It left a strong impression on me. I want to write about it, but I’m having trouble doing so. It’s more of a feeling than a thought.

The main character is an American woman in Africa writing her thesis. She gets the chance to meet an academic who’s a celebrity among the Americans-in-Africa sphere, and decides preemptively that she’s going to fall in love with him and pursue him. He’s sort of a rugged, hairy guy who’s also intellectual enough to get all your references to critical theory, and has a cringy sense of humor. The protagonist (unnamed) is observant, neurotic and always crafting plots to make it seem as if this wonderful romance is blossoming in full candor. Although they’re both annoying, they’re written so well and their relationship develops in such a way that I was intensely rooting for their success.

He’s in the middle of creating a utopian commune out in the desert that will be led by African women and free of classism, misogyny and everything in that vein. Obviously the irony is that he’s not an African woman himself. Through the eyes of the main character you get to explore this little place and see what works, what doesn’t work, and what is pretending to work. In both the commune and the relationship, there are conflicts between intentions and our base nature. Let’s say a man decides he’s a feminist and he's going to let a woman lead. But he’s still stronger than her, so it’s always a matter of “letting her”—if she makes a decision he simply can’t accept, what happens then? And so on.

No, I’m not trying to foreshadow that the main guy becomes violent. He doesn’t; what ends up happening is more interesting than that. I recommend giving it a read. It’s an interesting world to step into for a little while.