Anna: I’ll have to come back eventually to get the stitches removed and for some checkups. But soon I’m on my own.
June: What do you mean ‘on your own’? You can’t even piss by yourself. You gonna waddle down the stairs in that shitty Terminator leg brace to get your delivery tacos three times a day?
When we meet Anna, she is scraping by trying to stay afloat doing odd jobs at a local temp agency for henches (villain support staff). After receiving a brutal injury as a result of a kidnapping gone bad, she is left on her own to mend her life back together. The angrier she gets, the sharper and more focused she becomes. She is not only good at being a villain, she is brilliant.
The thing I loved the most about this story is that Anna is living the dream. Aside from the traumatic injuries, she has a job she loves, one that she is good at, a boss who encourages and appreciates her, and a loyal team. And she gets to see all of her hard work pay off as they start taking down the disastrously destructive heroes. It is diabolical and deeply satisfying.
Like Anna, when I was getting exactly what I thought I wanted, it was still a bit hollow. I wanted it to be funnier than it was. I’m not saying it wasn’t funny. But the bleak reality of how people are treated by their employers, or by their partners, was depressing. The confession that she had to burn through her savings and max out several credit cards to pay her growing medical bills was far more frightening than any acts of super villainy.
I wanted this book to be more than it was. It was wonderful – sharp, funny, fury-inducing. I guess I just wanted more. The friendship between June and Anna was the heart of the story in my opinion. After that, all other friendships – Greg, Vesper, even Keller (I had to look up his name because I couldn’t remember it) – did not compare. And maybe that was the point.
The good: Conversations were comedy gold. The descriptions of her apartment and its wretchedness were hilarious.
The bad: I have very few negative things to say about this book. While the detailed account of Anna’s recovery was necessary to her character development, I really had to force myself to push through that chapter.
