressed but in denial about it, looking for any other possibility of sickness. But I don’t think that was ever really firmly confirmed/denied, which I think would have been a good way to tie things together. I saw another review stating that the introduction of the characters upstairs was a little abrupt and I agree, I think more could have been done with that as well.

Side note, what drew me to this book initially was the title and cover art. I had a new found appreciation for the cover art once I realized it was the gold fish Whitney Houston on the cover. It’s also a good portrayal of Vita disassociating as well, good pick on the cover art.

Ehhhhh….
There was a lot of parts of this book that just didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t know what was going on and was wondering where characters came from.

Gorgeously written mental health fiction in the same sort of vein as works by authors like Moshfegh. Thanks for the arc

Cara Mia Vita is struggling with an unnamed illness. She spends most of her time with her goldfish or in a dreamlike state in pain inside The Pit. Kate Weinberg takes us along as Vita experiences the loss of who she was and comes to terms who she is. Vita has a lot to learn from the ghosts of her past..

I enjoyed the story. I did feel as though the introduction of the secondary characters was abrupt. I would definitely recommend this to someone who is or knows someone going through an invisible illness.

This book definitely comes with an interesting premise that plays upon a world in which some people become lost in their own grief and rely heavily on drugs and medication. It’s very scary, but also very relevant to our contemporary societies. It is a very accurate depiction of depression—you feel the main character’s monotony, the lethargy, the pointlessness of it all.

Weinberg’s writing is absolutely exquisite. She writes with a deeply profound and insightful understanding and portrayal of people that never ceases to amaze me. Her storytelling skills are unparalleled. I really enjoyed it.

3.5/5

I enjoyed this one but I wish there had been more, that we could have gone a little further into how things turn out for Vita.

I would definitely recommend reading this one. Especially those who like to learn more about mental illness, symptoms, past trauma and grief.

Vita is a successful woman with a cozy, doctor boyfriend but her past trauma has caught up with her and we get to watch her road to recovery.