The Poser

By Jacob Rubin

Book Overview

- Named one of the Huffington Post's 2015 Books We Can't Wait To Read -

"Smart and absorbing. . . . Echoes of Steven Millhauser and Tom McCarthy. . . . Probing, witty." --The New York Times Book Review

"A masterful debut . . . delivered with vaudeville verve." --The Washington Post

"Darkly funny. . . . A deeply sensitive exploration into matters of identity and authenticity." --Associated Press

"The Poser is smart and grand and funny, a wonderful fable. Mr. Rubin is a great hope for comic fiction in the 21st century. He's got the spirit and the ear." --Sam Lipsyte

A hilarious and dazzling debut novel about a master impressionist at risk of losing his true self

All his life, Giovanni Bernini has possessed an uncanny gift: he can imitate anyone he meets. Honed by his mother at a young age, the talent catapults him from small-town obscurity to stardom.

As Giovanni describes it, "No one's disguise is perfect. There is in every person, no matter how graceful, a seam, a thread curling out of them. . . . When pulled by the right hands, it will unravel the person entire." As his fame grows, Giovanni encounters a beautiful and enigmatic stage singer, Lucy Starlight--the only person whose thread he cannot find--and becomes increasingly trapped inside his many poses. Ultimately, he must assume the one identity he has never been able to master: his own.

In the vein of Jonathan Lethem's and Kevin Wilson's playful surrealism, Jacob Rubin's The Poser is the debut of a major literary voice, a masterfully written, deeply original comic novel, and the moving story of a man who must risk everything for the chance to save his life and know true love.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014310795X
• ISBN13: 9780143107958
• Release Date: March 2016
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher