Luckiest Girl Alive (2022)

The release of a memoir by a former classmate/fellow survivor of a school shooting brings Ani's trauma to the surface again. The book release comes when the rest of Ani's life seems to be on an enviable track: getting married soon to a very rich man and about to be offered a huge job in journalism -- not too shabby for a former scholarship student.

This is really effectively told, interspersing disturbing flashback scenes with Ani's current situation. It's jarring and involving. Ani is a wonderfully complex creation -- not just one thing or the other. I went from wrinkling my nose at the games she's playing to get ahead (e.g. shoving food into her mouth only after her fiance leaves the table & pretending her boss's office is her own when the boss is out to lunch) to moaning in despair as she's trapped into sexual situations in scenes from her school days.

Though a little too formulaic, it's truly cathartic and important.

B