Look at Me

New
Paperback
2011
$11.69

Reconstructive facial surgery after a car crash so alters Manhattan model Charlotte that, within the fashion world, where one's look is oneself, she is unrecognizable. Seeking a new image, Charlotte engages in an Internet experiment that may both save and damn her. As her story eerily converges with that of a plain, unhappy teenager - another Charlotte - it raises tantalizing questions about identity and reality in contemporary Western culture. Jennifer Egan's bold, innovative novel, demonstrating her virtuosity at weaving a spellbinding, ambitious tale with language that dazzles, captures the spirit of our times and offers an unsettling glimpse of the future.

Synopsis

Reconstructive facial surgery after a car crash so alters Manhattan model Charlotte that, within the fashion world, where one's look is oneself, she is unrecognizable. Seeking a new image, Charlotte engages in an Internet experiment that may both save and damn her. As her story eerily converges with that of a plain, unhappy teenager - another Charlotte - it raises tantalizing questions about identity and reality in contemporary Western culture. Jennifer Egan's bold, innovative novel, demonstrating her virtuosity at weaving a spellbinding, ambitious tale with language that dazzles, captures the spirit of our times and offers an unsettling glimpse of the future.

$11.69

Quantity

3 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Publisher: Corsair
Published: 15 Sep 2011
ISBN 10: 1780330995
ISBN 13: 9781780330990
Book Overview: The stunningly well praised second novel from Jennifer Egan the author of the bestselling A Visit from the Goon Squad, which also won the Pulitzer Prize.

Media Reviews

...a comic, richly imagined, and stunningly written exploration of the American obsession with self-invention. * New Yorker *
Brilliantly unnerving. . . . A haunting, sharp, splendidly articulate novel. * The New York Times *
Egan limns the mysteries of human identity and the stranglehold our image-obsessed culture has on us all in this complicated and wildly ambitious novel. * Newsweek *
Ambitious, swiftly paced. . . . Egan writes with such shimmering elan that it?s easy to follow her cast on its journey. * The Wall Street Journal *
Dark, hugely ambitious. . . . As riveting as a roadside wreck and noxiously, scathingly funny. * Elle *
Egan's ability to move with ease between sincerity and satire sets Look at Me apart. . . . Her authentic-feeling details give a sense of unusual immediacy. * Vogue *
Prescient and provocative. . . . The characters . . . jump from the pages and dare you to care about them. . . . The prose is crisp and precise. . . . The pieces fit together at the end with a satisfying click. * Philadelphia Inquirer *
Enjoyable and promising. * Financial Times *
After the success of Egan's 2011 Pulitzer-winning A Visit From The Goon Squad, this satire of identity and fame in modern culture is another wildly inventive and meticulously crafted piece of brilliance. * Stylist *
Sharp, clever, complex... I can't do this 514-page novel justice in 242 words. It's funny and serious, dry, sly and wry. The writing is as pin-sharp as the perceptions. Read it. * Independent on Sunday *
A prescient, pre-9/11 study of a society drowning in contrivances. * The Pulse *

Author Bio

Jennifer Egan is the author of the critically acclaimed A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Keep, The Invisible Circus, and the story collection Emerald City. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, GQ, Zoetrope, All-Story, and Ploughshares, and her nonfiction appears frequently in The New York Times Magazine. She lives with her husband and sons in Brooklyn.