I just read this book in one sitting and I’m feeling overwhelmed and stressed at the state of the world! I have a feeling this may be partly the point, and Levy does so with wit, relatability and irony through the voice of Avery - our narrator, whose life is a bleak one, reliant on stimulants and the approval of men, to the detriment of her progression in life and career goals.

I found the book easy to read quickly, but really difficult in terms of the subject matter and general negativity. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style but this is definitely personal preference. Maybe this just wasn’t the right book for me, right now. Still an impressive debut!

Stylish, addictive and very very cynical.

I was instantly drawn to the detached but manic energy this brings to exploring everything social media cares about in 2025.

Avery is someone who has all the advantages to succeed but instead is being sinking and being chewed up by her world. It’s a sad and melancholic tale at heart which masks that under a thick layer of bravado and cynicism.

I wasn’t sure how it would develop but really enjoyed how this was wrapped up. The short sections between main chapters were also great and seemed to capture a certain view of the current state of the world really well.

At its core Flat Earth is a coming of age story, following a woman coming to terms with the end of her girlhood as the world teeters on the edge of complete ruin.

It follows Avery, a grad student in her 20s who’s struggling with the success of her more privileged best friend, Frances, in the New York art scene. Avery wants to be a writer but doesn’t ever actually write much (relatable), instead spending her time with older men who treat her badly and taking a job at a startup right-wing dating app.

The writing is very acerbic and meta in the way a lot of these gen z-esque books are. It’s told in fragments, flitting between Avery moving through the world and witty social commentary on politics, culture, capitalism, the internet, environmental collapse etc - basically a satirical comment on the ennui of our current zeitgeist. I read it in about 2 sittings and enjoyed my time with it, highlighting many passages as I read.

Anika Jade Levy's Levy’s debut opens with best friends Avery and Frances driving across their country in search of material for Frances’s experimental documentary and finding it in abundance. They’re postgrad students, both working on their final assignments but while Frances is powering ahead with her exploration of a post-industrial America awash with opioid addiction and conspiracy theories, Avery’s attempts to write a book of cultural reports has stalled. Frances is from a wealthy Southern background contrasting with Avery’s single parent upbringing, yet it’s Frances who connects easily with the people they meet in the flyover US who have more in common with Avery. Shortly after their return to the city, Frances drops out returning to N. Carolina to get married. Struggling to pay the rent, Avery exchanges sex for money with a series of older, wealthy men who seem to despise her, amazed when Frances completes her Flat Earth project and the praise heaped upon it by New York’s art cognoscenti.

Levy’s bleakly, funny novella is narrated by Avery in a series of short, fragmented chapters. Avery spends her life seemingly waiting to be rescued by a man, reaching for stimulants in order to write but still not managing it, whatever affection she had for her friend eaten up by envy at her success although that appears to do Frances little good. There’s a good deal of acerbic humour to enjoy in her narrative edging into snark which suits my taste well. Levy’s sharp social observation and lampooning of the art world is coupled with a smartly polished style although, for me, this was a novel to admire rather than enjoy.

Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy is a painfully relatable account of making bad decisions, comparing yourself to other people and how life is a series of transactions. I think fans of Elif Batuman will enjoy it.

I adored this taut little thriller and sped through it in an evening. It is perfectly paced and so intriguing - I was never quite sure what Avery was going to do next and couldn’t wait to find out. I’d recommend this book to fans of Megan Abbott and Patricia Highsmith.