Social Creature

Thanks to the Shirley Jackson Award shortlist, I picked up this great read, when I might have otherwise passed it by. This was so refreshing after all the tepid thrillers I've been reading lately. Louise is a late-20-something in New York City who longs to be on the inside but doesn't believe she'll ever measure up. Then she meets Lavinia, a quintessential It girl, and is drawn into her glam world. With a nod to The Talented Mr. Ripley, Burton delves into what kind of person might become a murderer, and what they might do afterward to cover up their crime. Louise isn't necessarily likeable--no one in this book is, really, except maybe Lavinia's little sister--but she is relateable. My only quibble is that I'd like to know more of show more Louise's back story; Burton gives us hints of past weirdnesses but never really tells that part of the story. However, I tore through this in one day. For once, a thriller that actually thrills! Also, I adored the cover. show less

3.75


I know reading "The Talented Mr. Ripley" retellings can be tiresome for some. They recirculate almost as frequently as Beauty and the Beast retellings it seems (another guilty pleasure. But I happen to love them if they are done well. I think this particular one was one of those.

Social Creature is written against the backdrop of New York City, and among the hard and strange partying of its Manhattan socialites. The kind of grime you can usually pay to make not look as dirty as it is. Drugs in that scene are as much accessories as Balenciaga bags. These drugs are somehow more chic than the exact same drugs done by someone on skid row, because its who is doing them that counts. Everyone is full of shit, but their Instagram feeds are show more peppered with the right contacts, the trendiest destinations and the hottest clubs.

As you can probably guess, the characters aren't likable. However, they are still fairly well written (even if slightly one note). Their growth or destruction lays in the acts they commit or the details they hide well, even a little from the reader. I frankly, loved to hate them. The stories pacing was slow at first, but picked up so quickly after the first 90 pages that I had a hard time putting it down. I think Burton did a great job retelling an old story. show less

Oh HELL yeah. This book has everything I love: Gatsby-soaked opulence; uber-fucked-up main characters; pretentious writerly nerds spouting existential nonsense; boys in tweed. And, of course, MOYDAH! I won't be forgetting those scenes anytime soon. Oh Rex, there was no way you were getting outta this one alive.
Highly recommended for fellow Tartt / Secret History fans.

I picked this up on a whim at the library, then heard Barrie Hardymon gush about it on Pop Culture Happy Hour (from a few months ago). I love Barrie, so I jumped in ASAP. It's a fun and superfast read, kind of a thriller, kind of a party-girl-in-New-York story. I LOVED the narrator's voice, and I loved how Burton made her main character sympathetic yet completely terrible. I kept sneaking up to my room during a sewing retreat to read it.

I won a copy from a GR giveaway! Yay!
Cover is GORGEOUS in person.

Social Creature is like reading a version of Gossip Girl in the Upside Down. It's fancy and over-the-top, but there's a dark cloud just waiting to pour on the party goers. I'd read the reviews and even had fellow readers tell me this book would take me on a wild journey, but nothing prepared me for Lavinia and Louise. Tara Isabella Burton tells the story of glittering parties, wealth, romance, and obsession with a literary flare, the characters reminiscent of old 1930's High Society. The girls are pretty in their opulent fashion and the debonair men speak about writings over scotch, but things certainly get interesting once the liquor flows and the medicine cabinet opens show more up. It's the sort of novel where you skip the synopsis, you're better off being sucked in by the cover and diving right into the champagne filled glass of main narrator, Louise.

"But girls like Louise dont know this. Not yet.
This is the happiest Louise has ever been."

Lavinia lives a selfish lifestyle with a flippant attitude and a circle of friends who don't really know her. She is moody and her understanding of anything is limited to her poetic and unrealistic view of beauty, art, and the meaning of life. The simplest way to describe her is manic. Louise, on the other hand, is quiet, submissive, and oddly compelling. Her viewpoint, though detailed, is fairly unreliable. She takes an opportunity that almost anyone in her position would, but her unraveling and desperate desire to please is impossible to comprehend. It's obsession built out of both necessity and envy. The friendship these two have is odd, but feels very accurate to the fake, fame-driven world of New York City's elite. The money, the power, the connections, the parties; it all seems so glamorous until the curtain swings shut on you.

I read Social Creature all in one sitting, ignoring the clock reminding me of the late hour on a weeknight. I couldn't escape from the perfectly described streets of New York and I couldn't even think about stepping away from the gripping, harrowing tale. The characters aren't all that likeable, in fact no one would really want to live the life Tara Isabella Burton has given Lavinia and Louise if they knew it was anything like this, but the story is fresh, creepy, and has just the right amount of glam to it. The parties were exactly as described, something you'd go to once for the thrill and leave desperate to be clean. The drinking, the drugs, the false smiles and whispers were all too realistic and it was easy to see why anyone would get sucked in, unable to leave it all behind and welcome normality again. Social Creature is an intoxicating novel and while it may not be for everyone, it was certainly for me.

I recieved an ARC copy through a Goodreads giveaway. Thank you Tara Isabella Burton and Doubleday. show less

Lavinia is a social creature and Lulu is not, at least not at the beginning of Social Creature, a psychological thriller in the tradition of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” with a touch of “Single White Female.” Louise is approaching thirty and stretched thin, working three jobs to scrape together enough to keep living in New York City which is all that remains of her dreams and ambitions. She meets Lavinia who overwhelms her with her joie de vivre. Of course, joie de vivre is a bit easier when your wealthy parents provide a luxurious apartment and wealth.

Lavinia is more a bon viveur than a bon vivant and her frequent parties and binges with Louise soon begin to impinge on Louise’ ability to work. Louise perceives the risks of this show more relationship, that Lavinia matters more to her than she does to Lavinia. This is brought home when she meets the needy and desperately ingratiating MiMi, discovering that she is the next in a series of “best friends” that Lavinia has adored and dropped, but it’s too late for Louise, who has given up her ratty, but rent-controlled apartment, lost her jobs, and is secretly making ends meet by using Lavinia’s ATM card. We know what is coming because the author Tara Isabella Burton announces that Lavinia is not making it to the end of the book quite early. In fact, as much of the story is devoted to how Louise keeps Lavinia alive, social creature that she is, long after she’s swimming with the fishes.

Social Creature is one of those books that is filled with horrible people, self-indulgent, narcissistic, selfish, and mean people. The reader is put in the uncomfortable position of liking the killer the most, at least this reader did. The love interest, Rex, seems so perfect, but he’s a bit of a double-dealing snake. Lavinia’s milieu is filled with horrible people. Nonetheless, Burton makes us care what happens, or at least makes us desperate to know what happens next.

The book is fast-paced and engrossing. It kept me up reading to the end, wondering when and, more urgently, how Louise will be found out. There’s a sly humor, particularly with the moments of foreshadowing that let us know Lavinia will soon be dead. I know that sounds ghoulish, but it’ s not. It’s sly.

Social Creature will be released on June 5th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Social Creature at Doubleday | Penguin Random House
Tara Isabella Burton author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/9780385543521/ show less

To begin with, this kept me up beyond midnight. It began in the morning, took over my lunch, I grudgingly put it down to get non-book life things done but as soon as the evening opened up, I was stuck right back in until it was over. Lavinia and Louise were a particular kind of disaster that you know is coming and instead of looking away, you crane your neck to see and hear more.

I felt both women were desperate and damaged in different ways and that concoction was so toxic that there was always going to be something that sent them into the depths. That ultimately it was a man that hastens that was a bit predictable but made sense given Lavinia and Louise. I never quite knew how much of Lavinia and Louise's damage were how many parts show more self-indulgent or DSM verifiable. As such, they quite ruined any moment of sympathy I held for either but they were undeniably riveting. The Upper Eastside landscape was well done with people as vivid as the parties at which they found themselves. As it happens, Mimi and Hal scared and creeped me out more than anyone else. All things considered, Cordey was the best of the bunch and I'll be wondering about Elizabeth Glass for a while. Also a compliment to Burton on her rather lush prose which upped the enjoyment.

I'm not trying to give too much away, because it's really worth reading and I definitely recommend it (especially for those who enjoy looks at class in the current day). This felt to me like a blend of Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford, Highsmith's Ripley and an episode of the ID channel's real crime program, The 80's: The Deadliest Decade featuring the murder of Kirsten Costas.

I received a free galley of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. show less