{"product_id":"pretty-things-9781936932276","title":"Pretty Things","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA pulpy tale of mismatched twins struggling to embody the perfect woman: \"Effortlessly cool and slyly spiky, Despentes probes the dynamics of fame, beauty, and female competition, putting her finger on the pulse of what it's like to wear the daily drag of femininity--and then pressing down, slowly and calmly, right where it hurts\" (Alexandra Kleeman, author of \u003cem\u003eYou Too Can Have a Body Like Mine\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eClaudine has always been pretty and Pauline has always been ugly. But when Claudine wants to become famous, she convinces gloomy Pauline--with her angelic voice--to pretend they're the same person. Yet just as things take off, Claudine commits suicide.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePauline hatches a new scheme, pulling on her dead sister's identity, inhabiting her apartment, and reading her mail. As the impersonation continues, Pauline slowly realizes that the cost of femininity is to dazzle on the outside while rotting away on the inside--and that womanhood is what ultimately killed her sister.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"It's pulp in every sense: propulsively readable, violent, sexy, with all the satisfaction of an inevitable ending. And yet it's also a feminist parable, blunt and unrelenting in its wrath, and it feels as fresh now as it would have ten years ago.\" --\u003cem\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eVirginie Despentes\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer, filmmaker, and noted French feminist critic. She is the author of many award-winning books, including \u003ci\u003eKing Kong Theory\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eApocalypse Baby\u003c\/i\u003e (winner of the 2010 Prix Renaudot), and the \u003ci\u003eVernon Subutex\u003c\/i\u003e trilogy (shortlisted for the 2018 International Booker Prize). She co-directed the screen adaptations of her controversial novels \u003ci\u003eBaise-Moi\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBye Bye Blondie\u003c\/i\u003e, and served as screenwriter for the adaptation of her novel \u003ci\u003ePretty Things.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmma Ramadan\u003c\/b\u003e is a literary translator. She translates from Providence, Rhode Island, where she is also co-owner of Riffraff bookstore and bar. Her translations include\u003cem\u003e Sphinx\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eNot One Day\u003c\/em\u003e by Anne Garréta, \u003cem\u003eMonospace\u003c\/em\u003e by Anne Parian, and \u003cem\u003eThe Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers\u003c\/em\u003e by Fouad Laroui. She is a recipient of a 2016 PEN\/Heim Translation Fund grant for her translation from the French of Ahmed Bouanani's \u003cem\u003eThe Shutters\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Feminist Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50493234250002,"sku":"9781936932276","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bab13ff5-1430-4347-9ff2-9af7f3528a0c.jpg?v=1730639296","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/pretty-things-9781936932276","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}