Narcissus Nobody
A Novel
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
The voice of disgraced love guru Brooks Nixon seems to haunt Hope Townsend, showing up at inopportune moments to deliver unwelcome commentary on her hapless romances. Brooks―who once doled out cliched dating advice to millions―fell out of favor with his fanbase when a life-altering experience shifted his counsel to a free-wheeling, anti-monogamy platform. The about-face earned him the moniker “Narcissus Nixon” and made him slightly less annoying to Hope, a goth music devotee who prefers animals over people. Hope’s dueling traits of misanthropy and compassion often hinder her progress in relationships as well as jobs, as she provides home-care to the elderly―listening to their stories while wading through her own―and does administrative work at a shady psychic hotline. Little by little, she finds herself more influenced by the new Nixon than she’d care to admit. To shake off his hold on her thoughts and come to terms with her own destiny, she must uncover the truth behind Nixon’s transformation and draw the line between his recommendations and her authentic desires. Through playfully witty dialogue weaved into eccentric storytelling, NARCISSUS NOBODY is a brilliant―often humorous―story of a woman who is driven to embody free-spirited independence in the face of society’s more conventional expectations. Author Gina Yates is the youngest daughter of the late celebrated author Richard Yates (Revolutionary Road), and with this novel―ingenious, with crack-up moments of cleverness―she makes her mark as a writer of sparkling originality.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The highly enjoyable debut by the youngest daughter of Richard Yates lands as keen-eyed and poignant, largely thanks to its appealing misfit protagonist, Hope Townsend. The book opens in 1992 in a small California town, where Hope, a music fan in her early 20s, navigates a "non-relationship" with the insufferable Nathan and indulges in comforts such as a Wasted Grave cassette and the guilty pleasures of a book by 1980s conservative self-help guru Brooks Nixon, the permed, schlocky Narcissus of the title. Yates then picks up with Hope in 1999 when she's working at a psychic hotline. She's largely friendless, and romantic prospects since Nathan's departure have dried up, but she enjoys the solitude. A trip to the supermarket gives her an update on Nixon, who now encourages his followers to resist monogamy. Hope becomes fascinated by his transformation ("Sure, he was still a thundering bullshit artist, but at least he had something original to say"), as his outlook dovetails with her own, and eventually the two meet. Not a whole lot happens, but Yates shines with smart, witty prose and painfully accurate descriptions of human awkwardness, such as Hope's accepting holiday invitations from coworkers—"disasters where she'd sat sullen like a hostage in their noisy homes." Hopefully Yates will return with more compulsively readable work.
