I was excited to read Liquid because the description sounded fun and BOTM selected it as one of their March reads, but this one was a big miss for me. I did not enjoy the experience of reading what felt like an unedited dissertation / failed dating experiment. I know the author is a woman, but it felt like she was mansplaining the PhD process for the first half of the book. Calling this book high brow is a serious understatement. My other issue was the jump from LA to Tehran. It came out of nowhere, and the Tehran portion of the story was just a bit flat (perhaps because she wasn’t a particularly endearing main character) yet it somehow is the catalyst for her eventual life / relationship epiphany. Bottom line, I just didn’t buy it. Thank you to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for my ARC.

An introspective book that kept me captivated throughout. An important perspective that everyone should read.

I cannot stop raving about this book—it’s that good. Liquid follows an unnamed Iranian-Indian American scholar who, fed up with the instability of adjunct life, embarks on a hilariously ambitious plan to marry rich. What starts as a structured, spreadsheet-driven experiment quickly spirals into a whirlwind of absurd, awkward, and unexpectedly emotional encounters. But as her summer of dating unfolds, reality—and a trip to Tehran—forces her to confront the contradictions in her life.

This novel is completely unique, beautifully written, and so, so funny. It’s a sharp, satirical take on love, class, and academia, but it’s also deeply romantic and emotionally resonant. I couldn’t get enough of it.

The unnamed female narrator of this book is working as an adjunct professor, making a low salary and is wondering when her dream of a middle-class future will come to fruition. When her best friend, Adam, jokingly suggests that she marry rich, the narrator takes this idea seriously. She commits herself to 100 dates, creates a spreadsheet to keep track, and hopes to have a proposal before fall.

This book takes an unexpected turn about halfway through. Due to a family emergency, the narrator must go to Tehran and put her dating project on hold.

This is not a traditional love story. However, it examines the love between parents and their children, spouses, and best friends.

Does the narrator receive a proposal before fall? You'll have to read to find out.

If you're looking for a new literary fiction novel from a debut author, then this is the book for you!

I received a #gifted copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so charming and funny. Our unnamed narrator graduated with her PhD two years ago and has been struggling to find a job or relationship, and her Iranian and Indian parents desperately want her to marry someone. On a whim, she decides to go on 100 dates in one summer. But when her dad has a heart attack and she goes home to Tehran, her plans go awry and she has to reevaluate everything.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and the pace was great. Our narrator is incredibly witty, and her inner dialogue as she goes on different dates, tries to figure out her career, and continually rethinks her relationship with her parents is very interesting. Once we get to Tehran, it at first feels like the narrative stalls, but then that time becomes the focal point of the story and propels so much of our narrator's character growth and realizations. There were times when it felt like the writing was a bit too obsessed with itself, but overall I thought this book's depiction of grief and of feeling like you don't belong anywhere was really artful and resonated with me. It's also unlike other books I've read, which is always fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will come back to provide a review when I am able to read the book -- unfortunately, time does not permit me to give this book the attention it deserves.

What a fantastic book! The first one I have read by this author but definitely can't wait to read more! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book. Highly recommend!

An enjoyable if flawed read.

Let’s start with the good stuff: i loved Rahmani’s fluid, introspective writing, and she gives us a heroine who is as easy to root for as they come. I also loved the protagonist’s discussion of her academic work and how she tried to apply it to her personal life.

Where this book falls a bit short is mostly about the jarring tone shift mid-novel that leaves one feeling like they’ve read two books about the same character written by two different authors with two very different agendas for both message and tone. Instead of a natural progression into heavier material, the book just makes a giant, discordant leap in tone and subject matter, and it doesn’t work as a cohesive story.

The book also isn’t truly funny, which makes the publisher’s summary a bit misleading. The summary also leans heavily on the first half of the book (the superior half, in my opinion), which makes the leap the second half takes even more jarring and inapt.

Still, I love the way Rahmani writes inner monologue, as well as the way she ruminates on the difficulty of squaring disparate cultural values, be they your own, your parents’, or your broader world’s.

This definitely was not for me. I felt like I started a book in the middle and had to figure it all out as I went. Disjointed and boring. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

Unfortunately, this was not a book for me. I thought that it would be more similar to Elif Batuman's style due to the comp, but I wouldn't agree with that. It's about 50% Batuman, 50% Derrida. I can tolerate a lot of academic jargon, improbably plotting, and unlikable characters, but not all at once. The premise was interesting, but there was a lot of just dumping of family history and half-formed witticisms on selfhood until the main tragedy-- but that occurs SEVENTY percent into the book!! Pacing was off, plotting was thin, and all in all just too predictable. Thank you for letting me read this, though! I'd love to read her in the future.

This was quite the ride. I didn't always like reading this book, but it did make me feel things, and ended up being very immersive. It took me a little to get into -- this is very literary, in a way that I think I haven't read in quite a while and worried I wasn't in the right place for. That, combined with the character being a pretty unlikable mess, I was unsure of what I would end up feeling about this. I'm really glad I stuck with it, though. As other reviews have said, things really change halfway through the book. But, it's not a stark contrast in the sense that it feels like a different character. For me, it's a very natural evolution, and it always feels like the same voice, just a voice under very different circumstances. Things wrapped up in a very un-literary way, which may not suit some readers, but for me it was a welcome payoff. And, she warns you with the subtitle.
This book is also very quotable, and I found myself writing a few things down. At the beginning it felt a little overwritten, but I was won over by the end.

Liquid was an interesting read for me, I thought it was beautifully written with a unique perspective, but it didn’t fully click for me. The themes of identity, capitalism, and fluidity were fascinating, and I appreciated the experimental style, but at times, it felt a bit too abstract for me to fully connect with. Still, there were moments of brilliance, and I can see why it would really resonate with others. A solid 3.5 stars!

• always thinking herself the smartest person in every room, the book’s unnamed narrator decides to go on 100 dates to find herself a rich spouse when she’s unable to create the life she imagined two years after getting her phd. but when tragedy strikes in tehran, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a familial reckoning, altering every plan she had for herself.
• this book is told in two very distinct parts, that at first felt disjointed, but ultimately i found satisfying paired with the narrator’s voice.
• while the ‘a love story’ subtitle might seem disingenuous at first, i do think this book worked well as a story of a woman seeking ‘love’ to secure financial security, as well as an examination of her parents’ marriage.

This book is good but not what I expected and where I expected a love story ( according to the title ) it was more of a cultural study and self exploration. Certainly an interesting look at cultural identity , love, marriage and sexuality

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was not as strong as I had hoped, but in other ways it soars above the usual literary fiction. The writing was at times quite beautiful and clearly written by someone with great emotional and scholastic intelligence. Other times it lost me and I felt totally removed. I think this is due to the relationship with the protagonist feeling so distant - I never truly knew her, even in the second half where we experience great loss alongside her. I lost a parent recently and felt the topic was not explored well or even used as a tool to help us understand the main character. It mostly served to place her in a situation where she had to choose between LA or Tehran - but we never got her insight into the benefits or challenges of either. It felt like a very passive read, though at times it would deliver a killer line.

Liquid by Mariam Rahmani is the story of an Iranian woman young woman who has recently completed her PhD and is trying to establish a life in Los Angeles. In the first half of the book, she struggles with trying to find stable, meaningful employment and with finding a partner. In the second half of the book she travels to Iran for a family emergency.

I generally like this genre that includes coming of age, identity and learning about different cultures. I had a hard time getting immersed into this book. I finished it, but was never really engaged with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book. The cover is immaculate, and I'm always down for a debut novel. However, this one just didn't land for me. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

The narrator, frustrated with life in academia, vows to go on 100 dates over the summer and secure a marriage proposal by the fall semester. Her best friend Adam, in the midst of getting over a breakup, is along for the ride and obviously in love with her.

The beginning of this book has promise. I really liked the idea of breaking the story up by each date, but that format didn't last long. In fact, I felt only about ten percent of the book focused on the 100 dates storyline, which was disappointing. I genuinely love intellectual novels about academia, but that wasn't what I was expecting from this. There were certain paragraphs where the narrator talks about her research or something similar and it lost me completely. However, there were several pieces of this book that I enjoyed, mainly regarding the narrator's escapades with her dates and Adam, so I will still give it 3/5 stars.

💕Liquid: A Love Story by Mariam Rahmani📊

✨Release Date: March 11th✨

This will easily be one of my favorite books of the year! It’s not only witty and scathing and satirical, but also filled with gorgeous insights about modern dating, family, grief and belonging.

From the first page, I loved the main character and was completely locked in for her all her ill-advised (mis)adventures.

The novel follows a recent PhD graduate who is (reasonably) frustrated by her career prospects and decides to focus on marrying rich instead. She fills her summer with 100 dates across genders, continents & socioeconomic statuses, tracking it all in a handy excel spreadsheet (which my ex-private equity analyst self could not help but mentally format for her).

Her sexcapades are at times laugh-out-loud funny, but also offer a sharp critique of the capitalist hellscape we all participate in & the sacrifices that requires. One of the funniest moments to me was when, after about twenty dates, the narrator realizes that marrying rich will require abandoning her class politics.

On a more personal note, I was very happy to see so many references to Armenian food, culture & neighborhoods in this book. It’s very rare & special!

I also thought the narrator’s PhD research about the differing views on the role of marriage in Eastern and Western cultures was masterfully and accessibly woven through the plot to add depth & context to her journey of self-discovery. And I was dying at her love-hate relationship with the friends-to-lovers trope in film & her (true to form) refusal to admit what had been right in front of her all along.

I could keep going, but ill spare you. The stunning cover should be enough to convince you to pick this one up all on your own!

A touching story of love, loss, and dual citizenship. The protagonist moves across continents as she tries to find her place in the world, almost liquid how she ebbs and flows, looking for a place to settle. Really lovely, lyrical writing and a compelling story of postdoc malaise.

As career and romance prospects dry up for the unnamed narrator of “Liquid,” the 31-year-old decides to marry rich. The narrator uniquely understands the benefits of “refreshingly clear terms: my time, his money” since her Ph.D. dissertation critiqued modern marriages based on feelings, as opposed to traditional Western and Islamic marriages treated as contracts. She tasks herself with going on 100 dates that summer with the academic rigor of a research project. This rom-com infused with sharp literary prose muses on the ridiculous indignities of modern courtship, the nuances of Persian literature, and the thoughtful contrast between the narrator’s despondent (yet hopeful) descent into American independence and her parents’ hard-won career paths as Iranian and Indian immigrants. Author Mariam Rahmani serves on the faculty at Bennington College.