Fake Like Me
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating4.5
CAREY LOGAN She was the genius wild child of the New York art scene, and my idol. FAKE I was a no-name painter from the Florida backwater, clawing my way into their world. LIKE When she died, she left a space that couldn't be filled. Except, maybe, by ME Everything that gets created destroys something else. When a fire rips through her studio and burns the seven enormous paintings for her next exhibition, a young, no-name painter is left with an impossible task: recreate her art in just three months - or ruin her fledgling career. Thirty-four, single and homeless, she desperately secures a place at an exclusive upstate retreat. Brimming with creative history and set on a sparkling black lake, Pine City and its founders - a notorious collective of successful artists - is what she's idolized all her life. She's dreamt of the parties, the celebrities, the privilege. What she finds is a ghost of its former self. The recent suicide of founding member Carey Logan haunts everyone, lurking beneath the surface like a shipwreck. And one thought begins to shadow her every move - what really happened to her hero? With a flair for sensational detail and acidic wit, Barbara Bourland delivers a darkly satirical thriller about art, money and identity with a twist so sharp it cuts.
Reviews with the most likes.
This novel was an unexpected surprise in that it's marketed more as a psychological thriller, when in fact it's a literate, lyrical, fascinating exploration of not only an unnamed narrator, a young female artist, but also a group of 5 more established artists who have formed a sort of art commune called Pine City. Our protagonist eventually becomes part of this community when a fire destroys the eight major works she's completed for a gallery showing in three months. Through connections, she's able to use the abandoned studio of Carey Logan, one of the five, who drowned herself on the property. I worked as an art consultant for years and so was totally transfixed by the descriptions of this artist's work, so detailed and so intriguing. The only other recent description of how an artist works that I can remember was Mia in Little Fires Everywhere and Bourland has given us even more insight into the creative mind, not only the inspiration for this women's paintings but the sheer physicality and the quite large expense that goes into the production of large-scale works such as these. There is a central mystery to the narrative but no terror/suspense/fear in the sense of the Gone Girl clones. No, this is literary fiction/women's fiction with fully-formed characterJust released in paperback.
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