A smartly written literary fiction perfect for lovers of the theater. A very unique story that blends the art world and modern issues like cancel culture/public scandals.

I didn't make it all the way through this one. I give it stars for the writing, because I definitely like Silverman's style and would try her again. I just wasn't that interested in the character and decided not to push through.

This is a messy slow burn with a very unlikeable main character. Normally I enjoy this sort of thing, but this just didn’t captivate me.

I've tried to read this book a few times and it doesn't seem to stick with me. I definitely believe this is a case of the reader and not the book.

I have to stop reading books like this. My brain is just not cut out for these types of stories because I just don't get it. I don't understand what the entire point of this book was and I'm one of those people that needs to understand. I don't do well with unresolved things or confusing and vague plotlines. I should know better by now but tell me a book is queer and I'm usually all in but despite its queerness and the interesting premise, I could not get into this book and when I thought I was getting into it it lost me within the next chapter. I don't get it.

I also have to talk about the moment that happened at around 80% and while messy queerness is okay and needed and realistic, I cannot handle the way the sole asexual character was. We have a sapphic Queer main character and a bi secondary character who both get to talk about stereotypes and pressure and biphobia etc and then we have this I don't want to say villain of the story but she's definitely the one that our main character both despises and idolizes who comes out and says that she's asexual solely because of trauma and she made a choice. Asexuality is not celibacy. Asexuality is not a choice. It is a sexual identity and while sexual identities can sometimes have links to childhood trauma, to say that it is the sole reason that she is asexual and that it was just the easier choice rubbed me the wrong way. And I think had the main character butted up against that a little bit and said hey whoa that's not how that works I would have been fine. Unfortunately there's not enough asexual representation to have this questionable rep. This might be the only book someone ever reads where they see in asexual character and to have that character claim that it's because of a choice is problematic. There are not enough books or media or attention on asexuality to qualify or condone vague confusing and problematic representation for the sake of a character arc.

Cass, a formerly promising young playwright, has fled New York and the scandal she leaves behind in her wake. Having landed in LA, she soon finds herself drawn into the intimate and intense orbit of her neighbor, Caroline, a filmmaker. Caroline quickly pulls Cass into her current project: a film about the pack of teenage girls who perpetuate their own violent fantasies.. Visceral and engaging.

What an absolute ride this book was. I love a messy teenage girl book, a messy sapphic book even more so, and found the dynamics in this story absolutely fascinating. I think this would be an incredible choice for fans of Mona Awad's Bunny, Emily Temple's The Lightness, and Dizz Tate's Brutes. I am very excited to read more from Jen Silverman!

Honestly, this is a hard book to review because I'm still trying to figure out how I felt about it. I really enjoyed Jen Silverman's writing, but I think I spent a lot of this book waiting for something to actually happen. It's quite slow-paced and a bit navel-gazey, but I think that's probably appropriate based on how I read the main character -- she was incredibly unlikeable (which was the whole point) and painful to read at times. The plot didn't do it for me (like I said, there wasn't much of one) but I was pulled in by the exploration of art, sexuality, cancel culture (yes, really, but not in a preachy way), friendships and self-acceptance.

I was judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’d been doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got me to read on even though it was among 296 other books I’m charged to read.

I pull open the van door and a stink hits me. Not any smell I know. Something like tang and decay and sugar.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I'm still trying to understand this book, honestly.

When I thought it was just an examination of a toxic friend group by these two neighbors and unlikely collaborators I thought that it was interesting. As the story became more complicated and we saw the truth of things start to come to light more I was definitely intrigued. It's definitely unlike anything that I've read before, and I did have a mostly positive takeaway? It stuck with me for a few days after I finished it, and one I would encourage other people to read, but also one that is a bit of a mixed bag and where a readers mileage might vary.

Jen Silverman’s debut, We Play Ourselves, satirizes the contemporary art scene through the eyes of Cass, an embittered former drama wunderkind turned hapless millennial, as she uncovers the secrets behind an up-and-coming feminist documentary. However, behind that beautiful cover and biting wit, We Play Ourselves fails to balance criticism and nuance, and falls prey to the very structures that it pokes fun at.

After being #cancelled in the fray of a viral scandal and Off-Broadway flop, 30-something playwright Cass retreats to the sleepy suburbs of LA to stay with her friend and his on-the-rocks boyfriend. After a listless lull at the house, Cass is approached by a prominent filmmaker, Caroline, whose new project, a subversive, feminist Fight Club starring a feral pack of teenage girls, draws Cass in. After meeting the cast and starting the project, Cass begins to recognize that Caroline’s draw towards these girls crosses the line between muse and manipulator, and must reckon with her place at the heart of an exploitative art piece.

Silverman is an incredibly talented author, whose word choice is always sharp and necessary, and whose sentences string together in poignant prose. She brilliantly constructs the mindset of someone trying to rebuild themselves once they’re stripped to their most vulnerable state. Cass is an unlikable narrator: she’s catty, unempathetic and pretentious. However, your eyes are glued to her every move, and hungry for her backstory. I also found Silverman’s comparison of the limitations of artistic mediums incredibly interesting: theatre is a completely different animal than film, as this juxtaposition is made clear by the alternative perspectives in New York and Los Angeles.

We Play Ourselves takes major media buzzwords, and cultural revolutions, such as the MeToo Movement, conversations of media inclusion and representation and cancel culture, and breaks them down to their core through her sardonic wit. However, this satire can be read as tokenizing or dismissive to real life issues. For example, Cass’s nemesis, Tara-Jean Slater, is a self-proclaimed “turned asexual” after being assaulted by her uncle as a child, who then channels her trauma in a best-selling play and up-coming Netflix show, starring Cate Blanchett and Morgan Freeman as different iterations of her uncle. It’s quite obvious that Silverman is poking fun of the use of big celebrity names to sell products, but it instead comes across as acephobic and ignorant of the real trauma and mental health issues faced by CSA survivors, as Cass is “jealous” of Tara’s “selling point” as a CSA survivor.

This facetiousness is present throught the novel: Silverman pokes fun at tokenism by criticizing Caroline’s “diverse” film with only two non-white leads, but is guilty of the same crime, as no other non-white characters are present in the narrative. Caroline also fetishizes queer women, as she forces BB, the lesbian teenage girl, to fake a coming out to Cass, the only queer person on the film set, in order to garner attention from LGBT movie audiences. However, BB and Cass’s relationship is awkward and forced, contrived by BB’s crush on Cass, and the uncomfortable age gap between the two characters. The film storyline is extremely fraught with these problematic elements, and does little to reckon with them: I much preferred the New York theatre scenes to the Los Angeles film scenes, and would have preferred a narrative without the film aspect. We Play Ourselves is a narrative journey through the lens of a disillusioned young adult in the pretentious art scene, but does little to critique the issues at its core.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy

Warnings: homophobia, substance abuse, cheating, violence, racism, sexual assault, child abuse, disordered eating

This was at times an interesting read but was often a chore to get through. I think some may really love Cass and this book but it just wasn’t for me. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think this one was so intriguing. The they’re meets Hollywood setting was a fun twist.

The book explores some serious topics of exploitation and abuse against women in the industry. While also showing queer acceptance and finding true happiness after failure.

I admire anyone who takes the commitment to write a novel. I thought this was ok, a little precocious. The character development never came together for me and I didn't feel sympathy for the protagonist.

I enjoyed this book! I was drawn in by the title first and then by the characters, especially the main character. A well written story about a young woman who is a promising young playwright who goes to California and sets up a production company for other young aspiring actors and in the process learns a lot about herself and her own relationship..

I enjoyed this novel so much more than I expected myself to. I loved the language and the vivid settings, and I think this is one of the best portrayals of queerness as an identity that I've read in a long time. The lack of a label is explored really well, and Cass as a character was messy and complicated in wonderful ways. The ending felt lackluster to me, as it seemed that there were many characters who felt unresolved by the end, but I think it works for this story just not necessarily for me. This is a great book for those who might think of a career and feel stagnant as they're exploring mistakes and identity, and I enjoyed it so much.

I loved this. Well written, excellent characters, unique storytelling. It’s the kind of LGBTQ book I’ve been wanting to read for ages.

The official description does NOT do justice to the depth and nuance of this beautifully told story of identity crisis in the wake of sudden success and sudden failure. With humor and precise observation of the ways the desire for attention drives us only to trip us up, Silverman creates a portrait of creative block that will feel relatable (at times cringingly so) to anyone who has ever confused applause for their heart's desire. Maybe my favorite book I've read this year, and one I'd put on the shelf with Kayla Rae Whitaker's "The Animators", Tayari Jones "American Marriage", and Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life" for its depiction of creativity as the way back to ourselves even when it seems like the opposite. Highly recommended.

The cover is super unique but I really didn't like what was on the inside. I hate the trope of the main character doing something bad before the story begins and then it hypes it up as if they committed some serious crime but when you find out, it's literally nothing. I really don't like that at all. i didn't like any of the characters either, I thought what they were trying to call art was kind of.. not it. I found this very, very hard to get through and considered not finishing it but I was able to push through and in the end, it was not worth it.

Thank you for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.