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Veronica

By Mary Gaitskill
Series: Serpent's Tail Classics
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3.43 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 7,693 ratings, 1,044 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill explores the complex relationship between Alison, a former fashion model, and her friend Veronica, who is living with AIDS. The story shifts between Alison's glamorous past in the 1980s modelling world and her present-day struggles, delving into themes of beauty, friendship, and the passage of time. Through Alison's introspection, the novel examines human connections and the impact of artistic and physical ideals.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy deeply introspective narratives exploring complex human relationships and emotions. It delves into the worlds of fashion and friendship, revealing themes of beauty, memory, and mortality with haunting precision. If you're drawn to novels that offer a vivid emotional landscape and rich character development, this could be a captivating read for you.

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Beloved cult novel repackaged to join the Serpent's Tail Classics series.

Beloved cult novel repackaged to join the Serpent's Tail Classics series

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In this seductive and shattering novel, Alison and Veronica meet amid the nocturnal glamour of 1980s New York: one is a former modelling sensation, stumbling away from the wreck of her career, the other an eccentric middle-aged proofreader with a meticulous eye.

Over the next twenty years, their friendship will encompass narcissism and tenderness, exploitation and self-sacrifice, love and mortality. Moving seamlessly between the glamorous and gritty '80s, when beauty and style gave licence to excess, and the broken world of the decade's survivors twenty years later, Gaitskill casts a fierce yet compassionate eye on the two eras and their fixations.

Veronica masterfully evokes the fragility and mystery of human relationships in a world where love is rife with contradictions. Evocative, raw and entirely unique, Veronica was shortlisted for the prestigious 2005 National Book Award in the USA.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Mary Gaitskill's Veronica is praised for its beautiful and astute writing that delves into deep and often uncomfortable emotions. The story is an uncompromising exploration of human relationships, balancing themes of beauty and ugliness. Critics highlight Gaitskill's formidable talent and the novel's poetic language, which offers powerful insights into the complexities of self and society.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781781255926

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 08 December 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Serpent's Tail

Edition: Main - Classic edition

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 24.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 197g

Pages: 272

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Mary Gaitskill Series: Serpent's Tail Classics

About the Author

Mary Gaitskill is the author of the story collections Bad Behavior, Because They Wanted To (nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award) and Don't Cry, and the novels Veronica (nominated for a National Book Award) and Two Girls, Fat and Thin. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories.

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