Change text size

Look at Me: The Spoiler Zone

Caution, all who enter here.

By Guy Somerset In Book Club

Print Share
6th April, 2012 9 comments

You are welcome to comment at the bottom of any of our Look at Me-related posts. But we aim not to spoil anyone’s enjoyment of the novel, so ask that if you want to include key plot elements in your discussion you do so here. If you want to be absolutely sure of not ruining your reading experience, the No-Spoiler Zone is the place for you.

Issue Listener Plus
6th April, 2012 9 comments

More by Guy Somerset

← Older

Jennifer Egan interview - the long version

By Guy Somerset

Newer →

Look at Me: The No-Spoiler Zone

By Guy Somerset

Comments Skip to Comment form

9 Responses to “Look at Me: The Spoiler Zone”

  1. richard upton Apr 25 2012, 2:49pm

    I really like the idea of this book club and again started this book with enthusiasm. However, like other readers who have commented, that enthusiasm slowly waned before evaporating completely about half way through. I pressed on hoping for some form of crescendo or climax but felt that this book simply didn't deliver. While on one level it could be suggested that the entire point of the novel was to deliver superficial characters, I still felt that I didn't get close enough with any of the central characters to actually engage with them.

    Unfortunately I felt there was a great deal of potential in the idea of this novel but it didn't deliver. Not a book I'd recommend.
    Report Report
    ·  

  2. Oceaniadawn Apr 24 2012, 6:32pm

    I loved A Visit from the Goon Squad so was relishing the opportunity to read another novel by Egan. Look at Me began with a brisk pace and I was thoroughly enjoying it for a good while. Such a promising start. However, like Sue from the Napier book club, by the end of the book, I couldn't wait for it to be over.

    Egan writes beautifully, she is a fantastic storyteller, and I was interested to see how the various narratives that she was weaving would come together at the end. But by the end I was bored and didn't really care, sadly. The writing could have been much tighter; it's a story that could have been told in fewer pages. It had such promise but ultimately failed to deliver.
    Report Report
    ·  

  3. Gillian Croad Apr 22 2012, 7:45am

    This book was a challenging read because it was so technically complex. At the end i felt I had missed so much by reading it in such a surface way i reread it and it improved on a second reading as i had a better grasp of the complex intersections of the characters. i can see why some people will struggle to finish it as i did too at times on the first reading.
    Absolutely loved the satire, so clever and so thought provoking. The models, the mirrored room and the ordinary people website etc. The two Charlottes great elements of the nature of sexuality from women's perspective although not typical of all women of course but another 'take' on our times. The character of Moose wonderful but alarming. and of course he is the key link to the concepts of the satire about post industrial America which is the point of the book [or one of them.] her descriptions of Rockford and the huge buildings with no windows was reminiscent of a recent trip I made to St Louis down town. I was very struck at the deadness of 'down town' in St Louis for example with no people! One chapter struck me as illustration of her particular craft in writing the one where the filming of the 'apparent past story' was aligned with Moose's visions of his actual past. One in the person's mind and 'real' to them and the other externally in the media and 'unreal' to Charlotte. A thoughtful and challenging perspective on our times. A more satisfying book that will stay with me for some time. I guess the Keep and Goon Squad next.
    Report Report
    ·  

  4. Paula Suckling Apr 20 2012, 10:31am

    I started off loving the pace of the book as the characters unfolded in the first part. But, that pace seemed to change for me (perhaps the middle of the book) and I found too many times that the long sentences became long paragraphs and sometimes long pages, of draining reading that I had to try hard to engage with, I think because I couldn't see the point. The long pages of chat from Thomas about his website idea, the strange goings-on (pages long) inside Aziz's head, and most hard to read was the stuff from Moose - all that local history and his pages of thoughts. It sort of switched me off. Perhaps they are examples of what you mean in your comment Margaret, of Egan trying too hard to make her points and treating her characters like puppets to make her points.

    Should I have read the page of contract that was included?

    Some things were implausible, or seemed too weird - the crazy film-making thing? The turning up of Halliday in Rockville, explained away by him being a detective?

    The wrap-up for each of the characters, bar Charlotte and her cathartic experience, didn't satisfy after having pushed through the parts that I'd found tedious.

    It's meant to be satirical but, obviously, it still didn't work for me. Would I recommend it to my friends? Nope, not this one.
    Report Report
    ·  

  5. Margaret Cathie Apr 17 2012, 3:31pm

    While the themes etc are very accessible, I too am finding it difficult to persevere ( just starting part two and not sure I will last the distance!) I think for me the main problem is the characterization. I can't relate to model Charlotte and her world at all - I find her seriously creepy and although I recognize it's meant to be satirical, it doesn't work as satire for me so it just becomes tedious - Egan seems to be trying too hard to make her points. Moose is quite sweet, but again, overworked by Egan, (and the bits of Charlotte's essay and his reaction to them drag on mercilessly). I don't feel that the characters are real people, with the exception of Oscar ( whom I really like - although I didn't find him funny as the podcast commentators suggested they had). I feel there is a warmth and liking for her own creations that is missing - Egan treats them as puppets whom she is manipulating in order to convey her points rather than letting them behave naturally - and perhaps get away on her? ( which she won't risk happening because one feels she has an outcome in mind to which everything has to be made to bend). I do think Egan is very technically competent and I'm keen to read 'A Visit by the Goon Squad' now.
    Report Report
    ·  

  6. Linda Lee Apr 16 2012, 6:12pm

    Well, not sure if I can comment as I just could not finish the book. Am I a philistine for not liking a work by a Pulitzer Prize winning author, especially when it was the authors favourite book?
    I found the premise good, how could one live with a new identity when they made a living from the old. Is society really all about looks and how we are perceived? But I found the plot dragged on and the dissertations from Mooses thesis, spread through the chapters, were quickly skimmed over. I mis-understood a lot of what I was reading and had the impression that young Charlotte was sleeping with Moose which she hadn't been up to the part where the novel and I parted ways.
    Maybe it is my penchant for thrillers that is the reason. And maybe if I had read more than 100 pages it all would have gelled. My colleague at work is now reading it. As we have polar opposites in taste, I am looking forward to her views.
    Report Report
    ·  

  7. Linda Neale Apr 14 2012, 11:08pm

    I got into this book straight away. I loved the author's amazing use of language and felt excited by the characters and the prospect of where this story would lead. This lasted until about half way through the book where I accepted the lull but still expected it to build to its climax. Well it just didn't. The story lagged and never really got going for me and as I moved through the book found myself just wanting it to end. The only thing that kept me going was the fantastic writing. Charlotte's character started to annoy me and the coming together of the different characters didn't happen in a satisfying way. I feel the author really just didn't pull it off. But I cant deny the author's amazing writing style and I will probably give The Goon Squad a go at some stage purely because of this.
    Report Report
    ·  

  8. Melanie Wittwer Apr 12 2012, 8:31pm

    Re: what I wrote earlier.
    I meant John Irving, of course.
    Report Report
    ·  

  9. Melanie Wittwer Apr 12 2012, 8:25pm

    I really enjoyed this book a lot more than last month's selection. I can understand why it did not create such a buzz when it was first published shortly after September 11. The almost prophetic depiction of the rise of social media must have appeared too fantastic then. The hindsight with which we approach the book now makes its insights (in my mind) even more impressive. Identities lost and found and lost again, re-created then sold. How contemporary.
    I genuinely enjoyed Jenifer Egan's writing style. It is very hard to pull off a change in character perspective within one paragraph, but there was never any confusion here. Her writing reminded me of the John Irvine novels I read in the 80s/90s, but with less freak accidents.My favourite character is Moose, don't ask me why.
    I'm curious now, I think I might just be able to squeeze in 'A Visit from the Goon Squad', Egan's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, before the May selection hits the stores at the end of April.
    Report Report
    ·  

Post a Comment

You must be to post a comment.

Switch to our mobile site