Post-Traumatic, Chantal V. Johnson (8/10) - no spoilers

Ok I know I just wrote in one of my last posts that reviewing books was anomalous, but here I am reading fiction and having thoughts about it, so I thought I would perhaps continue the trend. Since I mostly read poetry, I will stick to just reviewing novels/memoirs for the interest of my followers. After the Otessa Moshfegh disaster, I have decided to eschew the recommendations of the white literary community and follow those of the POC literary community, leading me to this debut by Chantal V. Johnson which people have been raving about for the past few months. It, unlike the Moshfegh, did not disappoint! Johnson, who graduated from Stanford Law School (where I've spent some time because of Bella), writes cunningly and adeptly about race, gender, trauma, and romance in a darkly comedic and also touching way. I've never seen someone write so well and with so much nuance about the daily traumas and fears that come with being a woman/femme, especially one with a history of trauma. The narrator, Vivian's, internal world is capacious and obsessive, and she navigates the world of post-academic professionals in a way that felt very real to me as someone who has been in a lot of primarily white highly academic spaces. The honesty and critiques of whiteness are very refreshing. I also loved(!) that the protagonist was really into music and got a bunch of song recs from the book. My one qualm(ish) is that the narrator's eating disorder was a bit triggering for me/I find that when I read first-person from the perspective of someone with an eating disorder, I tend to sometimes adopt that perspective which I don't like. I do appreciate, however, that it engages with the topic given that eating disorders amongst Black/poc communities are very seldom talked about/under-researched/under-served. Anyways, the novel is great and I'd highly recommend it unless you want to follow my content warning.