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The Unconventional Affair The plot of A Little Bit Bad sounds like the setup for a joke: “Like, this white lady lusting after her hot Chicano roofer?” Perdita Jungfrau, the narrator, is describing her own situation. “Yuck.” The Complex Characters Perdita and Nando should make an odd couple, but they don’t. They’re both raw and fragile, and they share a sense of delight in the abyss. Their attraction feels real – there’s a sense of something tense and secret between them when they’re alone. The Societal Commentary Like All Fours, A Little Bit Bad has a careering plotline, flying between the everyday drudgery of mom-life, and a heightened, surreal or imagistic mode. The novel poses questions about the structural violence of a culture that privileges the normative nuclear family. The Humor and Satire It’s also very funny. I was reminded of the heroines of Halle Butler’s novels – Perdita could be their older sister, another ferocious dork with a genius for behaving inappropriately. Neyenesch’s comic excellence and sharp insight occasionally come at the cost of blunter things, such as emotion. The Verdict At heart, this story is tragic. The touch of satire pulls it back from the abyss, and it’s probably for the best. I absolutely enjoyed every single page. The plot is constructed for compulsive reading: the two storylines are told in interspersed chapters, and as the affair begins to cool, the murder mystery gets going.