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Superstars
One of the premier French cult novels of the last thirty years, a tender and combative portrait of Paris’s queer rave scene in the 90s — for fans of Virginie Despentes and Gary Indiana.
Louise is a woman in her early thirties with a record contract, colorful roommates, and a passionate, volatile relationship with the lesbian community around her. She used to be part of the French rock scene, having dated and collaborated with a man named Nikki who was a crucial figure in that milieu. But she has been out of that world for years, having switched from rock to rave culture and, concurrently, having started to date chiefly women. Her longest and most combative relationship in this scene has been with Alex, another woman who has established herself as a DJ and has recently started seeing a much younger woman named Inès.
One day, Louise receives a life-changing advance from a record label to produce her own electronic music. She struggles to handle the responsibility of professionalizing her lifestyle, one suffused with the omnidirectional drama of the women in her circle, and with her own equivocations about her role in it. They bar-crawl, watch MTV, go to each other’s sets, hook up, and do copious drugs.
Tension builds as Louise finds herself pulled toward multiple possible forward in her career in the techno world; backward toward rock’n’roll, Nikki, and the life he represents; toward Alex again; and toward Inès, leading to a dangerous and ultimately devastating affair. Ann Scott portrays the Paris underground in all its beauty, ugliness, and pulpy grandeur, with the caustic voice of a born punk struggling to conform to the standards of a new, hungry world of anticonformists.
Louise is a woman in her early thirties with a record contract, colorful roommates, and a passionate, volatile relationship with the lesbian community around her. She used to be part of the French rock scene, having dated and collaborated with a man named Nikki who was a crucial figure in that milieu. But she has been out of that world for years, having switched from rock to rave culture and, concurrently, having started to date chiefly women. Her longest and most combative relationship in this scene has been with Alex, another woman who has established herself as a DJ and has recently started seeing a much younger woman named Inès.
One day, Louise receives a life-changing advance from a record label to produce her own electronic music. She struggles to handle the responsibility of professionalizing her lifestyle, one suffused with the omnidirectional drama of the women in her circle, and with her own equivocations about her role in it. They bar-crawl, watch MTV, go to each other’s sets, hook up, and do copious drugs.
Tension builds as Louise finds herself pulled toward multiple possible forward in her career in the techno world; backward toward rock’n’roll, Nikki, and the life he represents; toward Alex again; and toward Inès, leading to a dangerous and ultimately devastating affair. Ann Scott portrays the Paris underground in all its beauty, ugliness, and pulpy grandeur, with the caustic voice of a born punk struggling to conform to the standards of a new, hungry world of anticonformists.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
July 15, 2026
Ann Scott’s novel’s a cult classic in France. It made quite a splash when it first appeared in 2000. Scott’s book grew out of a diary used to vent about the collapse of a brief but intense affair. An affair that led to being shunned by her closest friends. Set in Paris in the mid to late 1990s, it’s narrated by Louise who’s caught up in the city’s underground, queer, techno rave scene. Louise is 31 sharing a dingy apartment with friends Alice and Pallas. All three are broke but Alice and Pallas are used to better things. Alice is an aspiring artist. Pallas is unemployed but convinced she’ll be a superstar someday soon. Louise has abandoned her former life as a rock musician and trying to make it as a DJ. But when Alice’s art takes off she moves out and Pallas and Louise form a close bond. Louise prefers women but still has sex with men from time to time – she’s less likely to fall in love. Their relatively stable existence is shattered when Louise pursues much younger Inès barely 17, she’s still a schoolgirl. She’s also partner to Alex, Louise’s hugely successful former girlfriend. A situation that ultimately leads to Louise spiralling out of control.
Louise’s Paris is a whirlwind of sex, drugs and clubs. Her circle spends their time watching MTV, dropping E’s, wearing vintage Adidas and competing for who has the rarest, vintage tees. An arresting snapshot of Paris’s queer rave scene this felt closer in style and spirit to early Eileen Myles, Sarah Schulman or Michelle Tea. Although hard not to wonder if it influenced recent work by Constance Debré. But where Debré projects a studied indifference about the women she encounters, Scott’s world is messy and incestuous, her story increasingly frenzied, as Louise is consumed by desire and desiring. As a novel it’s baggy in places, awkwardly structured. But as a portrait of a, somewhat-rarefied, queer subculture and an era it’s strangely compulsive. Self-centred, self-deluding Louise is difficult to actually like – at times she’s close to repulsive - but at the same time hard not to root for. Translated by Jonathan Woollen.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Pushkin Press for an ARC
Louise’s Paris is a whirlwind of sex, drugs and clubs. Her circle spends their time watching MTV, dropping E’s, wearing vintage Adidas and competing for who has the rarest, vintage tees. An arresting snapshot of Paris’s queer rave scene this felt closer in style and spirit to early Eileen Myles, Sarah Schulman or Michelle Tea. Although hard not to wonder if it influenced recent work by Constance Debré. But where Debré projects a studied indifference about the women she encounters, Scott’s world is messy and incestuous, her story increasingly frenzied, as Louise is consumed by desire and desiring. As a novel it’s baggy in places, awkwardly structured. But as a portrait of a, somewhat-rarefied, queer subculture and an era it’s strangely compulsive. Self-centred, self-deluding Louise is difficult to actually like – at times she’s close to repulsive - but at the same time hard not to root for. Translated by Jonathan Woollen.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Pushkin Press for an ARC
Read
April 17, 2026i should've loved this but it became sort of a chore to pick up
July 2, 2026
very messy very queer very chaotic but maybe a little repetitive?
October 30, 2025
‘Superstars’ reads like the hardcore nepo baby of ‘The L Word’ and ‘brat’, except it was originally published in French in 2000 and thus predates those pieces of media entirely. We don’t really follow a plot as much as experience the life of Louise, a DJ in her early 30s, as she drifts in a drug-fueled haze through the queer Parisian techno scene.
Louise is deeply unlikeable and at best completely delusional. At one point, she monologues about how she’s so mature and knows how act in relationships, but at the same time is in a secret situationship with her ex’s new girlfriend (who is 17, btw) and then cheats on said situationship with her current roommate and best friend (did I mention this is a book about lesbians? Lol).
The authentic 90s setting is really prominent and enjoyable. Louise is annoyed by Britney Spears and everyone’s baggy clothes (she’s clearly not like other girls) and she constantly watches MTV. The ravers also have a “standard survival kit” that consists of a TV, VCR, and stereo.
Louise struggles with a heroin addiction, which gets increasingly worse as she crashes-out more and more throughout the novel. In general, the hard drug-use that’s portrayed is pretty graphic and consistent, so be aware of triggers related to that before reading.
The writing and translation are both excellent; some moments in the novel are truly beautiful and made me pause. Overall, I enjoyed ‘Superstars’ and I’m excited that it’s finally being released in English!
*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc.*
Louise is deeply unlikeable and at best completely delusional. At one point, she monologues about how she’s so mature and knows how act in relationships, but at the same time is in a secret situationship with her ex’s new girlfriend (who is 17, btw) and then cheats on said situationship with her current roommate and best friend (did I mention this is a book about lesbians? Lol).
The authentic 90s setting is really prominent and enjoyable. Louise is annoyed by Britney Spears and everyone’s baggy clothes (she’s clearly not like other girls) and she constantly watches MTV. The ravers also have a “standard survival kit” that consists of a TV, VCR, and stereo.
Louise struggles with a heroin addiction, which gets increasingly worse as she crashes-out more and more throughout the novel. In general, the hard drug-use that’s portrayed is pretty graphic and consistent, so be aware of triggers related to that before reading.
The writing and translation are both excellent; some moments in the novel are truly beautiful and made me pause. Overall, I enjoyed ‘Superstars’ and I’m excited that it’s finally being released in English!
*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc.*
August 13, 2026
An Ordeal (trust me I wanted to Love this)
Read
August 12, 2026- good very chic
- unusually poor, over-literal translation
- caught reading sex scenes by an old lady on the train :((
- unusually poor, over-literal translation
- caught reading sex scenes by an old lady on the train :((
June 13, 2026
girl, that's what you get for falling in love with a teenager !
May 23, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/4 (3.25 stars, rounded down here)
Picture the TV shows friends and the L word having a baby and that’s exactly what you‘ll get when you read this. Though, add to that a wild mix of chaos and a rather unlikeable main character who, at 31, thinks she knows all about life but totally doesn’t.
Speaking about the main character, more often than not, I felt sorry for Louise though I did think she was pretty unlikeable in the way she acted (i.e having an affair with a 17 year old who simultaneously has a relationship with Louise’s friend) and all of the supporting characters are (just like Louise) always hooked on some kind of drug. The novel shines, though, through its atmosphere. Even while not being born/raised in the 90s, one could picture Paris in the 90s sooo very well and I loved living through this story!!
Overall though, I think if you’re a fan of very crazy, chaotic but atmospheric stories and don’t mind unlikable characters then this might just be for you.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest and voluntarily given review.
Picture the TV shows friends and the L word having a baby and that’s exactly what you‘ll get when you read this. Though, add to that a wild mix of chaos and a rather unlikeable main character who, at 31, thinks she knows all about life but totally doesn’t.
Speaking about the main character, more often than not, I felt sorry for Louise though I did think she was pretty unlikeable in the way she acted (i.e having an affair with a 17 year old who simultaneously has a relationship with Louise’s friend) and all of the supporting characters are (just like Louise) always hooked on some kind of drug. The novel shines, though, through its atmosphere. Even while not being born/raised in the 90s, one could picture Paris in the 90s sooo very well and I loved living through this story!!
Overall though, I think if you’re a fan of very crazy, chaotic but atmospheric stories and don’t mind unlikable characters then this might just be for you.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest and voluntarily given review.
May 19, 2026
This book was written so specifically for me personally, that it’s hard to provide an objective review of its literary qualities and merits.
For 300 pages you are stuck in the head of an insufferable French scorpio in her early 30’s as she justifies the series of horrible decisions and sleeps with a variety of men, women, exes, friends, teens and inbetweens.
On the surface level it is not unlike a salacious tabloid article or a melodramatic daytime soap opera, reinforcing lesbian stereotypes galore. What elevates the book in my eyes is the masterfully crafted prose, its own unique voice (kudos to the translator!) and the very real and very deep emotional landscape that anchors the blasé, sensationalist plot.
For 300 pages you are stuck in the head of an insufferable French scorpio in her early 30’s as she justifies the series of horrible decisions and sleeps with a variety of men, women, exes, friends, teens and inbetweens.
On the surface level it is not unlike a salacious tabloid article or a melodramatic daytime soap opera, reinforcing lesbian stereotypes galore. What elevates the book in my eyes is the masterfully crafted prose, its own unique voice (kudos to the translator!) and the very real and very deep emotional landscape that anchors the blasé, sensationalist plot.
July 26, 2026
queer and sexy and dirty… but also very repetitive and not really sure the point?
May 16, 2026
The vibes in this book are IMMACULATE. It follows a sapphic friend group of DJs and party girls in Y2K-era France as they lust after and feud with one another. In her early thirties, the main character, Louise, is the oldest of the group, and she’s just signed a life-changing record deal. The problem is that she’s becoming disenchanted with the techno beats they signed her for and longs for rock music. Her life becomes more complicated when she falls for the worst possible person, someone with the potential to alienate her from her closest friends.
I’m starting to get really into translated French literature and this is one of my favourites I’ve read. It’s like Rent meets Cat Marnell’s How to Murder Your Life but set in the nightclubs of Paris. I’m a big fan!
Thank you to the publisher for giving me access to an eARC of this book!
I’m starting to get really into translated French literature and this is one of my favourites I’ve read. It’s like Rent meets Cat Marnell’s How to Murder Your Life but set in the nightclubs of Paris. I’m a big fan!
Thank you to the publisher for giving me access to an eARC of this book!
May 8, 2026
300 pages that felt like 3000
June 1, 2026
book of drama, good but repetitive
Want to Read
July 14, 2026bought in Paris (in THE Shakespeare & Co bookshop well of course), not realising this would now be my third Astra House book... I think I might have a favourite publisher this is so cool
July 14, 2026
awesome book to read if you want to ultimately come to the author’s stellar conclusion that being a lesbian is the same thing as having a heroin addiction (and that those things are both choices)
July 22, 2026
This was a blind buy at a bookstore, and the description grabbed me immediately: 90s Paris techno scene, lesbian drama. How could I not pick it up?
The 90s setting was so fun to read. I loved the details of the keyboard manuals and all the very contemporary analog time stamps. Living in today's world, you can't help but romanticize an era with tons of technology but none of the phone addiction lol
The scenes that landed hardest for me were the party scenes, especially early on, the exhilaration of the music. I loved all the music references, the DJ Hell shoutout, all her gear, all the clothing brands from that era. If this had just been the story of her making the record and playing parties, I could've read that forever.
Then there's the relationship drama. Louise, how she's writtenas the grounded, wronged one, the good partner, when she's actually a disaster. Tbhh worse than everyone else, because at least the others seem to know they're selfish and rotten and own what they want. Louise's savior complex and self image as "the good one" felt way more insidious to me.
It was very dramatic. The love triangle, the total lack of grounding in the relationship. Maybe that was the point, though, to show Louise's addiction. Her trying to become Alex, the envy in that. Louise doesn't actually possess the thing she admires in all her past lovers, that sense of being tethered to a passion. She's fundamentally listless. Even by the end, she's already fixating on the potential new lover she meets at Nikki's place.
That's clearly the point of the storytelling and I wouldn't want it told differently. But I am curious whether we're meant to see through Louise, the book wants us to feel empathy for her. Because I never did, not even by the end. As someone said in one of the reviews, the girl
Is 17! WTH! Ugh ya, her being a child and her, and the preciousness of that described in the book was pretty yuck
Last thing! Also, very interesting the ending about girls not being good for her, I feel like I need to sit with that more. If this is supposed to be kind of a delusional new pattern, she’s repeating, if it’s supposed to be this suppression. Or if it’s meant at face value. Hm.
The 90s setting was so fun to read. I loved the details of the keyboard manuals and all the very contemporary analog time stamps. Living in today's world, you can't help but romanticize an era with tons of technology but none of the phone addiction lol
The scenes that landed hardest for me were the party scenes, especially early on, the exhilaration of the music. I loved all the music references, the DJ Hell shoutout, all her gear, all the clothing brands from that era. If this had just been the story of her making the record and playing parties, I could've read that forever.
Then there's the relationship drama. Louise, how she's writtenas the grounded, wronged one, the good partner, when she's actually a disaster. Tbhh worse than everyone else, because at least the others seem to know they're selfish and rotten and own what they want. Louise's savior complex and self image as "the good one" felt way more insidious to me.
It was very dramatic. The love triangle, the total lack of grounding in the relationship. Maybe that was the point, though, to show Louise's addiction. Her trying to become Alex, the envy in that. Louise doesn't actually possess the thing she admires in all her past lovers, that sense of being tethered to a passion. She's fundamentally listless. Even by the end, she's already fixating on the potential new lover she meets at Nikki's place.
That's clearly the point of the storytelling and I wouldn't want it told differently. But I am curious whether we're meant to see through Louise, the book wants us to feel empathy for her. Because I never did, not even by the end. As someone said in one of the reviews, the girl
Is 17! WTH! Ugh ya, her being a child and her, and the preciousness of that described in the book was pretty yuck
Last thing! Also, very interesting the ending about girls not being good for her, I feel like I need to sit with that more. If this is supposed to be kind of a delusional new pattern, she’s repeating, if it’s supposed to be this suppression. Or if it’s meant at face value. Hm.
July 1, 2026
Messy, messy lesbian drama! Set in the 90s French rave scene and chock full of graphic sex and drug use scenes. Very raw and tough to read at times, but felt extremely authentic.
June 24, 2026
3.5
Did NOT like Ines being 17 and the fixation on her childlikeness.
The punk lesbian scene seemed a bit stressful!
#pride?
Did NOT like Ines being 17 and the fixation on her childlikeness.
The punk lesbian scene seemed a bit stressful!
#pride?
June 5, 2026
Bright lights big city meets the l word meets a y2k rave sounds like a good time but is actually a slog
June 25, 2024
je suis toujours super émue des récits lesbien qui dépeignent des moments que je n’ai pas vécu pcq suis un bb et qui ancrent ses moments dans la réalité. allo les lesbiennes ne sont pas nées hier, tout comme leurs lieux de sociabilité, leurs codes et leurs dramas. ici j’avoue que j’ai sauté des pages parce que les descriptions de dr0gue à la fin c’était compliqué pour moi a lire, surtout quand ça fait 150 pages que c’est quasi que ça. MAIS ça m’a fait rire de voir que Carhartt fonctionne avec notre agent et ça depuis avant 2002 bref merci !!
August 10, 2026
you know how the musical rent and is like okay that was pretty good but it's not exactly clear to me why i just watched a musical about this guy and his random and kind of irritating friends/acquaintances. what if you wanted a lesbian version of that? well you could have it. but it was pretty annoying almost all the way through
it IS very funny to be framed like a coming of age novel but you are 32 and you are cheating with your ex's gf who is 17. i believe that you could have came of age enough not to do that
read for a book club
it IS very funny to be framed like a coming of age novel but you are 32 and you are cheating with your ex's gf who is 17. i believe that you could have came of age enough not to do that
read for a book club
April 29, 2026
Maybe closer to 3.5 than 4 but idk I had a pretty good time with this one. Very messy, VERY hot, kinda like the L Word if any of them had good taste in anything. Need to go out dancing to techno ASAP! Also liked this better than Valencia even though Valencia takes place in my city !
July 26, 2026
What did I just read lol. I both hated this book and felt compelled by it. Yikes, Louise would get cancelled so fast today. This felt very Lolita meets On The Road meets the most toxic bisexual you've ever met. But, still I couldn't put it down. What a ride.
August 16, 2026
9/10. Loved how messy this was. Truly took me for a ride and I loved.
August 22, 2026
messy nasty unpalatable women and lesbians being evil and insane to each other completely stifled by the seemingly very literal translation + repetitiveness
July 26, 2026
yikes! readable but at what cost
Read
July 27, 2026Very entertaining
June 23, 2026
They’re marketing this book in the states as some sapphic popstar story, which is really rich given it’s a story about addiction, obsession and overall mental health. It was hard for me to understand what the authors point was because like I said, it was marketed to me as a lesbian love story and I was fighting with myself the whole time on if she was actually even a lesbian or just someone that likes to forget about themselves by using sex and drugs.
Marketing aside, it was okay. It’s one of those books where you hate all the characters because they’re all way too self obsessed but I didn’t see many redeeming qualities that made me care what happened
Marketing aside, it was okay. It’s one of those books where you hate all the characters because they’re all way too self obsessed but I didn’t see many redeeming qualities that made me care what happened
April 13, 2023
This is my favorite book (if I have to pick one), I have read it four times now and it is still addictive. I love the characters and the action and it is about music and lesbians, so what is not to like....
June 13, 2025
j’ai été certes happée par l’intensité de ce livre mais je l’ai trouvé hautement problématique dans le traitement de l’homosexualité. de l’homophobie internalisee, assumée, pure. les scènes de sexe étaient aussi ultra TW en terme de consentement et de violence.
:s
:s
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