Note to Self: A Novel
Simone’s debut opens with 37-year-old Anna Krestler getting fired from her dead-end job at a New York law firm. Adrift in a sea of ennui, she surfs the Internet obsessively and tries to get close to her busy roommate, Brie, a twentysomething intern who is certain her big opportunity is just around the corner. Anna’s cybersurfing leads her to the work of auteur Paul Gilman, a director whose controversial work has a distinctly pornographic bent. Anna finds her way to Taj, a Gilman disciple who hires Anna (for no pay) to work as a production assistant on a series of wish-fulfillment shorts he’s shooting. Taj encourages Anna to pursue her own filmmaking aspirations, and their relationship takes a romantic turn, but she’s in for more than she bargained for when she agrees to go to Los Angeles with him. Simone captures Anna’s listless existence and her efforts to break out of her terminal inertia in this deft exploration of modern malaise. --Kristine Huntley