Acts of Service

Eve is a privileged 20-something woman who works in a cafeteria in New York for fun, an easygoing lesbian. She has a lover in Romi, a doctor.Out of whim, one day she posts her naked pictures in social media and thus gets into contact with Olivia and Nathan.Nathan is a businessman with a lot of secrets hidden inside him. Olivia is an employee in his firm as well as a friend from their college days. She is an painter too.Soon, Eve is slowly drawn into the web of sexual indulgence, and enjoys being with them.As the season changes, her curiosity to know more about them in person becomes an obsession of sorts for Eve.However, both Nathan and Olivia being complex creatures, Eve's attention-seeking mode changes to interrogative one, through which she understands herself as a person despite lots happening in her own personal life.This debut novel is such a complex yet nuanced study of various contemporary topics like gender theory, sexuality, submissiveness, body politics, feminism, and modern-day queerness.The dialogues and conversation between the three characters and the mood-change and response were well flushed out by the author with deeper and diligent character arc.However, I felt some kinda disconnect with Olivia. May be a second read would help me understand her complexity in a better manner.This erotic lit-fic is no Fifty Shades of Grey; it is rich and intellectually and philosophically satiating and a wholesome experience.I recommend it for all mature readers who love to indulge themselves in good literary fiction that is sexually liberating.

Given the hype, it was disappointed not to find the secrets of lesbian love and sex in this book. Its easy to speed read, and to see how she has 'speed written' it.But disappointingly, it celebrates the primacy of lust and sex with an unfeeling man with money and power. If that isn't a cliche what is?' the feeling I had when Nathan told me he liked me was like nothing I have felt before - or it was like falling in love again and again 'It's supposed to be a threesome including another woman, but the women are really only walk-on characters. Her own lesbian partner is a boring but 'noble' pediatrician. She also has a woman flatmate who points out the abuse going on , and there is only minor sex interest with the other woman in the threesome. There is another women in the background.There are plenty of unlikely quasi-psychologcal ruminations and conversations about sex and power , but surely we are already aware that some people are addicted to inappropriate sex, to subjugation, some to being coercive. Just because women may now be 'free' to choose - it is still very disappointing that by far the most intense scenes have to be with male money and power.

A very simple story wrapped in philosophical ramblings. It was like looking into the lives of three extremely boring people whilst they tried to muster up a bit of excitement that didn't really make them any less boring.There are far better books dealing with issues of personal freedom and morality than this one.

Cold, dry, sterile, overthought and frustrating.No empathy between the characters - making the novel pointless - and none between the author and the reader.

So dull. Describes the same feeling/thought/emotion repeatedly throughout the book, using different clunky metaphor to try and disguise the fact that nothing changes for the character from the beginning of the book to the end.

bought a used one and the cover is a bit bent but its okay :-) happy with the purchase