Reading Group Choices “Editors’ Pick” selection
Foreword Reviews “Book of the Day” selection
Library Journal “Debut Novels from Authors To Watch” selection
The Millions “Most Anticipated Books” selection
“[A] telling debut novel of money, power, and friendship.” —World Literature Today
“A superb academic novel.” —Commonweal
“A fascinating twist on the typical campus novel.” —On the Seawall
“Offers a way to navigate deprivation and privilege in the modern world. . . . Benefit is an exercise of the mind, a delight for the senses, and a cleansing of the intellect.” —Antithesis
“A subtle achievement of the novel is its balancing of social critique with awareness of the shadow aspects of the consciousness through which they are processed and articulated.” —North of Oxford
“An important satire.” —Book Riot
“[An] intricately structured novel that will appeal to readers interested in peering through the window of this rarified world.” —Portland Book Review
“Benefit is a fascinating novel—both a portrait of an industrial empire and revelatory about the elitist greed that often shadows philanthropy. It is also an unnerving glimpse into the impoverishment of academia, as scholars compete for part-time work and paltry salaries.” —Foreword Reviews
“Phillips’s assured debut novel blends a complex journey of personal realizations with insights into the dark side of ambition and power.” —Booklist
“A smart, thoughtful read.” —Library Journal
“Incisive. . . . Pulls back the veil on university hierarchies and social privilege.” —Publishers Weekly
“Highlight[s] the toxicity and ethical gaps that underlie much of modern academia and philanthropy . . . with striking social commentary.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A smart, razor-sharp exploration of the precarious island of academic life and the cold unforgiving waters that surround it.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather
“A compelling novel about friendship, education, and purpose, all illustrated through a cast of flawlessly realized characters.” —Susan Perabo, author of Why They Run the Way They Do and The Fall of Lisa Bellow
“Siobhan Phillips’s portrait of a stalled would-be academic is thrillingly intimate and ambitious in its scope, evoking at turns Rachel Cusk, Lynn Steger Strong’s Want, and Christine Smallwood’s The Life of the Mind. Deadpan and dread-filled, shadowed by the specters of war and late capitalism, Benefit probes both the futility and necessity of intellectual work, all in the wry, wise voice of an uncommonly clear-eyed friend.” —Jessica Winter, author of Break in Case of Emergency and The Fourth Child
