Author: Sheena Patel
Publisher: Granta
Paperback
Staff Pick! Cat says…
This novel is about money, power, class, race and sex. The character is quite outrageous. She is having an affair with a famous photographer, who she has incredible sex with but who has told her they can’t carry on sleeping together because it’s too intense. He still invites her to be his plus-one at big events, something which she wonders might be to do with the fact that as a rich white man, he looks better with a brown woman on his arm.
She is infatuated with him, so much so that she also becomes interested in anyone who has also had an affair with him, including one woman whose Instagram she obsesses over. This woman is a rich, white, influencer-type who has curated for herself a beautiful life online.
The book is written in casual fragments with titles like ‘nepotism it girl’ and ‘first of all i didn’t miss the red flags i looked at them and thought yeah that’s sexy.’ This character treats people badly, but the book is very funny and it has important things to say about whiteness, art, gender and where they cross.