Inappropriation
A Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“This is a daring book, thrillingly of our moment.” -- Emma Cline, author of The Girls
A wildly irreverent take on the coming-of-age story that turns a search for belonging into a riotous satire of identity politics
Starting at a prestigious private Australian girls’ school, fifteen-year-old Ziggy Klein is confronted with an alienating social hierarchy that hurls her into the arms of her grade’s most radical feminists. Tormented by a burgeoning collection of dark, sexual fantasies, and a biological essentialist mother, Ziggy sets off on a journey of self-discovery that moves from the Sydney drag scene to the extremist underbelly of the Internet.
As PC culture collides with her friends’ morphing ideology and her parents’ kinky sex life, Ziggy’s understanding of gender, race, and class begins to warp. Ostracized at school, she seeks refuge in Donna Haraway’s seminal feminist text, A Cyborg Manifesto, and discovers an indisputable alternative identity. Or so she thinks. A controversial Indian guru, a transgender drag queen, and her own Holocaust-surviving grandmother propel Ziggy through a series of misidentifications, culminating in a date-rape revenge plot so confused, it just might work.
Uproariously funny, but written with extraordinary acuity about the intersections of gender, sexual politics, race, and technology, Inappropriation is literary satire at its best. With a deft finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist, Lexi Freiman debuts on the scene as a brilliant and fearless new talent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Freiman's stellar debut concerns 15-year-old Ziggy Klein, an awkward, precocious 10th grader who attends the politically correct Kandara Girls School in Sydney. As the daughter of a feminist psychotherapist, Ziggy aims to be her best self, even as she's tortured by disparaging inner voices that she refers to as Hitler Youth. Ziggy has yet to hit puberty and is still figuring out her gender and sexuality when she befriends aspiring actress Tessa and her friend Lex, who wants to be a rapper in America. The duo introduce Ziggy to theories about otherness, sexuality, and gender, and take themselves way too seriously while also skewering the popular girls. Ziggy tries to keep up but the girls' friendship deteriorates as Tessa and Lex start hanging out with boys and the cool crowd, respectively. Ziggy begins wearing a GoPro and publicly identifying as transhuman, which her school indulges, much to the other students' chagrin. Tensions culminate on the night of the formal, when Ziggy and her friend Tim hatch a plan to drug and humiliate Lance, a popular boy who's dating Lex. Freiman perfectly depicts the timeless awkwardness of growing up with the more modern awkwardness of having your life broadcast on social media, and thus growing up in front of the rest of the world. This is a very strong first novel from a promising voice.