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Lädt ... The Portrait of a Mirrorvon A. Natasha Joukovsky
Books Read in 2020 (616) Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. This novel centers on two beautiful, expensively educated couples and what happens when they fall for each other's partners. Gorgeous Wes Range, whose ownership of an of-the-moment tech company befits his upbringing, is married to Diana, an equally beautiful and high-powered management consultant. Things are stale, they tend to annoy each other more than they delight each other, but there's no question they look good together and share the same values, which is to say, they know the right place to be seen skiing or own a third home. While on an exclusive tour of a new exhibition at the Met, Wes sees Vivien, who attended the same expensive school he did, and parlayed her money and connections into an enviable position as a curator. He had had a crush on her in school, and now she's even more gorgeous than before. Meanwhile, his wife is sent to Philadelphia, where she is partnered with Dale on a high-profile project. Dale is engaged to Vivien, but it doesn't take long before he is smitten with Diana. It is, of course, perfectly fine to write about rich, beautiful, successful people who have everything. It is, however, a lot more difficult to make the reader care about their tender feelings and inner pain. But the author isn't asking us to empathize, or even get to know her characters. She's mocking them even as she's lovingly describing their every meal, their every shopping trip, their every perfectly insouciant outfit, painstakingly put together to imply carelessness. With the exception of far too many Linked In profiles, emails and text messages, this novel was well-written, but the humor often felt forced. Still, this will be fun for those who like to watch rich people being made fun of as they blithely continue with their lives as wealthy, beautiful, expensively educated people with connections and easy success. Zeige 2 von 2 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
A stunning reinvention of the myth of Narcissus as a modern novel of manners, about two young, well-heeled couples whose parallel lives intertwine over the course of a summer, by a sharp new voice in fiction Wes and Diana are the kind of privileged, well-educated, self-involved New Yorkers you may not want to like but can't help wanting to like you. With his boyish good looks, blue-blood pedigree, and the recent tidy valuation of his tech startup, Wes would have made any woman weak in the knees--any woman, that is, except perhaps his wife. Brilliant to the point of cunning, Diana possesses her own arsenal of charms, handily deployed against Wes in their constant wars of will and rhetorical sparring. Vivien and Dale live in Philadelphia, but with ties to the same prep schools and management consulting firms as Wes and Diana, they're of the same ilk. With a wedding date on the horizon and carefully curated life of coupledom, Vivien and Dale make a picture-perfect pair on Instagram. But when Vivien becomes a visiting curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art just as Diana is starting a new consulting project in Philadelphia, the two couples' lives cross and tangle. It's the summer of 2015 and they're all enraptured by one another and too engulfed in desire to know what they want--despite knowing just how to act. In this wickedly fun debut, A. Natasha Joukovsky crafts an absorbing portrait of modern romance, rousing real sympathy for these flawed characters even as she skewers them. Shrewdly observed, whip-smart, and shot through with wit and good humor, The Portrait of a Mirror is a piercing exploration of narcissism, desire, self-delusion, and the great mythology of love. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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If you like reading books with likeable characters, then this probably isn't the book for you. I rather enjoyed following these characters and getting peeks into their inner workings and how they thought. It may seem like at first this book is just about a bunch of rich people doing rich people things, but I assure you it is much more than that. I found this a well thought out, character driven book. And the story of Narcissus was an apt choice to have in the background of their stories.
I was afraid it would maybe be implemented a little too literally (though at times it did feel like it was being a little bit cheeky with the subject matter), but in the end I think it blended well. Especially in regards to the main cast. No one person seems meant to be Narcissus, but the whole of the main cast (and arguably simultaneously Echo). Forever thinking highly of themselves and their own intelligence. Enamored by their own reflection (whether that is themselves or someone else), but forever unable to obtain it, and thus doomed to pine over what they can never have despite it being right in front of them.
I really enjoyed this book, and will be thinking about it for some time after completing it. I look forward to reading more from this author!
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