White on White

(Hardback)

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A 'marvelous' (Lauren Groff) and riveting novel about a woman who has come undone. 'Gentle, mysterious and profound.' Marina Abramovic 'A haunting, irresistible novel. It's breathtaking.' Brandon Taylor 'Marvelous, as elegant as an opaque sheet of ice.' Lauren Groff 'An acute and obliterating double portrait.' Leanne Shapton A student moves to the city to research Gothic nudes, renting an apartment from a painter, Agnes, who lives in another town with her husband. One day, Agnes arrives in the city and settles into the upstairs studio. In their meetings on the stairs, in the studio, at the corner cafe, the kitchen at dawn, Agnes tells stories of her youth, her family, her marriage, and ideas for her art - which is always just about to be created. As the months pass, it becomes clear that Agnes might not have a place to return to. The student is increasingly aware of Agnes's disintegration. Her stories are frenetic; her art scattered and unfinished, white paint on a white canvas. What emerges is the menacing sense that every life is always at the edge of disaster, no matter its seeming stability. Alongside the research into human figures, the student is learning, from a cool distance, about the narrow divide between happiness and resentment, creativity and madness, contentment and chaos. White on White is a sharp exploration of empathy and cruelty, and the stunning discovery of what it means to be truly vulnerable, and laid bare.

Reviews

A deeply humane, quietly devastating, mesmerisingly beautiful masterpiece. -- Olivia Sudjic
White on White is an ambitious palette. * New York Times *
[An] oddly enthralling tale about a postgrad student bearing witness to an artist's marital breakdown -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *
Marvelous, as elegant as an opaque sheet of ice that belies the swift and turbulent waters beneath. -- Lauren Groff
A haunting, irresistible novel. I loved this book for its depth and perception, for its beauty and eerie rhythms, but most of all for its wonderfully dream-like spell. It's breathtaking. -- Brandon Taylor
In the middle ages, human skin was seen as a blanket stretched to cover a secret, inner life, writes Aysegl Savas. Reading White on White for me is like an outer skin which you open layer by layer as you read; gentle, mysterious and profound. -- Marina Abramovic
Terse, slender and exquisite, like a finely-wrought figurine carved in bone, White on White spins its tale of doubles, womanhood and power with the magnetic pull of a thriller, while refusing to settle for easy resolution. I loved its quiet, observant wisdom; its willingness to look for depth underneath shiny surfaces. -- Livia Franchini
I was riveted by it. The delicate restraint of the language just adds to its power. -- Celia Paul
Savas's characters watch each other as they avoid themselves, in an acute and obliterating double portrait. -- Leanne Shapton
A superb novel by an exceptionally elegant, intelligent, and original writer. -- Sigrid Nunez

Fans of Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy should take note of this striking portrait.

Author Bio

Ayseg l Savas is the author of Walking on the Ceiling. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, and elsewhere. Originally from Istanbul, she lives in Paris.