Toxicity…
The toxicity of friendships explored in this caper amongst the socialites of Manhattan. Deftly drawn characters add to the mix of suspense and intrigue. It’s a dark tale, depressing even, but a fresh look on a familiar trope. Compelling and interesting.

Lavinia is a glamorous NYC socialite, taking a sabbatical from Yale to write her novel. Louise is a poor girl that landed in the famous city fighting hard to make the end of the month, by tutoring, bartending and ghost writing.
Accidentally, two met, are becoming best friends and it seems nothing can stand Louise's chance to writing fame and a good life. But as usual when it comes to the dynamics of the relationship between two beings - regardless the gender - there are tensions and jealousy and a requested dependence that Lavinia is requiring from Louise after they moved together and Louise is losing one by one her contracts as unable to balance the non-stop-party-life and any work schedule.
In Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton you are welcomed in the vain and wasted life of NYC money heirs and their glamorous social life, as well as their satellites, made of 'yesmen/women' always keen to comply in exchange of a bit of networking and some free gifts. But everyone is equally longing for attention, either it comes to a haircut or a fancy opera show. Almost everyone is writing a novel or is an aspiring writer in this story when they are not busy listening to Wagner or name dropping the people they have lunch with (which it is not necessarily an exclusive NYC-thing those days).
Over a quarter of the book is mostly about this. The rest is a murder story in the 2.0 age, where the criminal - which might be in fact serial - is not caught while it keeps intensively posting updates on the victim' social media channels. The innocent Louise is in fact a completely different person as she shows. A very dangerous revengeful, socio-path one. Not only the thief who is using Lavinia's generous credit card to sniff some hundreds of dollars every day. She will actually will end up killing Lavinia - and not only her - in cold blood but no one notice that something is not fine.
In full honesty, I liked the writing style a lot. Witty dialogues, creating that realistic landscape of the snobbish rich white collar Americans in their 20s. However, the 'crime' part lost me, and if not reading the book while commuting an impressive amounts of trains I would probably would not have finished it. I may reckon the writer did not want to write a thriller story, but at the end of the book still did not figure out how to integrate the crime part into the overall story. It looked for me as the momentum to make the writing even greater was completely lost.
I leave at this for now, but I will definitely look more about Tara Isabella Burton writing, especially non-fiction that I've heard is really good - particularly the travel-related one.

This book unfortunately was just not for me. I couldn’t connect with the story or the characters and won’t be reviewing on my Instagram.

The blurb sounds great so I was keen to read but it missed the mark for me. Found it a slog and had to call it a day less than a third in.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't really for me. The summary sounded amazing, but I just didn't find it too engaging. The characters felt flat, and the writing style just didn't fit for me at all. I really wanted to like it, and I did soldier on through to finish it, but I have to admit I really wasn't keen on it.

This story details the birth of a femme fatale - through her coincidental meeting with a rich girl who lives the hard fast life, and the main character's own coveting of such riches. It is every average person's dark fantasy twisted - envy against the rich, with a drop of murder. A story almost plausible in real life. It really makes one think about money, social status and how people can throw away moral values over material desires.

I sadly did not enjoy the book at all. Out of stubbornness I kept going to the end as I don't like to review something I haven't fully read, but it really was quite a disappointment. I found the characters unlikeable and un-relatable, which is all very well if there feels like a greater message to the behaviour, but there just wasn't. I was waiting for the 'twists' which I found very predictable and much less 'twisty' then anticipated. I found the writing style difficult and different to what I normally choose. I like to put myself out of my reading comfort zone but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I personally wouldn't recommend it, but there are certainly a lot of people out there who have enjoyed it, and have positively raved about it in reviews, so read around before making a decision!

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book which is a massive shame as I've seen such great reviews everywhere for it! I just could not get into the writing style at all which was making it difficult to get interested in the plot and also to just carry on reading. I've seen so many great reviews however so don't be put off trying it!

Shades of The Secret History/Talented Mr Ripley and captures some excellent atmosphere at the start but really falls flat as soon as we’ve lost one of our central characters, and it’s hard to engage with the cold, self serving narrator. Has some really engaging elements but loses its way by the end.

It isn't easy to pull off a book with unlikeable characters but this one really works. The main people are all awful - self-centred, immoral, selfish - but they are nonetheless fascinating. I wanted to slap them but at the same time I couldn't look away from their strange bubble-like world. This is a thriller done well. There's a slight point towards the end where it drags a little but on the whole I really enjoyed it.

A compulsive read filled with hard-to-like characters, but still a fun rollercoaster! Louise is struggling to make ends meet in a crappy hovel in New York - but then her life collides with socialite Lavinia and everything changes. Needy and gorgeous, Lavinia pulls Louise right into a whirlwind of parties, drugs and quirky (irritating) characters, leaving Louise gradually losing her three jobs as she struggles to keep up with Lavinia's party lifestyle. And of course this is when things start to go very wrong...

Very readable and fun, with lots of awful characters and no-one really to root for! Perfect beach read!

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton is weirdly addictive and enthralling! I read it over a few hours as I just HAD to know where this story was going.

Initially I didn’t like the style of the writing – it was disjointed so I couldn’t find my rhythm – but after a while I came to understand it was contributing to the mood of the novel and then I found I loved it!

It’s a quick read without any real emotional themes to ponder. It’s simple – rich girl effectively buys poor girls’ friendship. Poor girl pays her back… Neither of these two characters (or any of the supporting ones for that matter) are likeable. They’re rude, obnoxious, selfish, in a hedonistic socialite scene beholden only to themselves. But the story moves fast, they are those people “you love to hate” and the shenanigans they get up to are so outrageous that you just want to know more.

It’s a fun, moody, meaningless, almost believable read (with a great ending!) that is thoroughly enjoyable.

#netgalley #socialcreature #taraisabellaburton #bloomsburypublishing

I enjoyed this book It was a little far-fetched at times (maybe make that a lot far-fetched") but it was an enjoyable read.

Louise, aspiring writer who is working several jobs to make ends meet, meets the rich, beautiful Lavinia when Louise is hired to tutor Lavinia's younger sister, Cordelia. Louise is swept away by Lavinia's lifestyle and the intoxicating partying and two swiftly become BFFs, however, there is a dark side to both of them which soon comes to the fore.

This was compulsive reading where the reader just has to know what happens. Lavinia is irresponsible and manipulative, whilst Louise is easily swayed and is hiding a big secret. Neither character is particularly likeable and you know something bad is coming, and you can't stop reading. Personally, I didn't feel that comparing it to The Talented Mr Ripley spoiled anything, the author tells you what happens fairly early on. It's the journey that is fascinating. Overall, I thought it was a great read.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Bloomsbury Publishing / Raven Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Reading this book is like being a bit too drunk on a school night. It's dizzying and compulsive and all the wrong choices. I was swept along and really enjoyed it but felt a bit hungover afterwards.

Books like this one really make you appreciate the classics. “Great Gatsby for the new generation” they said. Well, sorry, love, but honestly, I would rather just have the original. That is because, when F. Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t drowning himself in copious amounts of champagne, he was a witty and scathing observer of the decadent and privileged society that his romantic interest, and later wife, was surrounded by. By the time he had gotten around to sobering up and actually sitting down to write The Great Gatsby, he had become completely disillusioned with the American Dream, and the selfishness and self-importance he saw in both himself, and the people that surrounded him.
Without this sense of depth, The Great Gatsby wouldn’t have been the novel it is today. It would have been fun, yes, but undeniably trashy and self-aggrandising. And, unlike the classic novel, Tara Isabella Burton’s Social Creature quickly became that, as it dashed past social commentary straight into being the gilded monster it was supposed to be mocking: a shallow and surface-level examination of needless extravagance and the emptiness of the privileged New York party scene.
And, I like television shows like Made in Chelsea and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, so if I found it to be annoyingly shallow, then that is really saying something. But honestly, unlike them, it was just obnoxious and really quite boring, in a way that all night dance parties and breathless, reckless adventures really should not be; too steeped in tiring, half-arsed attempts at intelligent thought to really be of much use or interest to anybody.
If you’re going to do snarky, do it well. If you’re going to do pretentious, do it well. If not, then why should you even bother?

Every character in this book was so amazingly messed up and i absolutely loved it. Yes it was weird and like no other story i've read and i know many people will hate it but i devoured it. You won't be able to stop reading because you will need to know what hideous things they do next.

I could not get into this book. I am really
Sorry. I know the characters were written to be unlikeable but I could not read this as they annoyed me too much. Sorry. Did not finish

Social Creature is a disturbing story about a toxic firendship between two young women, that I found oddly addictive.

Lavinia Williams and Louise Wilson. Two girls with similar names and appearance but with very different personalities and family background.
Lavinia was such a fascinating character, full of life and adventure and cash to spend, Lavinia is the soul of every party she goes to. She is the kind of girl you think you want to be, but if you look close enough, you would quickly change your mind. Lavinia's personality was in stark contrast to Louise's who despite her three jobs struggles to make ends meet. When the two meet, Lavinia takes Louise under her wing and introduces her to the side New York nightlife that Louise has been always dreaming about. And thus a friendship is born, a friendship to die for...

This was a quick read for me, but one I enjoyed. I was quickly pulled into the story, unsure which girl to like and which to dislike. Do you like the one who is drowning in cash and effectively buys her friend's loyalty and obedience or would you rather root for the one who steals money from her rich friend and decides to date her best friend's ex? Despite me not liking any of the characters, which is quite rare, the sense of foreboding in the book was too strong for me not to see how the story ended. I can easily see this being made into a movie or even a TV series, which would be recommended to the fans of YOU.

Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.

As in Leila Slimani’s novel ‘Lullaby,’ we know at the outset of ‘Social Creature’ that there is a death. What leads to that death is an obsession, a darkness shrouded in glitter. Bit by bit, aspiring writer Louise is immersed in extravagance, lavishness and posturing. By the end of the book, that immersion has consumed her completely.

Aspiring writers struggle to pay the rent. Louise’s affiliation with Lavinia, a wealthy socialite with her own lofty amibitions of literary success, brings her the financial stability she needs as well as the platform she craves. Whilst she initially seems to be grateful for the patronage Lavinia confers on her- and it is obvious that Lavinia sees her as a pet project- Louise eventually cracks. When she does so, it’s in catastrophic style.

Tara Isabella Burton incrementally ratchets up the tension so skilfully that when the denouement arrives, it astounds and satisfies in equal measure. We might know at the outset that Lavinia will be dead within six months, but it is no less shocking when it comes. Yes, the comparisons to Patricia Highsmith will come as no surprise given the subject matter, but ‘Social Creature’ is more than ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ for the Instagram age. It is a depiction of a relationship which thrives on dependency, insecurity and, ultimately, is undone by its toxic heart.