Innocents and Others

Dana Spiotta

From Shelf: Books read in 2022 by Jessie Thompson, as shared on instagram

An extraordinary new novel about friendship, seduction and art. Winner of the 2017 SFC Literary Prize.

'Spiotta is a wonder.' - George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the BardoMeadow Mori and Carrie Wexler grew up together in Los Angeles, and both became film-makers. Meadow makes challenging documentaries; Carrie makes successful feature films with a feminist slant. The two friends have everything in common - except their views on sex, power, movie-making and morality. And yet their loyalty trumps their different approaches to film and to life. Until, one day, a mysterious woman with a unique ability to cold-call and seduce powerful men over the phone - not through sex, but through listening - becomes the subject of one of Meadow's documentaries. Her downfall, and what makes her so extraordinarily moving, is that she pretends to be someone she is not. The fallout from this challenges their friendship like nothing before.Heart-breaking and insightful, Innocents and Others by Dana Spiotta is an astonishing novel about friendship, identity, loneliness and art.

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