Social Creature
A Novel
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4.1 • 12 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
One of the Best Books of the Year:
Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Vulture
NPR
"Social Creature is a wicked original with echoes of the greats (Patricia Highsmith, Gillian Flynn)." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
For readers of Gillian Flynn and Donna Tartt, a dark, propulsive and addictive debut thriller, splashed with all the glitz and glitter of New York City.
They go through both bottles of champagne right there on the High Line, with nothing but the stars over them... They drink and Lavinia tells Louise about all the places they will go together, when they finish their stories, when they are both great writers-to Paris and to Rome and to Trieste...
Lavinia will never go. She is going to die soon.
Louise has nothing. Lavinia has everything. After a chance encounter, the two spiral into an intimate, intense, and possibly toxic friendship. A Talented Mr. Ripley for the digital age, this seductive story takes a classic tale of obsession and makes it irresistibly new.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Tara Isabella Burton’s wicked debut revels in high-society toxicity as it presents digital-age glamour in all its fake and parasitic glory. Like an Instagram-era Tom Ripley posting through a Gone Girl filter, aspiring writer Louise becomes enamoured with her new pal Lavinia's socialite lifestyle--until her FOMO takes a murderous turn. Burton's gleefully mordant wit owes a clear debt to Patricia Highsmith's acid portraits of sociopaths among the upper crust, but her thriller's focus on social media–driven narcissism feels devilishly up-to-the-moment.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of the cult classic Poison Ivy will appreciate the mousy girl wild girl dynamic on display in Burton's fiendishly clever debut. At 29, insecure Louise Wilson is a would-be writer living in fear of the dictum, "if you haven't made it in New York by 30, you never will." All that changes when she meets 23-year-old socialite Lavinia Williams, who seems to be channeling the free spirit of the late Zelda Fitzgerald (with flapper dresses to match). Larger-than-life Lavinia takes Louise under her wing and introduces her new bestie to a Manhattan she never knew existed, including parties in haunted hotels and secret bookstores and people with names like Beowulf Marmont and Athena Maidenhead, all the while dressing as if for a costume ball that never ends. Only later does Louise experience the hateful, spiteful, jealous side of Lavinia's personality in what becomes an ingenious dark thriller in the Patricia Highsmith Tom Ripley mode. Louise and Lavinia are bold, brilliant characters. This devious, satisfying novel perfectly captures a very narrow slice of the Manhattan demimonde.
Customer Reviews
Well done
In the vein of The Talented Mr. Ripley, it makes for a good read
a work of art & beauty
i love t.i.b. for her unique writing style on this novel, it was amazing from start to finish. she paints the characters with such detail and forms them into these beautiful mystical strangers. she shows the light and dark in human behavior. slightly put off finishing it because i was so invested in the world and cast she created but the ending was impeccable. i cannot wait to read again.