#janklow nesbit associates

Social Creature

by Tara Isabella Burton

I did not want to love this book.  Maybe it’s the cover. Maybe it’s the Talented Mr. Ripley tripe. Maybe I want to be the type of reader who exclusively loves Pulitzer-Prize projects that contain a minimum of a dozen words I have to look up and archaic references I’m not old enough to understand. But I guess I’m not that reader. A page-turner is a page-turner, no matter the genre. And I simply could not put this down.  It is guilty pleasure reading at its best: quick, gritty and dangerous, an up-all-night feast that actually leaves you full rather than hung over.

A 36-hour read, Social Creature was the most satisfyingly salacious book I’ve picked up in a while. Meet Louise and Lavinia, young writers on opposite ends of the financial spectrum. In New York. And if we’ve learned anything from Shakespeare and Downtown Abbey, it never ends well for someone named Lavinia.

It’s a book for hot summer nights and cold boxed wine, over-priced mixed drinks followed by late-night leftovers.  Yes, it is tagged as a “Talented Mr. Ripley” for a new age, but what is more fascinating is that it is a “Talented Mr. Ripley” for the new-age-New-York-minute-digitally-depraved-diaspora. You might not have to look up any archaic references, but you may reconsider your friend list on Facebook. #chooseyourfriendswisely #MorePoetry!!!

*Thank you @doubledaybooks for providing B3 with an ARC.