26a

I started reading 26a, by Diane Evans. It had some great reviews and also won the Orange Prize for New Writers and was nominated for the Whitbread. I just couldn't get into it, and I've put it aside for now. Although, to tell the truth, as I'm writing this and looking for pictures, I'm reading more reviews, and they are so good! But, the first 50 pages... not so much. At first I wasn't sure if it was a story about actual humans or woodland creatures - turns out it's about a couple of squirrels or something that get reincarnated - I did not get that. Maybe I'll go back to it later - everyone keeps saying it's magical - and I do love magical.

So, after I dropped 26a I picked up Look at Me, by Jennifer Egan. So far, it's really interesting. It's appealing to the art historian in me, because thematically it's about The Image. The main character is a model who was in a car crash that necessitated the reconstruction of her face, so she's going through this struggle of identity. Whereby her "old" face gave her a lot of power, this "newer" less model-ly face doesn't stop people in their tracks. So, through the loss of her image, she's lost her power. Furthermore, having had a change in her image, she's unclear who she really is. She associated her interior with her exterior, see? And now she has to redefine herself. It's giving me a lot to think about in a Lacan/Foucault sort of way. I can hardly put it down.