Made for Love' by Alissa Nutting is this wild, darkly
comedic ride about Hazel, a woman fleeing her tech
billionaire husband, Byron Gogol, who implanted a chip in her brain to monitor her thoughts—yikes, right? The story flips between Hazel hiding at her dad’s trailer park (where he’s weirdly obsessed with a sex doll) and flashbacks of her suffocating marriage. Nutting nails the absurdity of tech culture and relationships, blending satire with genuine emotional weight. Hazel’s journey is both hilarious and unsettling, especially when she teams up with a guy pretending to be her husband to scam people. The book’s got this surreal vibe, like a
black mirror episode crossed with a feminist manifesto. I couldn’t put it down, partly because Nutting’s prose is so sharp and partly because I needed to know if Hazel ever got that creepy chip out of her head.
What really stuck with me was how the book explores autonomy—both in marriage and in a world where tech companies treat people like data points. Hazel’s dad’s subplot with the doll, Diane, adds this bizarre yet poignant layer about loneliness and human connection. The ending’s ambiguous in the best way, leaving you thinking about freedom and love long after the last page. If you’re into speculative fiction with a side of social commentary, this one’s a gem.