Sorta interesting but didn't love it. Kind of made fun of influencers and retreats and all that but she also seemed to believe in it... disappointing ending. ( )

From Amazon:
"A sharply funny and wise debut novel about female friendship, the face we show the world online
and letting your own light shine."

My thoughts:
I've been eagerly anticipating Canadian author Selecky's first novel since I read her wonderful short-story collection in 2013. Radiant, Shimmering Light is everything I expected, and yet it's different.

Lilian Quick is a financially struggling pet portraitist, who sees pets’ ‘auras’. Her cousin Florence, whom she hasn’t seen in 20 years, and is now known as Eleven, contacts her to offer her a job in NYC. Lilian does accept and is caught in the phenomenon that is Eleven.

The book is wickedly satirical and full of self-fulfilment lingo "Pg161 Fifi is the creator of the groundbreaking New Mind New Yoga, an organisation that works to reduce unhealthy striving, cultural appropriation, and patriarchal dominance in contemporary yoga communities."

At the same time, it is warm and wise.

You'll love Lilian and you'll love this book. ( )

Lilian Quick is an artist who paints pet portraits. Out of touch with her cousin, Florence, Lilian has been following her on the internet as Florence emerged as Eleven Novak, a self-help guru. The two women reconnect and then Eleven invites Lilian to join her Ascendency brand in New York. This was an enjoyable novel about two women reconnecting after decades apart. I enjoyed it as the characters were older than a lot female characters in similar books (my age bracket), however they still read as young which is the way I feel. ( )

Lilian Quick is an artist. She paints what she sees. She sees dog auras. Not just dogs. She sees the auras of all animals. But not people. Animal auras are constant, sure, steady. Whereas people are so changeable and unpredictable. Maybe that’s why she can’t see them. And it also may explain why she can’t really connect with them. Her truest friend, when she was growing up, was her cousin Florence. But a rift between their mothers ended the habit of spending summer vacation together. She hasn’t seen Florence since they were both 20 and attending their grandmother’s funeral. She hasn’t seen Florence, but she follows her. As do thousands of other women. Florence is now the life guru Eleven and her Ascendency program is sweeping in ever more committed devotees. She also has her own product line. When Florence/Eleven brings her Ascendency event to Toronto, Eleven comps Lilian a couple of tickets and invites her to join them as an aspiring ascendent. And thus begins Lilian’s transformative period, escaping near-penury as a struggling artist in Toronto, moving to New York, working at The Temple with Eleven and her hand-picked cadre of women who stage-manage all of the Ascendency’s events, online communication, affiliation program, recruitment, and product development. But Lilian isn’t merely raising her consciousness. She’s reconnecting to the memories of her one true childhood friend. The first and only person who believed her when she revealed that she could she animal auras. The one who was a beacon for her. And once again Florence (or rather, Eleven) is lighting the way.

Sarah Selecky’s writing is pitch perfect. She absolutely captures the tone, the linguistic niceties, and the sincerity of the alternative self-help phenomenon. She also catches its underlying fiscal motivations, its competitiveness, its sophisticated use of online and social media, its irreality. Yet this is not bald satire. What looks to be a novel critiquing an industry, is in the end more a novel of character. Lilian is fully committed. She sees what she sees. And at times she does see through what is happening around her. But she also begins to see even more. And who’s to say it isn’t due to Ascendency? And who’s to say that the state of being Lilian achieves isn’t real? It’s a tightrope that Selecky is walking but she gets to the other side as though she were walking on solid ground. Remarkable.

Highly recommended. ( )

Excellent satirical look at our obsession with our social media presence and the ridiculousness of it all. This one stays with you, sits on your mind well after finishing and has you analyzing your own consumption and usage of social media. As in, wanting to take a giant step backwards from it! ( )