Not Oprah’s Book Club: Look at Me

Jennifer Egan’s byline on a New York Times Sunday magazine piece always draws me in because she writes such eloquent, complex takes on issues that I tend to be really interested in. So it was about time that I got around to one of her novels. Cozied up in my parents’ house in Santa Fe, I found Look at Me–a National Book Award Finalist–on their shelf and devoured it in front of the kiva fireplace.
It’s the kind of novel that worries you about half way in. You think: I’m loving this writing, but I’m afraid there is no possible way for this author to bring the plot together in some palpable way. Egan is a master at metaphor and the sort of novelist that brings vivid images to mind every few lines or so. Though it’s a relatively long novel, I felt like I was swimming through it, flipping page after page. The other thing that I LOVED, is that she writes about a bunch of teen girl characters and, with the exception of a few ancillary supporting actresses, no one is reduced to the usual “I’m a teen girl look at my whine and act really shallow” crap of so many other books. Her girls are all human beings, struggling with important challenges of self-discovery.
The themes in this book are wide-ranging–history, image, alienation, money, friendship, infidelity, consumerism, mental health, beauty… It goes on and on, and doesn’t end until the last triumphant scene where everything–indeed–is brought eerily and palpably together.
Look at Me is the kind of book you read and know that you will need a lot of time to process. I really wish I’d read it with a book group or in a class, because there’s so many twists and turns–both plot-wise and thematically. But alas, it was just me, myself, and I. Maybe you’ll read it and leave some comments here…