(pb;
1998, 2018. Translated the French by Emma Ramadan.)
From
the back cover
“Stunning
Claudine and gloomy Pauline pretend to be one person so that Claudine can be
famous, but just as thing take off, Claudine commits suicide. Pauline hatches a
new scheme, taking on her dead sister’s identity, inhabiting her apartment, and
reading her emails─slowly realizing the costs of femininity is to dazzle on the
outside while rotting on the inside.”
Review
Pretty is my favorite book by Despentes thus far.
It is a blunt, character-true and entertaining takedown of how society defines
(and suppresses) femininity, identity, sexuality, pop culture and other notions
of (un)acceptable behavior─nothing is sacred here, even the truest, kindest and
ultimately healing aspects of human nature undergo rigorous and often clever
examinations. This fast-moving, trance-inducing novel is excellent, memorable
and worth owning, perhaps even worth re-reading a few years from now.
No comments:
Post a Comment