What You Make of Me

by Sophie Madeline Dess

In this mesmerizing debut from a bright new talent, two enigmatic and unforgettable siblings confront what – and who – they’re willing to sacrifice for their art

On the eve of her first solo show, Ava is feeling defiant. The art gallery acolytes have insisted on writing “explanations” of her paintings for an accompanying catalog, but what do they know of her work? What do they know of her brother, Demetri, whose face echoes across every canvas?

After all, Ava and Demetri have only ever had each other. Abandoned first by their mother, who drowned in the Long Island Sound, and then again by their father, who couldn’t see beyond his grief, each sibling has always been the other’s most ardent supporter: Demetri encouraged Ava’s raw talent as a painter, while Ava pushed Demetri to pursue filmmaking. But as they make their way in New York, the codependency that once sustained them soon threatens to be their undoing. Betrayals mount, fueled by Ava’s reckless acts and her disdain for Demetri’s last-ditch efforts to make something of consequence, but what ultimately and irreversibly tips the scales won’t be found on canvas or film. Because now, at thirty-one, Demetri is dying.

As Ava reckons with the meaning of her portraits, what soon emerges from her intimate, offhanded, and mischievous meditations is a stunning and unsettling confession of secrets, epiphanies, rivalry, and infidelity. Vaulting between childhood and the days leading up to Demetri’s death, here is a searing portrait of two remarkable siblings reckoning with the limits of loyalty. Heralding the arrival of an impressive new talent, What You Make of Me lays bare the thin line between success and sacrifice.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Novels, Art, New York, Adult Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2025

Reviews

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read a novel that felt so stylistically new and emotionally deep in a really long time...

Plus it really made me LAUGH

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

[K.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. thank you penguin for this arc.
the haunting relationship at the core of this novel – between a painter and her documentarian brother – is vividly rendered and frankly unforgettable. dess’s prose is extremely sharp, full of insight that feels both unfamiliar (i mean original as well as mind-bending) and exactly accurate, like something i’ve always felt but never had the words for. it is often funny and wild. i cannot recommend this debut enough and am looking forward to her coming books…

[Enzo Turpentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good it blew my dick off

[danie 🏹 · Rating 1 out of 5]

this ARC was provided by Penguin via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

the synopsis lied to me :( this was bizarre. nothing happened to the siblings in their youth that they had to heal from, they were just weird. the sister continued to be weird and mean while her brother died, i didn’t understand their rivalry at all. they could’ve easily been friends. not the descriptions of art and the art scene that i wanted. i just didn’t like it right away, but at least it was short. from the description this sounded like it could be like sirens & muses by antonia angress, but it was really just a rambling, inner monologue of a character who competed with her brother and painted weird paintings

[Kelsey Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Because I reach into myself and I find you—and then I move you around to find me and I still find you. And if all of existence in myself is you—this means soon I’ll no longer have myself.”

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for the ebook. Ava has been pushed her whole life into becoming a painter by her brother, Demetri, a documentary filmmaker whose films Ava refuses to watch because they might be about her. The two live in separate apartments in NYC, but seem to share one mind and are now even sharing Nati, an Italian gallery owner, even though Ava won’t confess to Demetri that she is seeing her behind his back. Things become impossible for Ava as her brother is now dying and she goes over and over their lives to try and figure out who they really are.

[ari · Rating 1 out of 5]

I genuinely didn't understand this - I think it was too smart for me. The sibling relationship was confusing to me and I felt like not much was going on. There was something there but I was repeatedly missing it. I feel like my opinion is going to be on the unpopular side after this comes out.

Thank you to Penguin Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

[jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok wow. need a physical copy asap. rtc

[Kimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m calling it now. I predict this will be one of my favorite books of the year. I devoured it. What You Make of Me is the story of the obsessively co-dependent and competitive relationship between Ava, a self-righteous, not-like-other-girls artist, and her older brother, Demetri, a quietly yearnful documentary film maker. The siblings symbiotic, and at times parasitic, bond as both art and artist keeps them closely tethered and at arms length, always weighed down by the tension between seeing and being seen.

The way Sophie Madeline Dess has so expertly woven together such beautiful, rich, vivid descriptions of people, from the specific blue of the eye to the cadence of a voice, with lofty and evocative philosophical conversations is genius. Just read Ava’s description of Udolph or Demetri’s revelations on being remembered. How is this a debut novel?!

[Miracle Meryll · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

This captivating novel is about two siblings, Demetri and Ava, who have a haunting and dark past that lends the book its eerie atmosphere. Even in their adult lives, it continues to haunt them and influences their art, keeping them co-dependent on each other, making it difficult to discern if this relationship is a gift or a curse. Their bond becomes even more complicated with the arrival of a person who becomes an obsession for both.

The book starts off strong and thought-provoking, encouraging readers to understand and be patient with the siblings. Praise to the author for successfully telling the stories of these two siblings, who navigate their dark past and adult lives, and the lengths one might go for their art.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I filled half a notebook with this novel's sentences. The writing felt totally original.

[Kaleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

What You Make of Me was one of my most anticipated books of the first half of 2025. I love stories about intellectuals and artists and siblings and weird sex stuff. The word “provocative” in a blurb always gets me, plus it’s got a wonderful cover.

The novel opens with the narrator admitting “That’s always the way with language, an insufficient medium. I try not to use or consume it. It’s not that I haven’t read, it’s that I’m an adolescent reader… And, anyway, words should be spoken, not written. Like how they used to do it—a return to the glory days of oral!” Which accurately sets the tone for the entire novel. It’s written from the perspective of a non-reader, a non-writer.

She and her brother come across as perpetually 16 years old. They say cringey fake deep things and the prose rambles like it’s one long unedited blog post. Paragraphs end with “Alas.” and “Anyway…” There were occasional brilliant thoughts and phrases (loved the description of a character as “recklessly tall”) but they were buried in irrelevant excess. I wanted to hack entire pages down to single sentences. It didn’t work for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Meg ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderfully pretentious

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ava and Demetri, sister and brother, are both artists and in a very strange, obsessive and codependent relationship, perhaps, but not convincingly, as a result of their mothers traumatic death.
I struggled with this book. I did not connect to the characters and found the writing style, in particular the weird conversations these siblings had, difficult and distancing.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 compulsive read about insufferable people

[Anthony Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous.

[| Emily’s Goodie Reads | · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t a book you just casually pick up—or fall in love with for the characters alone. You don’t love the siblings here; you love the abstract, layered relationship between them. If you’re in it for a fast plot, this one won’t be for you. This book burrowed into my mind and I don’t think I’ve fully crawled out yet. The writing is that intricate, that emotionally intelligent. As someone who knows what it means to navigate sibling love and complexity, I can say this captured that chaos and intimacy in a way few novels ever do. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s the kind of book you either deeply get, or write off as too strange—and I love stories like that. I felt it in my bones. I really hope she shares more of her work soon, because I’m officially obsessed with the originality of every single detail and workings of her inner stories.

Also - the audiobook was ok but just not for me. I fully immersed myself better reading.

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. I like to read novels about fictional artists because my whole world is about real artists, so I find it nice. I just wasn’t particularly attached.

[Laura Hart · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. This was a really rough read. I was looking forward to a heartfelt (if codependent) sibling story, but I didn’t find this to be very smart or well written, neither structurally nor on the sentence level. Lots of overwritten and awkward descriptors, completely unnatural dialogue, and frustratingly abstract footnotes that I didn’t even realize were there until I switched apps. Best of luck to this author, but her work is definitely not for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

[A Pleasure · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIVE STARS. This book is fucking nuts and utterly ORIGINAL. Only brilliant people will understand it, as is the fate of all brilliant literature.
Very excited for her next novel.

[Brynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I found this book self involved, the author in love with her own prose, and I truly detested Ava, I couldn’t put this book down for some odd reason. I did not enjoy this debut - the dialogue was unrealistic as was the relationship between the siblings. The philosophical outlook was wedged into Demi’s dialogue and Ava’s inner thoughts at an unnatural angle, leaving me bored and feeling like I was missing some large looming point or revelation about life. However, there was no point to be made.

You find yourself lost in meaningless conversations and descriptors. Now don’t get me wrong, some of the lines were poetic, but most dredged on and stole minutes of my life.

The symbiotic and parasitic relationship between Ava and Demi should have pulled me in and led to a period of self-reflection about my own sibling relationship, but instead I found it pretentious. While I don’t relate to every novel or story, I think Dess desperately wanted you to see yourself reflected in her pages - to put down the novel and feel changed. Or like you should change. But the story fails in that respect - no matter how hard Dess tries, there is not enough depth.

While I could see this debut being a hit in the modern age, it’s not for me.

[Claire Bartholomew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, this book really disappointed me. The premise was immediately appealing to me - brother and sister are both artists and each other's muses, brother and sister have weird codependent relationship and fall in love with the same woman, brother and sister have childhood trauma and basically only have each other - but it just fell so flat to me. I never love when a book seems obsessed with its writing style, and this book seemed to think that having Ava and Demetri say a lot of bonkers stuff to each other would make us find their relationship interesting. I don't think we were supposed to find Ava or Demetri likable, but they confused me to the point that I didn't really care what happened to them. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Matt Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sexually charged novel about identity and gaze. The edgy, broken first person narrator reminds my of the girl in Eileen, except Dess’s character, Ava, is more sadistic and less straight. I’m a bit torn on the brother-sister dynamic. At times it was an interesting way to explore the ways self-image compares to the way someone appears to others. At other times, it felt like a psychological horror show that reminded me of the kids from the Repeat Room.

I found the textual footnotes about the main character’s art to be a very cool and well integrated literary device that draws attention to the way her art functions as an autobiography even though Ava’s subjects are never her.

[Tuesday Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep going back and forth about if I really liked this or not. Weirder than I thought it would be. I liked the descriptions of people and how you could picture the painting she made of a still shot in time. Something I left with is the part where she talks about how everyone wants to be painted not because they want a painting of themselves but because they want to see what the artist sees. What you make of them. Everyone wants to see how society, or one person perceives them. Maybe I'll paint a self portrait just to see what I make of myself.

[fleur ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you love character-driven novels, then this is for you. the relationship between the two siblings is unlike anything i've ever read before and feels unique, layered, and simply beautiful. the writing is absolutely stunning, though my only critique is that it can sometimes feel just a little too pretentious. 4.5 stars rounded down but i might come back to update this soon.

[Julie || boogsbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. On the surface, the writing isn't bad, yet I've never been so bored. The concept feels like there should be more drama with Ava and Demetri but it reads juvenile and forced.

[Olivia Howe]

DNF — I really tried

[Colleen Grablick · Rating 5 out of 5]

that’s my prof!!!! killed it and me

[Carolyn Dickson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actively tried to like this the entire time but I just...don't.

[ashes ➷]

truly excellent first page; am very excited based on that alone. obviously i wish this would go full derangement and give us nabokovian realness but i'll survive