This week’s reviews include Jesse Q. Sutanto’s influencer-centered thriller “You Will Never Be Me” and a complex relationship story in Frances Mayes’s “A Great Marriage.”
Books & Culture is edited each week by Vanessa Sekinger.
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YOU WILL NEVER BE ME
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Published by Berkley (May 14, 2024)
Hardcover $26.10
Audiobook $17.72
Reviewed by Drew Gallagher
I am fascinated by influencers.
Granted, I am older than 37, rarely buy new clothing, and have never had a TikTok account so I’ve never actually watched an influencer’s video, but the fact that there are people in the world who dress a certain way or feed their kids a certain way that millions of people want to watch how they dress or feed is fascinating to me. There are people, not many, in this world who are able to monetize that interest in their lives and make a living. Of course they don’t have health insurance, retirement plans, and may have a relevancy expiration date of two to three years if we are being generous. This is the world that Jesse Q. Sutanto offers in You Will Never Be Me.
The novel opens with popular influencer Meredith running into a woman who worships her at a Los Angeles party. Meredith finds this woman “cute” and fawning, so she decides to help her out in life and give her the gift of her own influencer genius. She also gives this woman a new name—Aspen. Meredith and Aspen are inseparable, and the opening of the novel is a lot of: “Oh, you are so gorgeous, no, you are gorgeous, wait, we both are gorgeous, let’s go get smoothies with no food coloring.”
When Aspen meets the man of her dreams and then has two adorable twins with her soulmate, she starts to post videos on her feeds on just how amazingly gorgeous her husband, house, and children are. She decorates their house with muted tones because they photograph better for video. She films every dinner as if she were Stanley Kubrick. She’ll even overcook the chicken to get it to a better color of brown even if it makes it inedible for her entire family. She buys local produce, takes it home, and then takes video of her digging up the produce from her backyard garden. She buries and unburies the carrots for video effect.
All of this staging makes Aspen a hit online and her number of followers surpasses Meredith’s, and Aspen no longer has as much time for her BFF because she has to meet with sponsors to further her brand. The two friends have a blow up fight, and both of their lives are the worse for the fight and the breakup. There is resentment and the increasing pressures of trying to make a living online behind a flimsy façade of a life.
From this point, there is a lot of backstabbing and subterfuge in You Will Never Be Me and even murder, but truthfully it is hard to care. These are evil women who have as much depth as a puddle. The author is quite successful in convincing a reader that the world of influencers is sad, lonely, and soul sucking. If you want to come away from a novel with a blinding rage then this is the novel for you.
The City of Angels is blonde, bronze, beautiful, and, to paraphrase the title, will never be me. Thankfully.
Drew Gallagher is a freelance writer residing in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He is the second-most-prolific book reviewer and first video book reviewer in the 137-year history of the Free Lance-Star Newspaper. He aspires to be the second-most-prolific book reviewer in the history of FXBG Advance and is also a founding member of Dads for Puppies.
A GREAT MARRIAGE
By Frances Mayes
Published by Ballantine (August 13, 2024)
Hardcover $30.00
Audiobook $17.72
Reviewed by David Arndt
Dara Willcox is following her dream and marrying the man she loves. After searching for the right one, she found Austin Clark at an art gallery, and their passion blossomed into a sensational romance. Days before their wedding, at their engagement ceremony, surrounded by her supportive family, Dara and Austin are fully committed to making their highly independent lives work. So begins Frances Mayes’ A Great Marriage.
The lives of Dara and Austin are quite separate, yet despite this they are determined to make their marriage succeed. Dara works in D.C. and is planning on going to law school there. Austin is British and is temporarily working in New York for his company’s architectural firm. Despite the distances and obstacles, they see nothing but happiness in their future. When an unexpected event from Austin’s past comes back to haunt him, he panics. Feeling that he must tell Dara, he confides in her; they stay up an entire night as he pours his heart out to her, explaining everything that happened. At the end, she tells him to sleep in the spare bedroom and that she needs time to consider and think things over. In the morning, Austin finds her gone.
Shaken by this unforeseen event, Dara retreats back to the safety of her parents. Unwilling to reveal the whole truth to them, she describes in vague and veiled terms that the wedding is off, she is looking into other schools to pursue her law degree, and she is longing to visit friends on the west coast. Her parents, secure enough in their own happy marriage to realize there is far more to the situation than Dara is admitting, are supportive nonetheless and proceed to take care to make the necessary arrangements to dismantle the wedding.
Dara then heads off to the west coast to visit a couple of old friends. While there, she finds herself enchanted by California and wonders why she never considered relocating there in the first place. Meanwhile Austin is torn between New York and London. Forbidden by Dara to contact her, he follows the progress of the event that blighted their wedding to see what the future holds in store for him.
A Great Marriage is a complex novel analyzing the nature of love and romance and how it can vary from person to person and generation to generation. It also explores the idea of relationship mistakes and lingering guilt. Mayes creates an incredible cast of unique characters with their own compelling histories that makes this a sensational read. This is another fantastic novel from an extraordinarily talented author.
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