Screwtop

Ooh La La. This novella is transgressive, morally bankrupt, and takes a long, cyber-punky dive into the world of outward-facing beauty and body influence. From one extreme to the next, we follow P. Burke, a non-attractive teen who attempts to end it all but is halted by a bureaucracy and offered a job.

This job consists of transforming her body, showing off products, driving around in “sun-cars”, living large, and disappearing from everyone she knows.

After a brief mind-to-body transfer, the new job teaches her how to walk, talk, interact, and sell her personality. Here is a fascinating quote about how it all works:

|| “When you wash your hands, do you feel the water is running on your brain? Of course not. You feel the water on your hand, although the “feeling” is actually a potential-pattern flickering over the electrochemical jelly between your ears.” ||

** If Mona Awad partnered with William Gibson and took on a pseudo-cyber tech novel, I can see it being something similar to this story. **

There is something artful about how the author blends concepts like transference with complex issues like body image. My experience with it was sort of like viewing an experimental art installation. The visual language might be leading you to feel a certain way or take interpretations and graft them onto your personal worldview / experiences. This books sporadic narrative and themes of cognitive dissonance might make you