The girlfriend experiment: a review of the answers

It took me a bit to settle into The Answers—not because it wasn’t compelling, but because the narrative starts off a little blurred. The opening chapters have a hazy, dreamlike quality that makes it hard to get a firm grip on what’s going on. But once the premise came into focus, I was completely hooked. 

The novel centers on Mary Parsons, a woman quietly battling chronic illness and crushed under the weight of medical debt. Financially and emotionally depleted, she turns to an unconventional solution: the “Girlfriend Experiment,” a research study in which a famous actor hires multiple women to fulfill specific roles in his constructed idea of a relationship. There’s a Maternal Girlfriend, an Anger Girlfriend, a Mundane Girlfriend—and Mary, the Emotional Girlfriend. Mary’s role becomes the emotional backbone of the book. Through her, we experience the strange tension between authentic feeling and artificial intimacy. Her job is to offer comfort and vulnerability on cue, to be present in a deeply personal way while knowing it’s all constructed.

The premise is wild—absurd, even—but that’s the point. Lacey uses satire to explore how we try to systematize emotion. In a world of wellness trends and curated identities, love starts to look like something we can hack—especially in celebrity culture, where relationships often feel performative.

It’s not a perfect book. There are moments when the jumping between characters and scenes becomes frustrating, and the emotional distance between characters can make it tough to fully invest. The Answers doesn’t hand you clarity or resolution. It sits with the discomfort, the absurdity, and the contradictions—and dares you to do the same.

I’d give this one 3 out of 5 stars. It’s not a breezy or conventional read, but it’s thought-provoking and original. If you’re into literary fiction that pushes boundaries and plays with structure, it’s well worth your time.