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A review by literarycrushes
A Novel Obsession by Caitlin Barasch
4.0
When I heard Caitlin Barasch describe the plot of A Novel Obsession during a debut author's panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival, I immediately added it to my TBR. The story is absolutely cuckoo-banana-crazy-pants in the best way as it centers around Naomi, a 20-something girl fantasizing about writing her first novel living rent-free in her Grandmother’s Greenwich Village townhouse while working part-time at a Brooklyn bookstore. She’s recently entered her first real relationship with Caleb, a Welsh transplant who she had assumed moved to New York City for work, but recently learned the real reason was to be with his ex-girlfriend Rosemary. Rather than accept the fact that they broke up for their own reasons and move on, Naomi becomes obsessed with Rosemary and begins stalking her for the sake of a possible novel idea.
Emboldened by something in-between jealousy and literary aspiration, Naomi follows Rosemary around the city, stalks her online presence, and eventually allows herself to get dangerously close. I absolutely loved this novel – not only because (as a true Gemini and a writer) I can relate to the desire and obsession of wanting to find out more about someone/something you shouldn’t, but because it was executed so well that it felt like a true literary exploration of a flawed character, and an exploration of self-worth and learning how to receive love.
Naomi identifies with something in Rosemary (beyond basics, like how they’re both native New Yorkers working in publishing who share a mutual taste in men), and stalking Rosemary allows her to look at and learn about herself in a weirdly roundabout way that she feels comfortable with. If Rosemary is worthy of receiving love, then perhaps she is too. And, as always, I love a story where the man is essentially beside the point “Only when I reveal my worst self and am forgiven for it will I be certain I am loved.”
Emboldened by something in-between jealousy and literary aspiration, Naomi follows Rosemary around the city, stalks her online presence, and eventually allows herself to get dangerously close. I absolutely loved this novel – not only because (as a true Gemini and a writer) I can relate to the desire and obsession of wanting to find out more about someone/something you shouldn’t, but because it was executed so well that it felt like a true literary exploration of a flawed character, and an exploration of self-worth and learning how to receive love.
Naomi identifies with something in Rosemary (beyond basics, like how they’re both native New Yorkers working in publishing who share a mutual taste in men), and stalking Rosemary allows her to look at and learn about herself in a weirdly roundabout way that she feels comfortable with. If Rosemary is worthy of receiving love, then perhaps she is too. And, as always, I love a story where the man is essentially beside the point “Only when I reveal my worst self and am forgiven for it will I be certain I am loved.”