Sirens & Muses

 

 I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Sirens & Muses 

Author: Antonia Angress

Publisher: Ballantine

Release Date: 7.12.22

Publisher’s Summary 

Four artists are drawn into a web of rivalry and desire at an elite art school and on the streets of New York in this magnificent debut for fans of Writers & Lovers and The Goldfinch.

It’s 2011: America is in a deep recession and Occupy Wall Street is escalating. But at the elite Wrynn College of Art, students paint and sculpt in a rarified bubble. Louisa Arceneaux is a thoughtful, observant nineteen-year-old when she transfers to Wrynn as a scholarship student, but she soon finds herself adrift in an environment that prizes novelty over beauty. Complicating matters is Louisa’s unexpected attraction to her charismatic roommate, Karina Piontek, the preternaturally gifted but mercurial daughter of wealthy art collectors. Gradually, Louisa and Karina are drawn into an intense sensual and artistic relationship, one that forces them to confront their deepest desires and fears. But Karina also can’t shake her fascination with Preston Utley, a senior and anti-capitalist Internet provocateur, who is publicly feuding with visiting professor and political painter Robert Berger—a once-controversial figurehead seeking to regain relevance.

When Preston concocts an explosive hoax, the fates of all four artists are upended as each is unexpectedly thrust into the cutthroat New York art world. Now, all must struggle to find new identities in art, in society, and amongst each other. In the process, they must either find their most authentic terms of life—of success, failure, and joy—or risk losing themselves altogether.

With a canny, critical eye, Sirens & Muses upends notions of class, money, art, youth, and a generation’s fight to own their future.

My Review

One of my biggest problems with reviewing books is that I put off reviewing books I love because I never feel I can do them justice. Seriously! I can't bring myself to review The Historian or The Resurrection of Joan Ashby because I just love them both too much. Does anyone else do this?  

I read Sirens & Muses almost a month ago and have been basking in my memories ever since. This novel had everything: the minutia of class differences, the evolution of art world "darlings" and the complications accompanying the inspiration, production, and commodification of art. Author Antonia Angress weaves the aggressive and manipulative pursuit of artistic relevance and the quiet quest for authenticity into the larger framework of a societal consumption in such complex and detailed ways that I shake my head in disbelief that this is her novel. I made so many highlights throughout this text and absolutely agree with the comparisons to both Writers & Lovers and The Goldfinch. I will be widely recommending this novel to anyone who truly appreciates all types of art.