Mood Swings

by Frankie Barnet

In a pre-apocalyptic world not unlike our own, a young Instagram poet starts an affair with a California billionaire who's promised a time machine that will make everything normal again—whatever that means.

For fans of Patricia Lockwood and Marlowe Granados—a whip-smart, absurdly funny debut novel by a bold new talent in sad girl literature.

Everyone knows something’s off, but nobody can agree on just what it is. Maybe it’s the weather; maybe everyone’s just so damn sensitive these days. Or maybe it’s because the animals of the world have finally had enough, besieging towns and cities and terrorizing their human residents.

Jenlena and her best friend Daphne are two humanities grads in their early 20s, trying to find their way in a society that has just eradicated all animals for the safety of humanity. In the post-fauna world, Jenlena transforms from an aspiring poet to a gig worker, capitalizing on other people’s grief by selling house plants that have come to replace pets and cosplaying as dogs for pay. Meanwhile Daphne, a once-promising student, flounders in a deep depression, smoking weed and ditching work to hang out with her once famous, now canceled boyfriend. When Jenlena meets the California billionaire Roderick Maeve, and the two become romantically entangled, she is exposed to a new understanding of wealth, power, and the gender economy—just as the world hurtles toward its alleged salvation.

Marked with Frankie Barnet’s poignant intelligence and sly sense of humor, Mood Swings is a stand-out debut novel that imagines with pitch-perfect absurdity what comes after life as we know it.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Literary Fiction, Dystopia, Speculative Fiction, Humor, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 2024

Reviews

[Jillian B · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tone of the book is surreal and often satirical, with wry observations that hit surprisingly hard. Full review at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/review...

[willowbiblio · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Endings seem to come without consent, but perhaps had instead been embarked upon before one could even remember.”
———————-
This was an absolutely striking debut from Barnet. She is so tapped into modern life and because of that is able to flip it, examine it, and question it in a hilariously zany and earnestly serious way.

Unlike Tender is the Flesh, this world without animals is mainly vegan. The subculture that turns up around the loss of pets- like furries being paid to supplant that love- actually felt like a realistic, if weird and sad, outcome to me.

Barnet created believable parodies of modern conversations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these were actually happening.

On the surface, Jenlena is very adaptable and deeply unserious. To stop at that understanding would do Barnet’s work an injustice. She is incredibly lonely and lost in a world and society bereft of the ability to do and be better. Her malaise and apparent apathy serves as a cover for how much she really cares and craves. When she learns Ricky’s biggest secret, we see her begin to come back to herself in a sense. That relationship was so intriguing.

I think I could’ve done without the subplot about an abused teenage girlfriend from the perspective of her aggrieved abuser. That felt like a misuse of Barnet’s talent.

I decided to still give this five stars because it was novel, massively, entertaining, hilarious, and deeply moving. Will keep an eye out for this author’s future work!

[E.Y. Zhao · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a bunch of things that annoy me (billionaire technocrats, listless Zoomer bedroom pop culture, dating medium-bad dudes who weaponize self awareness, the internet, cults, time travel, pet horses) and yet I could not put it down………..

[Taylor van Doren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will not/cannot explain this

Edited to add that I read 146 books in 2024 and this was my favorite one.

[gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW i loved this i love montreal i love being a girl i love being young and stupid because it sucks and it’s ridiculous and it’s my right and it’s beautiful

really great debut, very smart & funny

[Ann (Inky Labyrinth) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny, but in the end, meaningless. It started out great but fizzled out into nothing.

Thank you to the publisher for accepting my request for an ARC.

[Lorena ♡ (semi-ia) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ★

lots and lots of thoughts. so many i had a notebook with me the whole time to write them all and dissect some quotes. the main premise of this book is "what would a world without animals be like?" a post-fauna place where everyone seems to slowly descend into madness and a sense of doom is imminent (... sounds familiar). but while doing so, it also explores moral compass, a religious cult, the weather crisis, terrible poetry, human relationships, alternatives to pets (... you don't wanna know ✋🏼), womanhood, existentialism, body autonomy, time travel (yes, time travel), wealth, and class consciousness. cool stuff 🙂‍↔️. i loved it. again, lots to think of after finishing this

[magg w · Rating 2 out of 5]

once again bamboozled by a cool premise and fun cover only to be let down by the story and i’m sure it’ll happen again

[Nicole (Nerdish.Maddog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing debut that blurs genre lines and creates a lyrically beautiful end of the world scenario. In this book the weather is changing, and the animals have started a revolt. Humanity is confined to their homes as towns are overtaken and residents are terrorized. The only way left to save humanity is to take away what we value most, the animals that sustain us. The story follows Jenlena and Daphne, two women in their early twenties trying to find their place in the post-fauna world. Daphne is stuck in a holding pattern, dating a cancelled man and shunned from her friends. When a billionaire promises to build a time machine to fix the environment, she sees it as her chance to reboot her life as well. Her depression begins to fade as she imagines a world in which she is saved. Jenlena is adapting to the new world. She finds ways to capitalize on the grief that is abundant in the world, but the time machine would leave her with nothing. When Jenlena meets a billionaire from California she begins to see the underbelly of extreme wealth and power, as well as a way out when things ultimately change again. This book is smart and moving. It touches on current issues in an absurd and almost comical way, while still giving the darker themes the grace they deserve. The entire story is the alarm bell of late-stage capitalism that forces the reader to think about where the world is heading. There is a reason the younger generations are disaffected, depressed and filled with dread, and chances are there will be no time machine to save humanity from itself. This is definitely a unique story that is just as wild as the cover.

Thank you to Astra House for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. This will be available May 21st so head to your local library or independent bookstore to pre-order a copy today.

[Yahaira]

In the middle of reading Mood Swings, a thought hit me: this is The Deluge if it took itself less seriously. If you want your existential dread dripping with Gen-Z absurdness then this is the move.

What the hell am I on about? Mood Swings doesn’t cover decades of climate change inaction amid worsening storms, but a year or so during and after ‘the event’- when all animals decide to fight back humanity and terrorize cities. To stop this, a billionaire figures out a frequency that will affect only animals and kills them by gently melting their brains. Some people are ecstatic (we can finally go outside!), some are angry (my pet died!!). “Maybe we can make a time machine and just fix everything?” - some billionaire somewhere.

I’ll admit that at the beginning I wasn’t sure what to think because you’re hit with A LOT. You have multi-pov, first dealing with holding up inside while finishing college (sound familiar?) and then dealing with this non-future future. Great, you graduated with an English degree, but the world is going to end, now what? There’s also a cult trying to save the planet, the Moon Bethlehems, tweets, IG poems, and even drawings. But there were two moments that unlocked something for me, when the billionaire Roderick Maeve thinks an idea is too dumb to fail and when a bunch of young kids walk in a protest dressed up as old people in white wigs and with canes holding up signs that read “Let me be Bubbe”. After this I was all in.

The book takes something as dark as having no concept of a future and takes it to hilarious extremes. With all the bonkers stuff happening, plants becoming the new pets and dressing up in an animal as a new side hustle, we have these smart takes on gender power, wealth inequality, and the effects of the hyperonline culture. While I kept questioning the time travel logic, I have so many questions, it’s almost besides the point. Maybe the idea of a time machine is enough for some of us to have hope and actually make plans for a new future?

Somehow Barnet wrote a maximalist novel in 300 pages, that actually made me laugh, with sentences that will cut.

[Chandler Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really don’t know who else would enjoy this, but I’m obsessed. It started off so ridiculous that I just had to buckle in and enjoy the ride. I don’t fully understand it, yet I get it completely. Completely realistic while also being surreal. One of my favorite books I’ve read this year, yet I don’t think others will like it. I don’t know. If you’re intrigued give it a shot.

[Jackie]

Hilarious, sharp, and absurdly real, Mood Swings reads like dirty Vonnegut with an Ipsy sub (GREAT!). Animals revolt, so a Musky billionaire wipes them out to save humankind. Now, new college grads Jenlena and Daphne must traverse jobs (pet cosplay), cancelable men, and doomscrolling in a post-animal world. Plus time travel! Cults! Grimes! Friendship!

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should have worked for me. I usually love weird, sort of unhinged premises and quirky characters but this book was exhausting. It felt like trying to follow someone’s erratic train of thought while they’re telling you a story but they keep interrupting themselves to give back story/character history you just don’t care about. This book made me need a nap.

One time in my early 20s I was goofing around with my boyfriend and jumped on his back for a piggyback ride, a girl across the street looked at us and was like “a little MUCH don’t you think?!” Which is like hateful and screaming I hate love bc I have none but also now I kind of get where she was coming from because that’s how this book made me feel. It was just a little much, don’t you think?

Mood Swings is about a couple of twenty-something friends that are sort of flailing around as one does at that age only then all the animals in the world start attacking (rightfully so) and to protect society a billionaire invents a way to kill them all. So now all the animals are dead but they still have to go to work? And how does a world cope in the aftermath? Probably your relationship fails and you grow weirdly attached to your house plants, so says Frankie Barnet.

This book was weird and I liked that, but I felt nothing for any of the characters and I had such a hard time with the sequence of events, by the end of the book I was just uuuuuuuh not sure wtf happened. I liked the premise but for me the execution didn’t quite work.

I feel like this would appeal greatly to anyone who enjoyed Mona Awad’s book Bunny. That one I also wasn’t a fan of, and gave me similar uncanny vibes.

Thanks to @astrahousebooks for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those strangely odd books that sounds like it will be better than it actually is. There are tons of interesting elements all swirling around trying to come together to make some salient point, or not. I don't know. I picked it up because I really liked the cover. When I finished I was like wtf. So if you dig books that might have a meaningful point or no point at all, and I know you types are out there, then you will enjoy this one more than I did. Or not.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming back monthssss later to officially review...

Before learning fiction really does have lesser recognized subgenres (it's not just a coincidence 🤦‍♀️), I came across Mood Swings organically and fell in love. At the time, I couldn't put my finger on what made this one so different. Hm, perhaps bc it was my first step outside my comfort genres? Sweet, sweet baby Ashsaxreadsstacks 🥲

Satirical, absurd, dystopian-y vibes IMO, forcing uncomfortability on you without warning, singling out people & powers we tend to discount out of hopelessness, and making you run to reddit to see if there's any proof Roderick Maeve is a pseudonym 🤭 Frankie Barnet takes on environmental issues, violence, cancel culture, working to live, & - I'm not exaggerating when I say MUCH more - in Mood Swings. I feel like I've said this too often lately but... I have no clue how this was a debut novel. I was on to something the first time around though, when I said a lot of the satire is SO close to being accurate it's hard not to feel a twinge of paranoia. We really do suck, and we really are doomed.
& a note: Don't let # of pgs scare ya off, it's partially due to formatting - a good thing, it adds to the novel don't worry 😋

Will I feel the same way about this mini-review, next year?
*finger guns ya* 👉🏼👉🏼 Probably.

Also had to update w a huge thanks to Astra House for the #gifted copy of such a benchmark read for me in 2024 😍

[lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

for wandering montreal girls, with love <3

[ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tbh I truly don't know what this was about or what was going on but I still enjoyed reading it. The writing style was a little too erratic and all over the place for me, and the cover triggers my fight or flight.

[Mitch Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generational cancon voice

[Dessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this a three and a half!! The animals rebel against humanity, blaming us for climate change (and they’re not wrong), trapping everyone inside because it’s not safe to be outside. Thank god a billionaire invents a sound that kills all the animals instantly… safe to go outside again! But no birds! No squirrels! No pets! No non-vegan food! Is life worth living! Billionaire decides: no, begins building *checks notes* a Time Machine, which honestly tracks in terms of billionaire logic. Our undergraduate protagonist is just navigating it as best she can — sleeping with her TA, purchasing a dog costume for… activities, selling plants on Instagram because people need something to care for, and maybe even sleeping with the self-same billionaire (see above) but like, not with any real agenda. Which I suppose is the only way TO start sleeping with a billionaire.

Killer premise but not a single likeable person… our main character just kinda blows around like a plastic bag, which in some ways I respect but in other ways I wish I could scream: but what do you WANT! And I think that’s kinda the point: a commentary on how most people think change or action is beyond them, and maybe it even is. But does that mean it’s not even worth trying? Even the cult of people who give up their names and rebel against society’s inability to act… don’t do anything. They take over a dominos and stop making pizza? One of them posts on Twitter, like deep shit, but is THAT doing anything? One of them blows up an oil executive office but only after it looks like the Time Machine is going to erase those consequences anyway? I’m gonna be chewing on this one a long time… but I didn’t exactly like it… but I also very much think that’s the point…

[Vivian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel begins with animals taking over the world and then being killed by a sonic boom invented by a tech billionaire who then promises to build a time machine to bring the animals back when people grow angry about the mass extinction. There is a LOT going on in this novel, but, despite that, I just didn't find myself particularly invested in any of the characters or the world itself. Jenlena and Daphne are both complacent in their situations, and they don't even seem to have that strong of a friendship, which made the ending of the book doubly unsatisfying. I also think this book was a little too steeped in "internet culture" for me to really enjoy (there is, for example, a whole storyline about someone dating a canceled man).

[Jane B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any time someone asked me what I was reading during this, I had absolutely no idea what to say or how to explain this book. This book is a total freak show, in the best of ways. I’ve never read one quite like this, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something absurd. Reading this was a blast, but the book is also quite smart and the whole thing is really one long commentary on all kinds of very modern issues (climate change, billionaires and capitalism, social media, to name a few). The book manages to convey serious messages in a fun and ridiculous way that was extremely entertaining throughout. It felt both fantastical and completely relatable at the same time. The book felt incredibly current; I kept feeling like the author must’ve written it two days ago and published it yesterday. The characters are unbelievably flawed, which created the delightful feeling of watching someone else’s trainwreck occur from the sidelines. The summary of the book is a little weird, but I promise that reading it is even weirder.

[Katie Desormeaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

extremely weird and shockingly good. -1 star because I think she’ll write another book and it will probably be better. but. for a debut, really uniquely voiced, very specific world building and no gaps in continuity which is a feat for this kind of writing. impressive!!!

[niv · Rating 4 out of 5]

kinda really enjoyed this – stay tuned for my upcoming mRb review! lol

[AlenGarou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Sbalzi d’amore è un romanzo caotico.
Non tanto per la sua narrazione stratificata o per gli avvenimenti che descrive, ma perché si concentra sul rappresentare una generazione distaccata e assorbita dai social al punto da essere emotivamente costipata. E non fraintendetemi: ha riassunto alla perfezione la realtà, al punto da fare quasi male dato che ormai siamo bruciati. E le nuove generazioni possono solo peggiorare.
Tuttavia la mancanza di spiegazioni sul come e il perché la storia avviene è stato un punto dolente.
Perché gli animali impazziscono? Come sono stati possibili la costruzione dell’ultrasuono e della macchina del tempo? E il finale? Sono entrati nel multiverso o è stato un fiasco?
Insomma, ci sono troppe zone grige per i miei gusti, soprattutto nel considerare le basi distopiche del romanzo.
Mettendo da parte questo, il libro è una vera e propria finestra sulla società odierna con tutte le turbe del caso.
Abbiamo personaggi disillusi, emotivamente immaturi, alle prese con una carenza di legami senza precedenti al punto che dopo la morte degli animali tutti puntano alle piante pur di sopperire la mancanza di contatto. Aggiungiamoci anche la cancel culture, i riferimenti a soggetti reali altamente controversi e l’uso dei social per mantenersi a galla. Senza dimenticare poi le relazioni tossiche, l’aborto, il lavaggio del cervello, il modo in cui le sette si formano alla velocità della luce (sì, anche quelle degli ambientalisti) e altre componenti fondamentali per spiegare il degrado che sta portando la nostra società a una decrescita pericolosa.
E la flebile quanto fugace speranza che le cose miglioreranno da sole solo per grazia di terzi.
Poi ci stupiamo se le AI stanno prendendo sempre più piede nelle nostre vite.
Come romanzo ha un suo perché e da un punto di vista sociale e antropologico si è rivelata una lettura interessante. Non sono però stata del tutto coinvolta a causa dello stile che, anche se non è nelle mie corde, è ben congegnato per il tipo di narrazione. Se però cercate qualcosa di nuovo e particolare potrebbe essere un’idea.

[Alli L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the thickest longest book I have read on the subway but wow, such a strange read that I ended up enjoying a lot. I think I mainly related to the problematic main character who is so undisciplined and distraught always but at the same time also hyper focused on men who serve her no real benefit but force her to think deeply. Ya I related lots to that girl. I was kinda confused and because this isn’t a super popular fiction book, I wasn’t able to discuss and ponder with people s much as I normally do with other books, which honestly enhanced the experience a lot. As a reader I felt like I was immersed in the dystopian world where all animals have been extinct, and I really felt some type of way when she saw the horse again for the first time. Reading this while watching Billy was an experience too, I can’t imagine life without cute cats at this point

[Lizeth A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

“I guess we’re all just trying to find something to pet before the world ends.”

Mood Swings is a bizarre, satirical ride through a world where animals are extinct, and people cope with grief by treating houseplants like pets. Jenlena, an Instagram poet, gets caught up with a tech billionaire who thinks he can save the planet with time travel.

The novel’s sharp, dark humor and absurd premise had me hooked, but the fragmented structure made it a bit hard to fully connect with at times. Still, this is a unique and thought-provoking debut, balancing absurdity with moments of real emotional depth. If you’re into quirky, offbeat fiction with a twist of dystopian reality, this one’s worth the read.

[Addie Lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah. 4.5. Knew that ending was coming but I loved it anyway

[Candela · Rating 4 out of 5]

i honestly have no idea what to say about this book other than it was VERY fun

[Chelsea Thibodeau · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh I got about 80% thru and had to dnf. I just didn't care. don't get me wrong there were some points I understood what was going on and the point of it all. For the most part though it was confusing. was a point trying to be made at all? maybe not. maybe someday I'll come back to this with a fresh brain but now is not that time

[ellery beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

cannot even begin to emphasize how much i loved this book. it's the perfect amount of absurd and surreal, and the dry sarcastic kind of humor was perfect. i loved an apocalyptic world that was still so close to our current reality, it made all the jokes so much funnier. if you like weird funny fiction, read this!!!!