He Wanted More Attention

Three months ago, I read Zoe Dubno’s Happiness and Love. And I really adored this novel, which is about a young woman, a writer, who goes to a dinner party full of trendy artists and scenesters. The woman sits in a corner, brooding to herself about how everyone at this party is a fake, until one of those fakes, an actress in a streaming show, gets angry at the others and calls them out for being pretentious. Somehow this rant emancipates our silent protagonist—she’s able to escape into the outdoors and release her anger.