An extremely interesting perspective but I felt the marketing of this book and description left a lot to be desired.

I have been a big fan of Nicole Flattery's work since reading her debut short story collection a few years back. I can say that Nothing Special lived up to my expectations, and I love that she dove into the history of 1960s New York.

Sad girl novels are certainly having a moment, so I've been skeptical going into them, but Flattery's works. I found Mae's voice engaging and funny and looked forward to spending time with her while reading this novel.

Review: Nothing Special

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this one!

I genuinely enjoyed this read in the same vein of many other literary fiction, coming-of-age books. Mae was a flawed, but likable, narrator growing up in the chaotic scenes of a 1960s NYC.

Honestly, this is a book that you read for vibes and vibes only. It's all about the character development and picking apart the relationships Mae has with her mother, Mikey, Shelley, the other girls, and the enigmatic (and peripheral) Andy Warhol. Perhaps its greatest critique I've seen elsewhere is that it lacks much of a solidified plot at all, and where readers expect a scathing up-close-and-personal peak at the salacious details of Warhol's creative process, they're met with the story about a rather average young girl with a messy life and not much purposeful direction. In other words: if you have expectations, this might not meet them in the way you're expecting.

All that to say, I liked this. I'm unsure of how solidly it'll stick with me, so I feel like I'm sitting at a 4-star rating right now. Ultimately, it appears the greatest misstep with this read is, perhaps, the title - which other readers seem to feel is very apt. I think (and hope!) this proves not to be the case!

4 stars from me.

I think it needs to be said that the reader should do some background research into Andy Warhol before picking up this book if they, like me, know nothing about him beyond his work in pop art. I made the mistake of not looking further into his life until the 75% mark of this novel, thus leaving me lost for most of this book, as author Nicole Flattery does not provide much insight into Warhol's life or the reason behind the transcription project that narrator Mae is involved in. It is mentioned several times that the girls are transcribing for "a book," but I had no idea if this book really existed. Once I looked into it, I learned that Warhol published "a, A Novel," and that two high school girls did in fact work on the transcription, which was published without edits. After I had these facts in hand, this book made a lot more sense!

Warhol aside, this novel is a coming-of-age story more than anything. It is about a teenage girl finding her way in 1960s New York, set against the background of Andy Warhol's Factory.

3.5 stars

AHHHHHH!
I'm so thankful to Bloomsbury Publishing, Netgalley, and Nicole Flattery for granting me advanced audio, digital, and physical access to this sweet gem of book that held emotional weight that twisted into my with a sharp knife.

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing on July 11, 2023

Between 1965 and 1967, Andy Warhol taped his conversations with Ondine (among others) in the Factory, his Manhattan studio. Two high school girls and two other typists transcribed the tapes in 1967. Warhol published the transcriptions, complete with typos, as a, A Novel. The lowercase “a” doubles as a reference to amphetamines and as a shoutout to e.e. cummings.

Nothing Special is a character study that imagines the lives of the two teenage typists. The story is narrated by Mae; the other typist is Shelley. Warhol, Ondine, Lou Reed, and the beautiful people who surrounded Warhol appear like out-of-focus characters in the background of movie scenes, present but usually unimportant. Nothing Special is not their story. It is the story of a young woman who compares herself to Warhol’s entourage and thinks of herself as nothing special.

After Mae’s father died, Mikey moved in with her mother. Mae had no problem with Mikey but didn’t want to give him the chance to exercise parental authority over her. Nor did she want to end up as a waitress like her mentally ill mother.

At 17, Mae is spending her afternoons riding escalators at Macy’s. She needs a place to go after school to avoid returning home, where she would only fight with her mother or resent Mikey. She feels abandoned by Maud, her only friend.

“Humming with hidden energy,” Mae soon notices that she is attracting male attention on her escalator rides. She enjoys making herself “available for public consumption.” When a man’s hand deliberately touches hers on the escalator rail, she rides the escalator every day until she sees him again. They go to a restaurant and then to bed, where he rubs her “small, pudgy stomach in circular motions as if I was a sick animal.”

The man’s mother feeds her breakfast in the morning and recommends a doctor who can help with her problems. The doctor has a cure for loneliness. Presumably the doctor is popular with certain patients because of the pills he prescribes. Instead of prescribing pills, he gives Mae the address of Warhol’s Factory and tells her that he always needs girls to run errands for him.

Mae becomes a secretary at the Factory. Mae and Shelley answer the phone before being assigned to transcribe recordings. Mae sees Warhol painting or talking at the other end of the studio, but rarely interacts with him. “Even when he was in a room full of people, he was apart from them. Totally separate, though he was connected to everything.”

The recordings are of conversations. Ondine (a/k/a The Pope) “was the main talker, words tumbling from him in a ceaseless monologue. . . . He existed only to be recorded.” Warhol and Ondine share “the excitement of people who thought they were separate from everything else, who had somehow, despite everything, managed to make their own private world.” Yet they also seem to be putting on a show for the rest of the world. There are moments when Ondine sounds “tired of playing himself, moments of paralyzing doubt about the point of any of it.”

Mae feels like God eavesdropping on the conversations of people who are above the law. At the same time, she resents the “obscene entitlement” of beautiful women who “lounge around the studio, unbothered by the idea of work, uninterested in any pursuits,” sometimes appearing in Warhol’s movies. Mae practices being “blank, impervious and assured” like the women in his films. The recordings teach her how to appear seductive and disinterested at the same time. They plant “ideas of humiliation and cruelty” in her mind and give her a “sudden lust for degrading experiences.”

The recordings seem important to Mae in a way that nothing ever has; they become her life. Still, she knows she is just a typist. She has sexual encounters with random men at Warhol’s parties but will never “be in demand” like the women who stand in line to be in his films. She is an audience, not a performer.

Mae’s job allows her to learn about life. In that sense, Nothing Special is a coming-of-age novel. Meeting Warhol’s mother, Mae wants to be “dignified and distant.” Watching her co-workers, Mae realizes it is “fun to watch things fall apart.” Watching the beautiful people who surround Warhol, Mae comes to understand pretense: “You don’t have to actually be a maniac, you could just wear the clothes.” She creates her own pretense, casting herself as a writer rather than a typist.

Mae's most profound revelation comes from watching Shelley and understanding that her true life is “waiting to be found and lived.” When Mae tells Shelley she should try to live her own life, Mae could be talking to herself. And she could be listening to herself when Shelley responds, “I did try.”

Mae also learns about relationships. She does not know how to handle her estrangement from her friend Maud. She stays away from her mother and argues with Mikey. She loves and hates Shelley for the same reason — she sees herself in Shelley’s ordinariness. One of the voices on a tape describes Warhol as leaving people behind, disposing of them — the very thing Mae is starting to do.

Shelley fares less well than Mae. She “had something, even if what she had was strange.” Shelley is mocked for not being among the Warhol elite when she auditions for a part in one of his movies. For reasons she won’t explain, Shelley tears apart one of the Warhol tapes. Mae claims her mother destroyed it, giving rise to the accepted explanation for the missing tape.

Nothing Special tells a clever story, using the Warhol Factory as a backdrop to illustrate important themes that generally have little to do with the iconic artist’s life. The story begins in 2010, when a game show host triggers Mae’s memory by asking “Who shot Andy Warhol?” It ends in 1985, a time when Mae has become a better version of herself. She offers brief descriptions of the phases of her life — the drinking phase, the Bible study phase, the self-help reading phase, the family reconciliation phase.

Mae has rejected society’s demands for righteous indignation. She does not want to denounce Mikey or her mother. Perhaps the greatest lesson she has learned — perhaps the best lesson to draw from the story — is the importance of avoiding judgment, including self-judgment. Mae has learned not to judge herself for living her own life, for not living up to the standards of people like those who surrounded Warhol, people who didn’t know how to be themselves. Maybe she is nothing special, but opinions about who is or isn’t “special” don’t matter. Learning to live your best life, even if that life goes largely unnoticed, is what matters. I recommend Nothing Special because Mae's contrast of an unusual time in her life to the life she would eventually settle into brings clarity to those lessons.

RECOMMENDED

Love, love, love Nicole Flattery and Andy Warhol! What a great mix and what a great story, puts you right back there with humour. Always such a treat to get a peek into the inner circle of celebrity.

Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery was such a unique, fun read. I think this will definitely resonate with a lot of people especially fans of Sally Rooney.

Fair warning:This is not really a book about Andy Warhol, so if that’s what you’re seeking, look elsewhere.

Instead, it’s a lovely piece of Literary Fiction and a coming of age tale capturing a snapshot of New York City and some of the processes of The Factory.

I liked Flattery’s writing quite a bit, and found her style perfect for this sort of “young and broke in New York” story. It’s Mae’s thoughts and perspectives that make this a good read rather than the plot, which is largely ancillary to Mae’s processing of her experience.

There’s a relatability to Mae that should resonate with anyone who moved to the city with dreams of “making it” no matter the era or what exactly “making it” might mean to any individual.

If you’re looking for something plot driven or truly focused on Warhol and his art then this one probably isn’t for you, but it’s perfect for fans of books like My Year of Rest and Relaxation or Happy Hour.

This book was a bit of a letdown. I read this book due to the synopsis on the back—a young girl growing up in New York finds herself in Andy Warhol’s Factory. I found, however, that the best parts of the book were when we were following Mae outside of this setting. The first third of the book I loved. Mae is an endearing protagonist full of wit and pragmatism. The parts where she was in the Factory kind of dragged— characters from that scene, with the exception of Shelley, didn’t develop. I still enjoy the writing though, and I did find myself rooting for Mae. Thank you Nicole, Flattery, Bloomsbury Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

In high school, I went through an intense phase of being obsessed with Warhol muse, model and actress Edie Sedgewick. When we were tasked with writing a five-page essay on an American hero, I wrote a 16-page essay about Edie Sedgewick which, coupled with my Edie-inspired penchant for mini-skirts, led my English teacher to tell me she worried about my choices. Though she still gave me an A+.

All this to say, I felt like this book - which follows a high school dropout who gets a job typing up Warhol’s book - seemed made for me. Unfortunately, it was not. The majority of the book focuses on the protagonist's friendship with her co-worker and the ways they become disillusioned with the scene by being privy to Warhol’s habit of exploitation and cruelty. All worthy topics, but nothing ever connected with me. The writing style is loose and the plot meanders without ever finding a point on which to land.

Perhaps without my high expectations, I wouldn’t have been as disappointed, although I also think anyone without a deep knowledge of the Factory and its players might be even more lost.

I picked this book up because I thought the premise sounded interesting…and you really do need to read the synopsis of this book or else you may be really confused while reading. Mae, the narrator, is a teenager in 1960’s New York who feels as if she doesn’t really fit in with her peers. She finds herself, through a series of weird encounters, working as a typist in Andy Warhol’s Factory. This is an odd, short book and while it was interesting material, I don’t really think it is one that I am going to remember.

I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Delighted to include this title in the July edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

I've read from this author before (her short story collection) and I was underwhelmed by her writing style, but decided to give her another chance. Oh dear. I thought since this her first full-length novel, it might be a different experience for me but I'm afraid not. This book was poorly written. The main character was annoying, and the plot showed promise but with such a mediocre prose, this book fell flat in spectacular ways. The only positive is the cover art. What sight to see! So beautiful. Too bad the novel was lackluster and lacked cohesion and focus.

I was intrigued by Nothing Special because it tells the story of a woman who worked for Andy Warhol. I’ve had a fascination with Warhol’s art for ages, so of course I wanted to read this. But the book was just so meh. Lots of whingeing about her life. Mae is 17 at the start of the book in 1966, living with an alcoholic mother and her sometimes boyfriend. She rides the escalator at Macy’s for fun, picking up strange men. It takes until the 30% mark before Mae even gets the job typing in Warhol’s Factory. It’s the 46% mark before she starts transcribing the tapes of his “book”.
The story felt dull. This is not a book about Warhol. Mae is the ultimate outsider, looking in. Privy to the tapes but not the people. At times the book takes on a stream of consciousness feel, but all it does is point out the lack of a coherent storyline. Here’s the best description of the book:
“ i got everything i needed from the tapes anyway. Listening to them was like falling down a trapdoor. time was fractured, nonsensical. What a strange world they had made for themselves, full of scorn and rage and competition, with moments of giddiness.”
The book is depressing. The blurb describes the book as “blistering, mordantly funny.” Don’t believe it. People degrade themselves first on tape and then on film. Being a part of something is more important than self respect. It does put a lie to the myth about the glamour of Warhol and his set.
Capitalization of words is haphazard. Some sentences didn’t start with a capital. The story is told in the first person and throughout, the i isn’t capitalized, even when another person is speaking. She also capitalizes some, but not all, names. Maud, yes; Dolores, yes; anita, no; edie, no. Ok is spelled as oK. I found I was paying more attention to the capitalization of words than the plot. Not a good sign.
My thanks to Netg and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance. Copy of this book.

I just did not connect with this at all. I just read Legs’ book about punk rock and The Factory came up a lot. I thought it was so cool that this landed in my pile. I thought it was serendipity. It was not. I see lots of folks love this. I am glad. I am not one of them.

This was a unique one, well I loved the direct, often sarcastic and at times spastic narrative of Mae, it also felt too long for a book under 300 pages.

Mae is funny and clever and the story telling is very gossipy in quality as it feels like Mae suffers from filtering her inner dialogue and enforcing her opinions.

With all that said the book was essentially about nothing, I still enjoyed it for it’s character driven nature and the fascinating dissection of women coming of age in the 60s and all the social issues that were prevalent and the need to be something more than we are, it’s subtle but there.

Peculiar is the word that comes to mind. Fans of Rooney or Moshfegh will enjoy this one, and I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about this for awhile yet.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advanced readers copy all opinions are my own, this one is out this summer, July 11.

This book lacked a lot of substance. I like the core of the story, but I feel like it likely could have been boiled down into a novella and held the same amount of meaning,

Thank You a million times over Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for an ARC of this. I adored the fictional behind the scenes look at the world of Andy Warhol. The characters were well developed and the chemistry between them was wonderful. Pick this one up if you like coming of age stories. Artsy stories. Mother and daughter dynamics . Friendship dynamics. This book has a little bit of a lot of fascinating things and will appeal to a large audience, I feel. I cannot wait to read more from Nicole Flattery in the future.

Bold and unpredictable, full of wit and melancholy, with vibrant characters who are impossible to pin down.