Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW

I personally want to start off by saying I was unfamiliar with this author and her previous works before this book. I had seen this book on several “most anticipated books of 2025 lists” and wanted to give it a go! I did not know anything going into it and from chapters 1-3 and 5-9 I really enjoyed some of her storytelling and thought the writing overall was fine.

I do not write lightly that this may be one of the most triggering books I have read yet as someone who grew up with a parent with an eating disorder. I cannot believe some of the content that was published within this book. I understand how common eating disorders are and how important awareness can be. I feel the way it was gone about was incredibly irresponsible when there are lines and passages like the following:

“I missed my eating disorder more than I missed my ex husband”

“If I could strangle myself with my own hands then I was beautiful”

“Will I emerge from divorce skinny? Because at least people will look at me with their sad Scaachi is getting divorced looks I’d look good”


I honestly wish I was taking these out of context but sadly there is no remorse, resolution, or reflective detailed in this book about the graphic bulimia the author suffers from. There is no sharing of how this mindset was reset or fixed in the slightest. It is not looked at through a lenses of regret or remorse. In a lot of ways I feel this book glamorizes eating disorders.

While some of the writing and details about her divorce was solid this extremely graphic chapter (and other bits sprinkled in throughout the rest of the book) soured the rest of the memoir. I hope there is a TW at the beginning of the book once it is actually published.

Scaachi Koul delivers a sharp, witty, and deeply personal exploration of resilience in Sucker Punch. With her signature humor and unfiltered honesty, she dissects the unraveling of her marriage, career setbacks, and family struggles against the backdrop of an unpredictable world. Her reflections on conflict—both internal and external—are insightful and relatable, making this book as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

While Koul’s writing is as engaging as ever, some sections feel slightly repetitive, and the emotional weight of her experiences occasionally overshadows the humor that made her first book so memorable. Still, Sucker Punch is a compelling read that balances vulnerability with biting wit, offering a fresh perspective on growth, loss, and the fights that define us.

This is my first time reading something by this author and I’m presently surprised. I was immersed in the essays immediately and her vulnerability about her divorce is impressive. Her culture and humor is woven together masterfully and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I subscribe to Scaachi Koul's newsletter and love to read her work. I really enjoyed her last essay collection and was so excited to read this!

As expected, the writing in this collection was sharp, so funny, insightful, and felt really honest. This is one I will be purchasing for my bookshelf.

Recommended: sure
For darkly relatable observations, for someone taking a knife to herself and sharing her most critical and intimate insights of her own being, for dark humor and lots and lots of pain with growth

Thoughts:
Wow. This hit pretty hard. Each essay block I tended to have to split up my reading because getting through an entire one was rough given the content. She is brutally honest about her assessment of herself and of others. I could feel so much of the raw pain and honesty, and I really hope that in a few years she'll look back and see that how she viewed herself now has changed and she has found love for herself again.

Anyway, this really cuts to the quick. Topics like divorce, family infighting, cancer, rape, trauma, self-confidence, there's really no holding back. Nothing in here is easy. Somehow though she does still inject humor at times -- very dark dark humor. A sort of "laugh so you don't cry" hysteria at times. And even though the title is sucker punch, she pulls no punches in her own discussions, of herself or others. She even calls out at times how much she would rather endure as opposed to speaking about herself publicly, specifically her own body, which she does in this book. Just giving some insight into how this must have felt ripped straight out of her.

The stories she gives here are deeply personal and yet somehow feel like tapping into a social current of things that many people have or will experience. She also ties in a lot of her religion and the lore of the different gods, and how that shaped her whether she realized it or not. I appreciated that there was enough context given for me to understand the impact and symbolism, though for folks more familiar I don't know if that might be a downside (hearing things you already know, that is). Her relationship with them grows over time and through the stories as well, so I appreciated being able to coherently follow along with that and understand the significance and catalysts.

Ouch, yo. This is a great model of how to write something ripped from your core. It feels like someone's hardest therapy sessions made into writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.

I was not familiar with Koul before reading this collection of essays but she's made me feel as though I know her. There's a lot of anger here - justifiably so- as she recounts the various punches she's taken in the last years. But she's also rebounded. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An interesting entry into the genre.

I haven’t read Koul’s first book, or her essay that went viral, but I picked this one up (mostly because I liked the cover) and found myself really invested. I loved her voice and her insights. Looking forward to going back and reading her other essays!

Scaachi does it again. I've been following her writing for years as a fellow Indian woman in the world of media, and this collection of essays especially striking. She artfully draws comparisons between her own personal story and the stories of Indian goddesses, and they stopped me in my tracks — repeatedly, I thought, "What clear thinking and writing." Tender and devastating, and still, frankly, hilarious. Looking forward to her next piece of work.

Raw, heart-wrenching, and wry would be the three words I'd use to describe Sucker Punch. The follow-up to Koul's debut, One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, this new essay collection arrives in light of some heavy changes in the journalist's life -- namely, her divorce and her mother's cancer diagnosis. Structured in sections entitled after different concepts within Hinduism -- Moksha, Dharma, Samsara, and Karma -- readers take a wandering path through the author's narrative of her marriage and its end.
Using her divorce and mother's illness as jumping off points, Koul continues to explore topics familiar to readers of her past work in The New Yorker, Huffington Post, The Guardian, and Slate -- racism, the immigrant experience, body image, gender politics, sexual assault, all observations made with her usual balance of dry sarcasm and thoughtful insight. I particularly loved the essay centered around Lolita and all of its interpretations, how the book became a reference and in-joke in her May-December marriage, reflecting on calling her husband "Hum" in humor and defiance.
Another really impactful essay gives space to how her family reacted to the announcement of her divorce. Koul alludes to the long-term battle she waged to convince her parents to give their blessing of her engagement to her white, significantly older fiancé. After an almost-picture perfect traditional Kashmiri wedding, things fall apart. COVID-19 sequesters the couple in their NYC apartment. An affair surfaces. Scaachi is laid off from Buzzfeed. And and and....
"'You got what you wanted!' Papa said in glee after the wedding. 'But you got what you wanted?' Papa said when I told him I didn't think the marriage was working. 'You got what you wanted,' Papa said in a quiet panic when I called crying because I knew I had to move out.
I always get what I want. I'm starting to think that might be the problem."
Like, kill me. I just kept being reminded that Koul isn't just a great journalist in the sense that she finds access to the biggest creeps and offers knowledgeable insights into the sins of society's past (looking at you, Girls Gone Wild), but in that she's a damn good writer too. There are so many passages when I paused to highlight, lines that echoed in my head for days after setting the book down.
So this maybe isn't the best book for a starry-eyed newlywed to pick up, but I've been a fan of Scaachi since her Buzzfeed days, a regular listener to Scamfluencers, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to read an ARC provided by NetGalley and Macmillan. For anyone who enjoys a solid essay collection, Sucker Punch will easily win your heart. It stands out in the intimate way Koul tackles topics like rape and racism, in the mic-drop lines, the sardonic tone and sharp humor. I'm definitely reaching for her first title, and I continue to look forward to whatever she turns her eye to next.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this.

I really enjoyed Scaachi's first book and have been a fan of her work as a cultural commentator since that came out, and this is another collection that knocks it out of the park. These essays all orbit around Koul's divorce, and I appreciate her willingness to not only pull that apart, but take a look at how the stories she was telling herself (and us, in her previous collection) weren't what they seemed to be. There's a really admirable frankness to everything in this collection, and it's also laugh-out-loud funny. This is another killer addition to the litany of divorce-focused books that have come out in the past year.

I have never read any of Scaachi’s work before, so I came into reading this book with no expectations. It was a raw, honest take on dealing with the many sucker punches life can throw our way from loss of a job, a loved one getting cancer, and a marriage falling apart. It was well written and I appreciated the honesty and responsibility the author took for their part in the marriage failing, and their look into how culture and religion shaped their desire to stay in something that was not working. If you go into the book expecting that I think you will enjoy the story. However it seemed marketed as a humorous set of essays, and it was definitely not that. I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul was a miss for me. If you read and enjoyed her first book, One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, you may enjoy this as a follow up, but I just found myself not really sure of what her purpose was in writing these "essays." They felt disjointed and random. Her work is touted as being snarky and witty, but it felt more like she was trying to say things just to pick a fight (which she self-proclaims is something she loves to do) or just write out a series of complaints. The premise that this was an unexpected turn of life events during lockdown didn't deliver for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

You would not believe the excitement I had when I saw the email about this one. Scaachi Koul is one of my very favorites. I listen to her on Scamfluencers weekly, I loved Where To Be A Woman, and her last book was so poignant in ways I couldn't fathom now, reading this one. This one hit me harder than that one, given that then I was divorced, and yet she was in a "happy" marriage at that time. This book saw me highlighting so many passages about having a bad ex-husband. About learning to love? or appreciate your body. About the friends you have who become family. About the love her mother has for her. I loved this so much and am just so thankful I got to read it. Now to go pre-order my copy!

Funny, witty, sharp, thoughtful. Scaachi Koul remains one of my favorite writers. I never read her first book, but the way she revises her own unreliable narration is very interesting.

Saachi Koul's ability for self-reflection, brutal honesty, and humor is such a gift to everyone who reads her books. I was a huge fan of her first book and while the subject matter is in complete opposition of her first, that's sort of what's remarkable here. This is a book about grief, the grief of her parent's growing older, of her changing understanding of herself, and most notably her long relationship, the subject matter of her first book, ending.

I think this book is a love letter to looking back with older eyes. I loved it so much.

Scaachi Koul was living the 'plan' for her life: she had gone through trials and family drama to finally marry the person she chose. This book tackles what happens when your happily ever after isn't actually making you happy and you need to figure out a new version of your life.

While I hadn't read the first book of essays, Koul did a good job of summarizing the major themes that were impactful. These essays were soul-baring and found myself riveted by her perspectives and honesty.

Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for providing me access to a digital copy!

DNF at 57%

I feel like I was missing something while reading this book, or that I was reading a completely different book than everyone else. Many other reviewers wrote that this was hilarious, touching, and relatable. I found it none of those things. I've been through my share of terrible events, as we all have, and I've found the humor in them as a way to cope and work through it. There was nothing humorous about how she wrote about her situations. I'm not sure how talking about her abusive marriage (in which she was very much a part of the problem) and being friends with her assaulter in a scathing, depressing way was supposed to be funny? She constantly talks about fighting, about how her parents fight with each other, how she fights with her parents, how she wants to fight with her ex but he doesn't, how she wants to fight with everyone. This came off more as a very serious issue that she won't deal with at all. In fact, that's how pretty much everything came off as. She has many serious issues that she won't actually deal with, except for trying to fight everyone and be as horrible and hateful as possible. Not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for gifting me a digital ARC of Scaachi Koul's newest essay collection, Sucker Punch. In exchange I offer my honest review.

I first read and absolutely adored Scaachi’s previous essay collection, One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, so I was excited to see that she had another collection of essays coming out. While this new book revisits previous topics, the humor and joy from earlier felt extinguished, and instead we were given a much darker, heavier reading experience. This book focuses heavily on Scaachi’s divorce, the isolation during the pandemic, family bonds, health issues and body acceptance.

Scaachi is a gifted writer. Her honesty, insights and humor definitely shine through but as a whole this book was tinged with more sadness than I expected.
I would easily recommend this book to those who enjoy keen observations, self awareness , gentle reflection and a sense of maturity through growth.

I really liked Scaachi Koul's first book of essays, so I eagerly requested an ARC of this one. I admired her no holds barred approach to topics that make some feel squeamish. She was daring and willing to go there with a brash honesty that I appreciated. Sucker Punch contains the same sharp insight and boldness, yet it is more subtle and intimate. The book has to do with the break up of her marriage, but it also deals with the impact of being an open book. It actually explores a lot of other topics within the larger context of her divorce. And by withholding parts of her experience and maintaining that boundary with the reader, Koul somehow manages to create a greater sense of intimacy. Yes, that sounds counterintuitive, but it works. Structurally, there were parts of the book that felt disjointed, but that may be a reflection of her circumstances. What she went through and continues to go through isn't necessarily a flowy process. Perhaps we were meant to feel that way alongside her.

Scaachi Koul delivers another sharp, biting collection of essays that blend humor, personal insight, and cultural criticism with her signature wit. Sucker Punch is a knockout—funny, unfiltered, and often painfully honest.

If you loved One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, this one should be on your radar. Koul’s voice remains fresh, fearless, and fiercely entertaining.