How should a person be is why I like a good book and this book is terrific. It appeals to me on many levels and in many constructs—not only as a reader, but also as a writer, artist, teacher, outsider, and man. Reading a book, for me, is like going on a date and that’s why I don’t mind paying retail – it’s a cheap date, can last for days, and nights, and make life less lonely.

I’m not so much a reader for ‘The plot.’ IMHO, the best books are about ideas and people and this book scores very high on those two counts. And then there’s the voice of the author, the point of view from which the story is told. Again, very high marks – a blend of presumed fact and fiction. Avant-garde. So what is this book about? It’s about a 30ish woman, Sheila, who is an artist - a writer of sorts, and her artist friends; and then the big question: Who am I? and why am I here?

Sheila is Canadian, Jewish, and divorced (which she tells us a little about how that came to be—she felt enmeshed by her husband and marriage.) After she separates, she is free to decide for herself who she is and what’s important to her via the exploration of her creative impulse, but finds herself entangled now with a pig of a man who uses her for a sex slave (almost) and also, a sensitive, smart, female painter friend, both from which she also loses her own identity in/with, i.e. there’s a pattern here.

In the course of the days that unfold the characters explore the nature and function of art, identity, and “Who decides” – what is good art, and who and how one becomes an artist.

Sheila gets into some therapy with a Jungian analyst who gives her bad council, which is typical (my opinion). But by the end of the book Sheila figures some things out for herself, which is (my opinion) a good thing.

So how was my date? Great! Though Sheila’s just a tad too introverted and neurotic and people pleasing for me. But, I love her curiosity and her determination and would definitely, absolutely, go out with her again – to see how she’s coming along with the questioning of things, and anything and whatever else she may have figured out.

BEFORE I FINISHED IT I WROTE THIS:
... I am on page 142, almost halfway, and thoroughly enjoying this book. I agree with the author that writing (and reading) about real people and what is on their mind can be (can be) way more interesting and worthwhile than the same about invented persons; and the freedom of fiction means that more truth can be told - honestly; or at least honest questions explored honestly. But the real people must have interesting, worthwhile considerations that they are curious of, which the protagonist Sheila has. The blend of the real and the not real is, to me, truly genuine and authentic.

Reading this sent me to my bookshelf (the real one) where I had to check Heti's references to Moses. Spot on. My goodness is this a Great book. As much about Freud (penis envy) as moses and murder. Definitely about identity, 'Who am I' - my favorite question.