We Play Ourselves

(Paperback, Export/Airside)

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'Witty...Earnest...Laugh-out-loud...Pitch-perfect' - New York Times

In the pursuit of fame, how do you know when you've gone too far

Not too long ago, Cass was a promising young playwright in New York. But at the height of all this attention, she found herself at the centre of a searing public shaming, and fled to Los Angeles to escape - and reinvent herself. Once there, she meets her next-door neighbour Caroline, an enigmatic filmmaker, who is constantly flanked by the stars of her current project: a group of teenage girls. As Cass is drawn into the film's orbit, she is awed by Caroline's drive and confidence. But over time, she becomes troubled by how deeply Caroline is manipulating the teens in the name of art - especially as the consequences become increasingly disturbing. With her past proving hard to shake and her future one she's no longer sure she wants, Cass is forced to reckon with her own ambitions and confront the steep price of success.

'Funny, sharp, modern - this is an excellent debut novel. Its bold, edgy, strange heroine has adventures and misadventures, screws up again and again, but somehow won my love. I couldn't put this book down.' - Weike Wang, PEN/Hemingway-award winning author of Chemistry

Reviews

In deadpan prose that belies the wackiness of Hollywood and Broadway, Silverman stages a blistering story about the costs of creating art. * Oprah Magazine: 32 LGBTQ Books That Will Change The Literary Landscape in 2021 *
As funny as it's intellectual, this page-turner about crashing and burning is spot-on about ambition, infatuation, theatre, film, ethics, teens, and everything else. * Emma Donghue, author of Room *
Witty...Earnest...Laugh-out-loud...Pitch-perfect * New York Times *
This is a book where the questions are the answers, a story of possibility that challenged and expanded the way I think about redemption. Warm in its humanity and cool in its persistent subversion of narrative expectations, it's a sharp and modern first novel. I loved it. * Maggie Shipstead, New York Times-bestselling author of Seating Arrangements *
The multi-talented Jen Silverman knows what she's doing on the page. Funny, sharp, modern - this is an excellent debut novel. Its bold, edgy, strange heroine has adventures and misadventures, screws up again and again, but somehow won my love. I couldn't put this book down. * Weike Wang, PEN/Hemingway-award winning author of Chemistry *
A fiercely smart and wildly entertaining exploration of artistic ambition, and what happens when the hunger for fame infects an artist's desire to create something true. A uniquely potent take on female rage and competition that also gorgeously evokes the challenge of developing an authentic self when everything we do can be exploited as content. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. * Julie Buntin, author of Marlena *
Silverman employs Cass' wry, deeply felt, often self-deprecating voice to tell this beautifully realized novel about choice, ambition, and revelation, with a nod to feminism in the context of the film and its monstrous director, Caroline. All of Silverman's characters are memorable as they drive the carefully plotted, thought-provoking story. Happily, unlike Cass' failed play, this memorable novel deserves a standing ovation. * Booklist (starred review) *
A playwright's public shame and jealousy traps her in self-doubt in this mordant debut novel... Cass's dark humor and acts of self-sabotage keep the reader engaged. Silverman's genuine, stirring novel speaks volumes about the lure and fickleness of fame. * Publishers Weekly *
The quiet meditations on the precariousness and ever changing nature of success, ambition, and artwork are the novel's greatest strength. A resonant and thoughtful novel. * Kirkus Reviews *
A novel about what it might really mean to be an art monster. Or at least a monster who makes art. * LitHub *
A thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining yet serious novel * A Life In Books *
A penetrating exploration of the skewed values of the theatre industry [...] and the perils of the lust for acclaim * Sydney Morning Herald *

Author Bio

Jen Silverman is a New York-based writer and playwright. She is the author of the story collection The Island Dwellers (2018). Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The Gettysburg Review, and The Baffler, among others. Her plays include Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, which was at the Southwark Playhouse, and The Moors, The Roommate, and Witch. We Play Ourselves is her debut novel.

www.jensilverman.com