ANOTHER IN A SERIES EXAMINING THE INSIDER LITERARY WORLD

(photo c/o Glamour magazine)

ONE OF the so-called Literary It Girls getting hyped by the decrepit remains of the Manhattan media machine is heiress Allie Rowbottom, author of a much-touted novel, Aesthetica. Yet more autofiction, by all accounts. A depiction of a narcissistic main character, and by extension, today’s culture. Newsflash: we already know about it, are bombarded by narcissism from every corner of electronic media. Do we really want to grovel in the book’s self-absorbed descriptions? A criticism of plastic surgery? Or a celebration of it?

Allie Rowbottom was most recently seen giving skin care advice in the pages of a Manhattan glamor magazine. She reveals she gets Botox injections, may be conflicted about the procedure and other procedures, but receives them anyway. America’s out-of-touch leisure class. Meanwhile, unhinged heavily-armed well-trained potential mass killers roam America from Maine to Texas, waiting to be triggered; wars break out across the globe; bad-guy authoritarians make moves to end any semblance of world peace; tech plutocrats become ever wealthier with new AI schemes (the wealth gap has never been greater) while more people who are unable to make rent or mortgage payments are thrown into the streets. 21st Century Chaos! But hey, Allie Rowbottom has a new novel out about one person’s obsession with her face– powers-that-be in the Insider Literary Realm expect us to run out and buy it.

Widen that wealth gap more? No thanks.

-KW