The Book of Formation

by Ross Simonini

This debut novel—told in interviews—spans 20 years in the rise and fall of the charismatic leader of a seductive self-help movement.

In the 1990s, a talk show host leads the "personality movement," an integrative approach to radical self-transformation. Mayah, the movement's architect and celebrity advocate, adopts a curious, wild child named Masha Isle. A guinea-pig for the movement, and the key to its future, Isle is the subject of the eight interviews that comprise this book.

As the interviewer's objectivity disintegrates—even as the movement's legitimacy becomes increasingly suspect—he becomes obsessed with Masha. And all of that is thrown into question when tragedy strikes.

The stunning debut of a new literary talent, and a fascinating take on the cult of about celebrities need to destroy and recreate themselves to stay relevant, public personalities coming to belong to everyone, and about our need to see everyone as a kind of celebrity.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2017

Reviews

[Caitlyn Smallwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book massaged my brain in such a specific way. I don't know how else to describe it.

[Kel Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because though I am not sure that I liked the book, I am obsessed with it. The story is centered around the rise and fall of a fictional self help movement in the 90's. I inhaled it in two days. It's a rare thrill to feel this gripped by a thing; sneaking pages during work breaks and all that. The cost, however, is any innocent feelings you have left toward the concept of celebrity or your own imperviousness to the influence of celebrity. Consider me haunted and absolutely spineless because I can't confidently say that I wouldn't be one of those chumps with a "personality chart" in my pocket because some beautiful, essential oil wearing, mom-like figure on TV told me to do so. This book is fiction. Kind of.

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An occasionally funny takedown of the celebrity cult of personality, but, sadly, it gets weighed down by its sense of its own importance.

[Patrick Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Over time, I understood that my situation had many descriptors but no solutions -- the perfect arrangement for anxiety. When you're sick, you don't want to be unique or special, the great American character goals. No, in ill health you want to be regular, standard, to have a textbook condition, with a prescribable remedy and a predictable recovery."

Expect:
- the absence of several expected components of a novel, like clear motivations of the main character, and depictions of what the main character's life is like
- strange, abstract concepts in conversations that may not connect for you
- despite the above, really fascinating thoughts on celebrity, illness, and the connection between wellness and the the way we see ourselves

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

can’t wait for my friends in my book club to explain this one to me 💛

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cult of personality embedded in modern society forms the core of The Book of Formation by Ross Simonini, a striking debut novel that begs to be reread as soon as it is finished. When a journalist is granted access to Mayah Isle, a celebrity "lifestyle therapist," and her adopted son Masha, he embarks on a 20-year series of interviews that reveal the moral and existential tensions of those "made to be the object of adoration."

Mayah's personality movement encourages both ordinary and extraordinary people to change their personalities and unlearn the "prejudice of identity." This change is a psychologically and physically demanding process, and the "turns" are dramatic and televised. Masha as a child is an enigma; his interviews are cryptic, and he seems to speak in symbols and linguistic riddles. The grooming he experiences (transformative or abusive, depending on who is asked) to enter the movement takes years. After his turn, he becomes Marshall, an articulate, charismatic figure on a meteoric rise. His ability to "liquefy his personality and move it like a river" sets in motion the kind of fanaticism that is increasingly intense and ultimately dangerous.

Simonini sharply satirizes society's fascination with celebrities, including the cycle of worship and then disillusionment that inevitably results in "a constant state of being born and dying, endlessly perfecting [one]self." The novel is an unsettling and stimulating debate on the meaning of personality and the nature of self.

-reviewed for Shelf Awareness 1/2/18

[Erika DeMaggio · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise that could have been done better.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot more than I initially thought I was going to - for the first 1/4 or so I found it kind of corny (I think it was the way they were talking about the concept of p/the childs dialogue), but the further I got along the faster I read it - I like how the story was told in a kind of indirect way, with the narrator downplaying the negative aspects of the movement and clearly developing a bias towards it. Also, loved the formatting of interview transcripts interspersed with the writer giving us context about what was going on in between. I could read a novel about basically anything that was written in this way.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3 rating. Odd book, you have to be in the mood for something totally weird but in line with 1984, Brave New World, "futuristic" thinking. Most of the book is told in interview format, which made it easy to follow. The content was strange, interesting, and also weird. Not amazing, but not a waste of time.

[in8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://5cense.com/21/841.htm

[Kera · Rating 4 out of 5]

cult? slay

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 // A revolutionary wave of self-actualization begins in the 1990s, called the Personality Movement and led by an enigmatic family. The rise and fall of the controversial PM cult is told through the perspective of a narrator whose objectivity increasingly corrodes, as well as lengthy interview transcripts.

This was an odd novel that acerbically critiques self-improvement, celebrity culture, and personality. It uses its own, made up terminology that takes some getting used to: “turn”, “p”, “tug”. Ultimately, the idea was compelling but the execution was too avant-garde for my tastes.

[慧 ✧.* · Rating 3 out of 5]

“if knowledge has worth to someone in only a single moment, it still has worth”

I think this book was actually quite confusing to me, and I sincerely hated the way it was written, but for some unexplained reason it stuck to me. Like I think fondly of it, even though if you were to ask me what I liked about it I probably would not be able to answer you and I think thats oddly fitting for this book lol

[Nancy]

Too weird. I can't.