Be the Main Character – For Real
Believe it or not, the first half of 2024 is coming to a close, and many a publication's taking a look in the rearview mirror to assess some of its best cultural output so far, namely books and music. Thanks to BookTok and, by extension, a pandemic-fueled need for (mental) escapism, reading's popularity has soared, offering analog relief to an increasingly digital day-to-day – the downside here being a market so saturated, it's hard to cut through the clutter.
So, with summer vacation fast approaching, it felt a good time to remind you to tend to your ever expanding reading curation – or help you start one – , and immerse yourself in the visual moods of some of recent history's most pleasurable works of fiction. Cross-referenced with personal favorites, the below entails well received, much discussed novels of this and the past year, newly published, translated, or re-released as paperbacks – all of which I'd like to encourage you to buy locally!
Whether you're one to savor (n)aughty romcoms on your subway commute, self-deprecating breakup recounts on park benches, or tragic clashes-of-the-classes while wrapped in a hammock by the beach – this compilation double-functions as recommendations for your next trip to a book shelf, and an outfit guide for a literal, literary main character moment.
How to Dress Like a Main Character – Literally:
Dolly Alderton - Good Material
When Jen, his girlfriend of four years, calls it quits, Andy's left in pieces. The story then follows the latter, a struggling comedian, as he navigates newly, involuntary single life in his thirties – balding, ghosting, and constant foot-in-mouth-ing included.
His journey forces him to reflect on and reckon with his romantic past, the dire dynamics of male friendship, and an all-consuming self pity. A funny, if at times annoyingly miserable guy you'll both root for and want to yell at, who emits a laid back style that neither over- nor underperforms on his implied preference for casual classics.
Emma Cline - The Guest
Set in an unnamed, affluent Long Island neighborhood (think Hamptons), our grifter protagonist Alex is cast aside by her older boyfriend with a one-way ticket back to NYC. Deceitfully, she tries to camouflage and blend in with members of the ultra-rich to prolong her holiday, drama ensuing wherever she goes.
Haves versus have-nots, a sugar baby gone rogue – the tense plot and seaside scenery create a sticky, humid ambiance; an anxious heat to which the only cooling remedy are lush linens and skimpy swimwear.
Édouard Louis - Change
An introspective, auto-fictional tale of social mobility, Change examines the life of an author, from his most humble beginnings to his rise to fame; trading small town trauma for a seat at the table of Paris' intellectual elite. Like a chameleon, he moves through and adapts to the behavioral and visual codes of his surroundings, losing along this traversal of tiers his sense of self.
On belonging, on queerness, on the futility of what is taught and believed to be aspirational, this quasi-memoir is less feel good, more summer bummer. Compelling, though, to anyone who enjoys societal commentary packaged as narrative prose, reminiscent of Bourdieu's musings on taste and capital, indicative thereby of a closet filled with inconspicuous luxury goods.
Caroline O'Donoghue - The Rachel Incident
Rachel and her roommate slash colleague slash best friend James find themselves in a bit of a pickle – an entanglement, if you will – with the former's married professor. It unravels amid Ireland's recession of 2008, recalling sinful late aughts fashions – loud colors, plenty of prints, bizarrely cut jeans, and the approximate birth date of indie sleaze, all against a bleak backdrop of collective financial uncertainty.
It rings eerily familiar, and is mirrored no less in the contemporary revival of clothes that are perhaps so abrasive, aesthetically, because they pose an outlet for feelings and intentions otherwise dulled by crisis.
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