We Play Ourselves

We Play Ourselves is a witty and intellectual novel about ambition, infatuation, theatre, film, ethics, teens, and everything else. It follows Cass, a thirty-something, promising, queer playwright, who receives a prestigious award and is forced to question who she is without her art. She becomes involved with her playwright nemesis and a group of pugilistic teenage girls, and dreams of a comeback, but when the film spins out of control, she is forced to reckon with her ambition and her rage. The novel is darkly funny and has a bold, edgy, strange heroine who has adventures and misadventures.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 03 June 2021
Publisher: Atlantic Books

We Play Ourselves is a novel that delves into the complexities of ambition, infatuation, theatre, film, ethics, teens, and more. Written by Emma Donoghue, the book has received critical acclaim for its witty, earnest, laugh-out-loud, and pitch-perfect writing.

The story follows Cass, a thirty-something, promising, queer playwright who receives a prestigious award and seems to be on the rise to success. However, her career takes a drastic turn when she becomes the center of a searing public shaming, leading her from a rising star in New York to a nobody on her best friend's sofa in L.A. As she grapples with the extent of her failure, she is forced to question who she is without the thing that has always defined her: her art.

To fill the void left by her artistic struggles, Cass becomes engrossed in stalking her playwright nemesis, a playwright whom she is excruciatingly jealous of. She also gets pulled into the orbit of a charismatic but manipulative filmmaker next door. As Cass becomes increasingly involved with her neighbor and the group of pugilistic teenage girls she is documenting, she begins to dream of a comeback.

However, things take a dangerous turn when the film spins dangerously out of control, leaving Cass to confront her ambition and her rage once again.

We Play Ourselves is a darkly funny novel that explores the cost of making art and the art of making enemies. The bold, edgy, and strange heroine, Cass, has adventures and misadventures, screws up again and again, but somehow wins the reader's love. The book is praised for its witty dialogue, well-developed characters, and its exploration of themes that are relevant to modern society.

Overall, We Play Ourselves is an excellent debut novel that offers a compelling and entertaining read. Its sharp writing and relatable characters make it a must-read for anyone who enjoys literary fiction with a twist.

Weight: 546g
Dimension: 148 x 222 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781838954307
Edition number: Main