what does it mean to be loved by death?

first, the feminism in the book. lili is a recently 23 year old graduate student living in new york city, so of course she considers herself a feminist. her feminism is largely unconsidered and shallow, though, and does not end up affecting her thoughts or actions in any significant way. im discussing it first because its the least relevant to the plot, but as i will say about the next two points as well: it wouldnt matter so much if the book was not specifically calling attention to itself as political, and then missing its own called shot. lili's feminist thought terminates right around that "i need him in a way that's concerning to feminism" meme. early on, she calls her casual relationship with him a "feminist act of reverse objectification". but in the prior chapter, she describes her attraction to his wealth as "unfeminist" because it offers "protection, but at the cost of some possession." what i really find unfeminist about this dynamic is that lili, who is an adult, does not see herself as able to clearly negotiate terms of the relationship. i understand from her blog post about the book that volkova wanted to create a meaningful critique of tradwife feminism. i dont really think that was successful; lili comes off as someone who believes in choice feminism, despite being a grad student in socialism, which really does not ring true to me. these are pretty fundamentally incompatible idealogies, imo, as any socialist should be aware of the structural critique that makes choice feminism impossible.

my second point of interest is aleksandr as a capitalist. there are two nodes on this: the character as fanfiction, and the character as written in the novel. as with my ali+kylo critiques, i do not find it useful to hold an author to their interpretation of an existing character, especially in subsequently published work. but i do think its a useful framework for looking at what is or isnt included, especially wrt a dictatorial, genocidal origin character. that being said, it makes basically no sense to me that her version of aleksandr is a neoliberal capitalist. that is not, to me, a guy who wants to work within an existing system. in the original fic, from my skimming, he is somewhat more ruthless, but for the novel he gets tamped way down. this is the crux of my critique: what is the point of making the character unrecognizable in terms of ambition, motivation, and cruelty, if it also means sacrificing the ideological gap between him and lili? what, or who, is asking for this character to be more palatable? why are some crimes (mass murder, for one) brushed over for the sake of his function as a romantic lead? again, there is no standard of adherence to “canon” that im willing to impose on fanfiction or on the following novel. but in the name of the fantasy volkova is writing, it matters to me what is being elided. and once those villainous actions are eliminated from the plot, what remains? looking at the character as written, he is honestly quite a toothless political operator. he is high up at the equivalent of blackrock, an international asset management firm, which means he definitely has hands in arms manufacturing, fossil fuels, news media, etc., but the practicalities of this involvement rarely come up, even as interrogation from lili. he has big ideas to put up against lili's, but his political philosophy seems just as shallow and fallible as hers. at a crucial emotional point he explores fossil fuel divestment, in theory for the sake of their relationship and his commitment to her. but it happens largely off-screen, in secret, and does not really seem to impact their relationship. otherwise, he concedes very little and mostly states his personal aims in terms equal to a mafia romance: "when i want things, i tend to get them." "i dont share." but without any real bite to back up these claims, he is not menacing enough to be a real threat. in absence of that, he does not concede anywhere near enough ideological ground for me to respect lili staying with him. but that makes sense, because lili’s politics are shifting ground regardless.

finally: lili's socialism. this is the biggest failure for me in the book, and unfortunately, it is kind of the tentpole. lili is a graduate student finishing a dissertation on the protestant work ethic and its role in modern american identity formation. she works on an urban farm and is passionate about food distro. all of this would lead me to believe that she thinks about work and workers, about the material conditions of her surroundings. unfortunately, despite many opportunities, she does not. aleksandr has personal staff (a driver, a doorman, cleaners) who are named and frequently mentioned in the story. lili never spares a thought in her crowded narration for their personalities, labor conditions, home lives. his doorman and driver are fixtures in the story, always there to greet her at his building or pick her up from whatever corner of the city. do these people, working people, not have real lives or time off? again, this is not a critique i would ever offer seriously for another romance novel. its a fantasy, plenty of things work by magic plot device. but to think that lili, self-declared socialist, never spares a thought for these characters and their interior lives, makes me doubt the rigor of her worldview immensely. it would have been such a simple inclusion with, in my opinion, a huge return in terms of lili's character. but it never comes up. Volkova’s prose style is rather obsessively redundant with detail, and it got pretty glaring to me as the book went on, how often that detail focused on the sensuous joys of wealth. lili, like so many romance protagonists in this position before her, is taken aback by the comfort and safety she finds in money. she thinks, "it's embarrassing, wanting that soothing protection of wealth." and yet she never, on the page, probes that conflict deeper. speaking from personal experience, there is a lot to investigate about why wealth makes us feel safe, what kind of safety it is, and how precarious it is, especially when its not our money. it could have been an excellent point of tension, for lili to reject aleksandr's money because the safety it offers is conditional. it would also be an opportunity for her to deepen her own understanding of the class divide.