Persona

Persona is about as different from Genevieve Valentine's The Girls at the Kingfisher Club as you can get. The latter is a fairytale retelling about twelve sisters with an abusive father, set during the jazz age in New York; Persona is a thriller about a diplomat and an undercover photographer who are on the run after an assassination attempt, set in a dystopian near-future in Paris.

But Valentine's writing style is absolutely recognisable: how the story hooks you in; how the narrative doesn't unfold in an entirely linear manner; the relevant tangents in parentheses; the careful sparseness of her prose; the way her characters have flaws and believable reasons for not warming to each other; the powerful punch of emotional moments; the way show more solutions are imperfect and have to be fought for; and the remarkably casual diversity of her characters.

Persona is set in a world where "diplomacy is celebrity". Ambassadors are "Faces", micromanaged by handlers who make decisions behind the scenes, and dependant upon public approval. Suyana, the delegate for the United Amazonian Rainforest Confederation, isn't one of the Big Nine - those "who had stable economies and agriculture and militaries not given to coups" - so her influence and allies are even more limited than some.

I loved the way Persona is written and I found it impossible to put down until I finished it. And then when I did, because I'd finished it, it was with that satisfying arm-flaily glow of Ahhh, this book was really good YOU SHOULD READ IT NOW.

It perhaps isn't a book that I'd read over and over - as a thriller, much of it's appeal was tied up the suspense of not knowing what was happening - but that's okay. There's going to be a sequel!

She had a part to play. There would be another part to play if she got out of this in one piece and went home. There would be another after that, for the cameras, and one for the Americans to save face, and another and another and another, trading out of the vast catalogue for the rest of her life, masks that never touched.
The first time Hakan had explained it to her she'd nearly cried. But the longer you did it, the easier it was; you didn't feel like much of a person, after a while, but that was a problem for later too. show less

In this if-this-goes-on thriller, diplomacy and reality TV have merged so that national representatives are Faces. Our protagonist, Face of a rainforest (though increasingly deforested) nation, barely survives an assassination attempt due to the timely intervention of a snap, a young man who’s snuck into the country to become a member of the new paparazzi. She has to use her political savvy, and he has to use his acute understanding of his vulnerable situation and of the public’s demand for “candids” of Faces, in order to survive, even as his survival may require him to betray her. Understanding myself as someone on the autism spectrum really helped me think about this book, which reminded me of the Lymond Chronicles. It goes show more like this: Character: *uses small verbal and physical clues to figure out the motives, emotions and intentions of someone she doesn’t know very well*. Me: Okay … that sounds fake, but okay. It’s not that I don’t believe that such people exist, I just can’t imagine what it’s like to be one of them. So all the half-articulated calculations and inferences were obscure to me. If you’re more in tune with those kinds of characters, you might enjoy this. show less

Loved it. My only complaint about this book is that there isn't more of it. (But I'm pleased to note that there will be.) It's so sharp, it's so effortless in the way that the blade of the plot keeps moving in one fast slice and leaves behind layers of world and nuance and commentary and character. I love that Suyana is both impossibly capable and amazingly human, and that Daniel is such an interesting mess. The buffet of amazing diversity in the main cast is gravy, but wonderful gravy. (Oh Grace. Oh Martine.)

I feel like I just read the dark version of a screenplay for “Roman Holiday,” the 1953 movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. In that movie, Audrey Hepburn is a royal princess who escapes from her handlers in order to see Rome on her own, and Gregory Peck is the reporter chasing her for a scoop, but who falls in love with her. Okay, Persona takes place in Paris of the future, not Rome of the 1950’s, and the female lead is a diplomat, not a princess, but otherwise, there are a lot of similarities in the bones of the stories. And if you know the movie - oblique spoiler alert - you know the end of this novel as well.

In any event, the female lead of this story is Suyana Sapaki, a Peruvian who represents the United Amazonian show more Rainforest Confederation at the International Assembly, the world’s largest diplomatic body. As the story begins, Suyana is the victim of an assassination attempt, but is saved by a photographer, Daniel Park, who has been following her in an attempt to get a scoop.

Suyana escapes from her handlers in order to try to find out who wants her dead, and Daniel is torn between wanting to help her and wanting to get his story. And well, if you want to know how it all turns out, I would recommend renting “Roman Holiday” instead of reading the book. For what it’s worth, I think “Roman Holiday” is a way, way better story, and you can’t beat the cast! show less

This was a fun read. I liked the character and I was intrigued by the world that Valentine created. The story seemed a little incomplete itself though. It does not end in a cliff hanger, but it felt like the purpose was to introduce the reader to the world and the characters for a new series. The mystery and plot of this was just secondary to the set up. Overall I enjoyed it and see a lot of potential for future books that may be a little deeper than this one was.

Received a galley through S&S!

Very different from my usual fare, but then my resolution this year was to extend my genre boundaries even more and I've been doing a decent job so far.

"Persona" is a near-futuristic, character-driven techno-political-thriller(ish) and yes it is awesome. Suyana and Daniel are each flawed and sympathetic and kick-ass in their own ways, as is the varied supporting cast. The action is brisk, the setting is engaging, and DAMN this would make a great movie. Ecoterrorism, advanced photo-tech, Parisian street chases....and flashes of taught political suspense woven throughout.

AWESOME

I follow Genevieve Valentine's blog, so I was aware that this book was partially inspired by her affection for beauty pageants. "Faces" are diplomats, often trained from youth to be the public face of their nation. They seem to make decisions, but in reality their votes and actions are decided for them. The media treats them like celebrities and no one knows how powerless they really are.

This was a pretty cool look at a Quecha Face and her desire to be more than just a figurehead, and the danger she's in because of that.