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The Body Double
A strange man discovers our nameless narrator selling popcorn at a decrepit small-town movie theater and offers her an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld. A nervous breakdown has forced Rosanna out of the public eye, and she needs a look-alike to take her place in the tabloid media circus of Hollywood. Overseen by Max, who hired her for the job, our narrator spends her days locked up in a small apartment in the hills watching hidden camera footage of Rosanna, wearing Rosanna's clothes, eating the food Rosanna likes, practicing her mannerisms, learning to become Rosanna in every way. But as she makes her public debut as Rosanna, dining at elegant restaurants, shopping in stylish boutiques, and finally risking a dinner party with Rosanna's true inner circle, alarming questions begin to arise. What really caused Rosanna's mental collapse? Will she ever return? And is Max truly her ally, or something more sinister? With echoes of Hitchcock's Vertigo, The Body Double is a fabulously plotted noir about fame, beauty, and the darkness of Hollywood.
293 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2020
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11982 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 282 reviews
April 8, 2020
Three, no, this is not the book I dreamed to dive into, the plot was intriguing, the beginning was interesting, but then all slowness no play made me dull and axe carrying Jack Torrence kind of disturbed person because I’m so bored to death stars!!!!
When I start reading this book I asked myself these questions:
Do you like Almodovar’s movie “Skin I live” based on Thieery Jonquet’s “Tarantula” novel? YES!
What about Hitchcock’s “Suspicion”, “Vertigo” and “Rebecca”? Are you kidding me, hell YES!
Do you fan of classics like “Bride of Frankenstein” and “Sunset Boulevard”? Let’s consider I didn’t ask myself this because I want to scream : “YESSSS!”
You may find small pieces of all these amazing projects inside this book; some of them as a big portion and some of them as small crumbles.
It’s claustrophobic, disturbing, giving you headache, bad stomach, heaves, depression, frustration and finally you want to throw the book against the wall and scream: “ENOUGH” because its slow burn, its merciless, savage tone and two characters who are suffering from OCD made you run out of patience. You started to think, those insane couple are created for each other like Kanye and Kim( they look like an angel comparing with these two characters) or Johnny Depp and Amber Heard ( Okay they’re equally bad like them).
A young woman accepts a job willing being a double of Hollywood star Rosanna by losing her whole identity, leaving her past, forgetting her likes, dislikes, dreams, opinions. She was so ready to forget her own name.
Max, who hired her, encouraged her, tortured her to become a real Rosanna with EXTREME METHODS: Locking her up in a house, only activities are reading magazines about Rosanna or watching the parrots from her window, forcing her smoking and drinking diet coke ( for having bad skin and looking as older as Rosanna! WTF! Yes that’s the f*ck!), over exaggerated exercise program and vegan diet with ultra- small portions, letting the butcher doctor destroy her face (this may be called plastic surgery, but still…) The methods got more extreme, the characters started to make more miserable each other.
I knew that our heroine had no friends, no close family members or proper job before. So I can empathize her decision to leave her old life behind and start from the fresh but doing this by stealing somebody’s identity and being obsessive about it by losing rest of her marbles, well sorry but we have batshit crazy heroine and sadistic, unpredictable, arrogant Max ( Please don’t push me to call him “hero”, he is just a very bad guy. Worse than Billie Eilish’s song defined.)!
I happily announce that: THE MOST HATED, UNLIKABLE, IRRITATING CHARACTERS AWARD goes
to… YES, OUR CHARACTERS gathered all the statues! Let’s congratulate them.
As a summary, why this book irritated me so much:
1) Extreme slow-burn thrilling: You may foresee the biggest secret and revelation. You don’t need to read extra 200 pages!
2) Unlikable, detesting characters with psychological disorders.
3) Lack of wittiness, expected, foreseeable, repeating itself!
4) References inspired this book are amazing but the slow pacing and lack of curiosity killed all these wonderful elements and wasted all potential!
5) It reminded me a theater play more than a book. Long, slow, psychologically exhausting chapters, mostly one location oriented story-telling and whole book centered between two characters. Let’s call it “BORRRRINNGGG!”
So yes, I was so excited to read this book but it was really above my expectations. I’m keen on reading debut authors and meet with their fresh perspective but this book failed me.
Thank you so much NetGalley and Doubleday for sharing this ARC COPY in exchange my honest review.
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When I start reading this book I asked myself these questions:
Do you like Almodovar’s movie “Skin I live” based on Thieery Jonquet’s “Tarantula” novel? YES!
What about Hitchcock’s “Suspicion”, “Vertigo” and “Rebecca”? Are you kidding me, hell YES!
Do you fan of classics like “Bride of Frankenstein” and “Sunset Boulevard”? Let’s consider I didn’t ask myself this because I want to scream : “YESSSS!”
You may find small pieces of all these amazing projects inside this book; some of them as a big portion and some of them as small crumbles.
It’s claustrophobic, disturbing, giving you headache, bad stomach, heaves, depression, frustration and finally you want to throw the book against the wall and scream: “ENOUGH” because its slow burn, its merciless, savage tone and two characters who are suffering from OCD made you run out of patience. You started to think, those insane couple are created for each other like Kanye and Kim( they look like an angel comparing with these two characters) or Johnny Depp and Amber Heard ( Okay they’re equally bad like them).
A young woman accepts a job willing being a double of Hollywood star Rosanna by losing her whole identity, leaving her past, forgetting her likes, dislikes, dreams, opinions. She was so ready to forget her own name.
Max, who hired her, encouraged her, tortured her to become a real Rosanna with EXTREME METHODS: Locking her up in a house, only activities are reading magazines about Rosanna or watching the parrots from her window, forcing her smoking and drinking diet coke ( for having bad skin and looking as older as Rosanna! WTF! Yes that’s the f*ck!), over exaggerated exercise program and vegan diet with ultra- small portions, letting the butcher doctor destroy her face (this may be called plastic surgery, but still…) The methods got more extreme, the characters started to make more miserable each other.
I knew that our heroine had no friends, no close family members or proper job before. So I can empathize her decision to leave her old life behind and start from the fresh but doing this by stealing somebody’s identity and being obsessive about it by losing rest of her marbles, well sorry but we have batshit crazy heroine and sadistic, unpredictable, arrogant Max ( Please don’t push me to call him “hero”, he is just a very bad guy. Worse than Billie Eilish’s song defined.)!
I happily announce that: THE MOST HATED, UNLIKABLE, IRRITATING CHARACTERS AWARD goes
to… YES, OUR CHARACTERS gathered all the statues! Let’s congratulate them.
As a summary, why this book irritated me so much:
1) Extreme slow-burn thrilling: You may foresee the biggest secret and revelation. You don’t need to read extra 200 pages!
2) Unlikable, detesting characters with psychological disorders.
3) Lack of wittiness, expected, foreseeable, repeating itself!
4) References inspired this book are amazing but the slow pacing and lack of curiosity killed all these wonderful elements and wasted all potential!
5) It reminded me a theater play more than a book. Long, slow, psychologically exhausting chapters, mostly one location oriented story-telling and whole book centered between two characters. Let’s call it “BORRRRINNGGG!”
So yes, I was so excited to read this book but it was really above my expectations. I’m keen on reading debut authors and meet with their fresh perspective but this book failed me.
Thank you so much NetGalley and Doubleday for sharing this ARC COPY in exchange my honest review.
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March 24, 2020
I've detailed below why I am disappointed with this book. It is not a thriller. It is not worthy of being compared to Hitchcock. If you are not interested in knowing who does what, don't read further. You have been warned. All spoilers ahead.
January 11, 2020
A girl is hired to serve as a celebrity's double in the public eye. And a girl has no name.
She is taken to LA, trained to become Rosanna (the celebrity) and eventually starts making public appearances as her. The book is narrated from the point of view of the nameless double and it is slow paced.
The novel does not have a lot of dialogue and, at times, there were 4-5 pages describing the thoughts of the nameless narrator, a lot of instropetion, and not much interaction with other characters or events to advance the plot.
You might be able to predict what is going on here at the beginning of the novel, it is not hard to figure it out. Overall, it was ok.
ARC provided by Publisher via Netgalley
She is taken to LA, trained to become Rosanna (the celebrity) and eventually starts making public appearances as her. The book is narrated from the point of view of the nameless double and it is slow paced.
The novel does not have a lot of dialogue and, at times, there were 4-5 pages describing the thoughts of the nameless narrator, a lot of instropetion, and not much interaction with other characters or events to advance the plot.
You might be able to predict what is going on here at the beginning of the novel, it is not hard to figure it out. Overall, it was ok.
ARC provided by Publisher via Netgalley
July 21, 2020
I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a book before it comes out! I feel like I have secret info to impart to you😊. The Body Double comes out in March and I can totally recommend it to you.
•
It’s about a common girl who is approached to be a body double for a celebrity. Hitchcock’s movie Vertigo and the book I read and reviewed a while back The Paper Wasp we’re both a little similar to this one.
•
My reactions, in order, as I read:
“Whoa, this book is weird and that’s a heck of a lot of internal monologue.”
“This character is bizarre and she certainly doesn’t behave like I would.”
“Well THAT seems highly unlikely!”
“I have to keep reading to see if I’m right about what I think is going to happen.”
“Nope, I was so wrong.”
“Whoa this book is weird!”
“I HAVE to know how this book ends!”
•
I read it in a day. Besides some plot points I was still wondering about, a few times when the reader is smarter than the character (I hate when that happens), and maybe a too-quick ending, I enjoyed this as a creepy, suspenseful, clean read. I like to share mature content and I think this adult book only had three or four curse words.
•
It’s about a common girl who is approached to be a body double for a celebrity. Hitchcock’s movie Vertigo and the book I read and reviewed a while back The Paper Wasp we’re both a little similar to this one.
•
My reactions, in order, as I read:
“Whoa, this book is weird and that’s a heck of a lot of internal monologue.”
“This character is bizarre and she certainly doesn’t behave like I would.”
“Well THAT seems highly unlikely!”
“I have to keep reading to see if I’m right about what I think is going to happen.”
“Nope, I was so wrong.”
“Whoa this book is weird!”
“I HAVE to know how this book ends!”
•
I read it in a day. Besides some plot points I was still wondering about, a few times when the reader is smarter than the character (I hate when that happens), and maybe a too-quick ending, I enjoyed this as a creepy, suspenseful, clean read. I like to share mature content and I think this adult book only had three or four curse words.
March 1, 2020
An unnamed woman has the chance to leave her dull existence as a movie theater employee in a small town for the unique opportunity to move to L.A. and work as the body double for the troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld.
Rosanna has been out of the spotlight for almost a year; no one has seen or heard from her since her rumored nervous breakdown.
The details are handled by a man named Max on behalf of Rosanna. Our unnamed narrator signs a three year contract that cannot be broken; in exchange for her appearances around the city, she'll receive $100,000 the first year and more the following, with a rent-free L.A. apartment. The catch is that once her contract is up, she cannot return to her previous life/identity and instead forge a new one.
"I will slip into the role of Rosanna like warm bathwater. I will find a new self, a better self to take the place of whatever it is I've lost." *
Her arrival in L.A. is nothing as she expected. Our narrator spends months locked (literally) in her small apartment wearing Rosanna's clothes, eating only the foods Rosanna eats, all while studying footage to prepare for a public debut.
When Max determines she's ready to be Rosanna, our narrator is caught up in the lifestyle and fame but nagged by the unanswered questions of what caused Rosanna's breakdown and where she is now. Is the careful and calculating Max her one true ally or is he a danger to Rosanna and her body double?
An intensely sloooooow burn, The Body Double offers readers a lonely narrator whose isolation and obsession spiral into a dark mystery. The sense of unease kept me reading but I had the end figured out almost immediately. Since readers have no idea who the MC was in her previous life (very vague information about parents and foster care is given), it was tough for me to understand her motivations or care about what was happening to her.
This was just an okay read for me but if you're a fan of slow burn mystery/thriller/noir-vibe novels, this is one you may want to consider.
Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Body Double is scheduled for release on March 3, 2020.
*Quote included is from a digital advanced reader's copy and is subject to change upon final publication.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
Rosanna has been out of the spotlight for almost a year; no one has seen or heard from her since her rumored nervous breakdown.
The details are handled by a man named Max on behalf of Rosanna. Our unnamed narrator signs a three year contract that cannot be broken; in exchange for her appearances around the city, she'll receive $100,000 the first year and more the following, with a rent-free L.A. apartment. The catch is that once her contract is up, she cannot return to her previous life/identity and instead forge a new one.
"I will slip into the role of Rosanna like warm bathwater. I will find a new self, a better self to take the place of whatever it is I've lost." *
Her arrival in L.A. is nothing as she expected. Our narrator spends months locked (literally) in her small apartment wearing Rosanna's clothes, eating only the foods Rosanna eats, all while studying footage to prepare for a public debut.
When Max determines she's ready to be Rosanna, our narrator is caught up in the lifestyle and fame but nagged by the unanswered questions of what caused Rosanna's breakdown and where she is now. Is the careful and calculating Max her one true ally or is he a danger to Rosanna and her body double?
An intensely sloooooow burn, The Body Double offers readers a lonely narrator whose isolation and obsession spiral into a dark mystery. The sense of unease kept me reading but I had the end figured out almost immediately. Since readers have no idea who the MC was in her previous life (very vague information about parents and foster care is given), it was tough for me to understand her motivations or care about what was happening to her.
This was just an okay read for me but if you're a fan of slow burn mystery/thriller/noir-vibe novels, this is one you may want to consider.
Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Body Double is scheduled for release on March 3, 2020.
*Quote included is from a digital advanced reader's copy and is subject to change upon final publication.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
December 12, 2019
The Body Double
is a unique, dark, and claustrophobic story of a woman who is hired to be a "body double" for famous actress Rosanna Feld. Rosanna has had recent anxiety issues that have kept her hidden from the public eye, so her manager has been tasked to find someone to keep up appearances for her. This woman, who remains nameless throughout the story (which I found very gripping) is the perfect fit and is hired. Rosanna's manager is tasked to teach this woman how to behave and look like her. As she is trained, we start to see this Rosanna come back into the limelight. After a dinner party with Roseanna's friends gone awry, the narrator begins to suspect if this is worth it—can she really trust anyone but herself?
The Body Double is very Hitchcockian—claustrophobic, a bit repetitive, and dark. As you venture into this slow burn suspense novel, we start seeing the collapse of someone's individuality while an obsession grows. It's very intriguing and quite honestly, gripping. I would've given this story a higher rating, but there's a lot of slow burn progression that truly didn't need to be included that took away from the story. While not particularly that original, it is still beautifully executed through an immersive and intriguing narrative. Emily Beyda knows how to tell a story! Overall, it's definitely a good novel to read here and there versus binge read. I'm curious to see what Emily Beyda has up her sleeve next.
The Body Double is very Hitchcockian—claustrophobic, a bit repetitive, and dark. As you venture into this slow burn suspense novel, we start seeing the collapse of someone's individuality while an obsession grows. It's very intriguing and quite honestly, gripping. I would've given this story a higher rating, but there's a lot of slow burn progression that truly didn't need to be included that took away from the story. While not particularly that original, it is still beautifully executed through an immersive and intriguing narrative. Emily Beyda knows how to tell a story! Overall, it's definitely a good novel to read here and there versus binge read. I'm curious to see what Emily Beyda has up her sleeve next.
September 22, 2020
I haven’t written a review of anything before, but this book was SO bad that I had to. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS BOOK. I had the ending figured out about ten pages in to the book. **Spoiler Alert** the ending was SO ridiculously obvious that I kept reading because I thought “this can’t really be that dumb, the author must WANT us to think Rosanna is dead and Max is a stalker and then there will be some crazy twist”. Nope. Exactly what I thought as soon as Max asked the narrator to be a body double. There was so much in the story that was absolutely preposterous that I feel like the author is insulting people’s intelligence with the plot holes. I mean, he threw the body in the swimming pool? Which was presumably still blue at the time? And then the book makes several references to search helicopters always flying by and spotlighting the canyon? Really? And nobody noticed a body floating in a pool? For over a year? And the footage of Rosanna that Max makes her watch? Footage that was taken BEFORE the supposed “nervous breakdown”. Footage that supposedly Rosanna wanted her to watch to learn to be like her? Footage that she clearly didn’t know was being filmed? How the efff is it believable that she wanted to document her life so that somebody could impersonate her after a nervous breakdown she hadn’t had yet? And the weird party thing...COME ON. Max has had Rosanna’s cell phone since she died. and he knew nothing about Leo?? Leo saw her EVERY DAY before she disappeared and there was never a message on her phone from him that would lead Max to believe there was affair? Right. And that party? Why was Eleanor so keen to have Rosanna come to Malibu with her and her husband to “talk” and then she’s so upset when she finds out he’s having an affair with her? And the end. What the actual f*. After a slog through 300+ pages of unbelievable story and long, drawn-out descriptions of how Rosanna says WORDS, they give us a zombie rising from the pool? I just can’t even. The final footage the narrator finds...is Rosanna discovering the hidden camera in her bedroom. Which she rips out and confronts Max and then tells him to get out. And then it cuts back to her bedroom and he’s sneaking in saying “I know you told me not to come back, but...” But what? How was the camera back in the room? Did she rip it down and then put it up again after he left? I mean...there’s so much more terrible writing that I can’t even with this book. Does the author have an editor? I have read at least three books a week for 30 years. That is a LOT of books. And this is the only one that I felt was SO TERRIBLE that it warranted a bad review. I’m actually mad again now just thinking about how this garbage even got published.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2020
Near perfection.
In the vein of The Ghost Notebooks, Bad Man, and Social Creature, Beyda writes like a modernist with a classicists roots. Her sentences are thoughtful, with each carefully chosen word tying into that larger whole which makes this work a thematic masterpiece. What defines who we are? And can it be changed? Written over like yesterday’s already-forgotten news?
The Body Double doesn’t cheat itself with cheap tricks in plot or any of the character developments you already expect. Instead, it offers a stirringly subtle pace that mesmerizes as much as it disturbs, the reader a pebble sinking into a deep pool—equally enthralled and terrified by its new depths.
Slip into these blue-black waters one chapter at a time. Let it wash over you. Enjoy.
Read Time: 24 hrs
Verdict: BUY IT
In the vein of The Ghost Notebooks, Bad Man, and Social Creature, Beyda writes like a modernist with a classicists roots. Her sentences are thoughtful, with each carefully chosen word tying into that larger whole which makes this work a thematic masterpiece. What defines who we are? And can it be changed? Written over like yesterday’s already-forgotten news?
The Body Double doesn’t cheat itself with cheap tricks in plot or any of the character developments you already expect. Instead, it offers a stirringly subtle pace that mesmerizes as much as it disturbs, the reader a pebble sinking into a deep pool—equally enthralled and terrified by its new depths.
Slip into these blue-black waters one chapter at a time. Let it wash over you. Enjoy.
Read Time: 24 hrs
Verdict: BUY IT
January 27, 2020
I’m giving The Body Double a rather grudging 3 stars because: a) I appreciate what the author tried to do here and b) I did finish it.
The Body Double may give readers trouble. Out of the first 30% of the book, approximately 25% is spent stuck in an apartment with one or two characters. During this time, our main character thinks, rehearses, watches videos, reads, and occasionally eats. That’s a huge chunk of the book spend doing something that could have been reduced to a chapter. Within that first 30% of book, most readers will know exactly what’s happening with our characters.
What you won’t know is why our main character puts up with it. And you never really get that.
Our main character is a blank slate. She has no personality, no history, and no voice. This is necessary, but oh so frustrating because instead of worrying for her or rooting for her, you’re largely annoyed by her.
I won’t spoil this by telling you exactly what the author intends here (besides it’s kind of obvious early on in the book), but I did appreciate that the author tried. It just takes a defter hand and a bit more restraint than we see in this book.
I like the author’s ideas and would be curious to see what they come up with next.
*ARC Provided via Net Galley
The Body Double may give readers trouble. Out of the first 30% of the book, approximately 25% is spent stuck in an apartment with one or two characters. During this time, our main character thinks, rehearses, watches videos, reads, and occasionally eats. That’s a huge chunk of the book spend doing something that could have been reduced to a chapter. Within that first 30% of book, most readers will know exactly what’s happening with our characters.
What you won’t know is why our main character puts up with it. And you never really get that.
Our main character is a blank slate. She has no personality, no history, and no voice. This is necessary, but oh so frustrating because instead of worrying for her or rooting for her, you’re largely annoyed by her.
I won’t spoil this by telling you exactly what the author intends here (besides it’s kind of obvious early on in the book), but I did appreciate that the author tried. It just takes a defter hand and a bit more restraint than we see in this book.
I like the author’s ideas and would be curious to see what they come up with next.
*ARC Provided via Net Galley
Read
August 20, 2020This excellent book is almost like watching one of those great noir films of yesteryear, made fresh with references to modern culture and our obsession with celebrities. The unnamed narrator of the book is eking out an existence in a small town, where she works the concession stand at a movie theater that has seen better days. Her boss introduces her to Max, a mysterious man who offers wealth and a new life if the young woman, who bears a resemblance to a famous woman, Rosanna Feld, is willing to move to Los Angeles and become Rosanna's double. What's the catch? The narrator must keep everything confidential and be willing to give up all contact with anyone she knows now, disappearing completely into a new life. Can she keep up the pretense and fool Rosanna's friends, the media, and the paparazzi? This psychological thriller is worth a read! -Louisa A.
March 21, 2020
She's working in a run-down mall movie theater when a man appears and hires her to work as the body double for a celebrity who has disappeared from the public eye due to a breakdown. It's a lot of money and the unnamed narrator accepts the job, shedding her own identity to become adept at impersonating the celebrity. As she slowly takes on more public appearances, the risk of discovery become higher and her own sense of who she is begins to shift. But both she and the man who hired her are keeping secrets that might just be bigger than the deception they're pulling on the public and those who knew the celebrity.
Emily Beyda's novel begins strong, spins its wheels in the middle and then finishes with a lot less than is foreshadowed throughout the story. There was a lot of promise in the first chapters and the potential for so many exciting things to happen, which were all bypassed in favor of sitting around in an empty apartment and the gentlest of ending.
Emily Beyda's novel begins strong, spins its wheels in the middle and then finishes with a lot less than is foreshadowed throughout the story. There was a lot of promise in the first chapters and the potential for so many exciting things to happen, which were all bypassed in favor of sitting around in an empty apartment and the gentlest of ending.
March 7, 2020
Thank you to @doubledaybooks for my gifted copy! This one publishes on 3/3/2020!
The Body Double by Emily Beyda (#19 in 2020)
When a man named Max comes to her small town, he recognizes that she'll be perfect for "the role." After signing an NDA and leaving her entire life behind her, our narrator moves to Los Angeles to become the body double for Rosanna Feld, the famous disaster-and-a-half celebrity. Our narrator learns how to act, talk, walk, and think like Rosanna Feld, and she is coached by Max until he feels she is ready to make her public debut. But this very unique job assignment seems to seem less of an honor as our narrator begins to uncover some sinister secrets.
The Body Double makes the reader question how we, as a society, value physical appearance and the lengths one would take to be like a favorite Hollywood star.
I truly love how the narrator is never named. It simply adds to the idea of how irrelevant her true identity is. Every time she is spoken to or offers up her name, she is referred to (and refers to herself) as Rosanna. On the surface, it seems so superficial, but it's an eerily dark concept beneath the surface. Our narrator is too easily convinced to sacrifice her true identity and all she knows for the prospect at being connected to Hollywood, and her regrets slowly arise until she is in too far to turn back.
If you check Goodreads, the book is labeled as a thriller, but I honestly don't think it fits into that category. I would likely place it in the genre of contemporary fiction that is just dipping its toes into horror. If this book becomes a movie, I hope the darker parts are emphasized to place this into the horror genre.
The Body Double by Emily Beyda (#19 in 2020)
When a man named Max comes to her small town, he recognizes that she'll be perfect for "the role." After signing an NDA and leaving her entire life behind her, our narrator moves to Los Angeles to become the body double for Rosanna Feld, the famous disaster-and-a-half celebrity. Our narrator learns how to act, talk, walk, and think like Rosanna Feld, and she is coached by Max until he feels she is ready to make her public debut. But this very unique job assignment seems to seem less of an honor as our narrator begins to uncover some sinister secrets.
The Body Double makes the reader question how we, as a society, value physical appearance and the lengths one would take to be like a favorite Hollywood star.
I truly love how the narrator is never named. It simply adds to the idea of how irrelevant her true identity is. Every time she is spoken to or offers up her name, she is referred to (and refers to herself) as Rosanna. On the surface, it seems so superficial, but it's an eerily dark concept beneath the surface. Our narrator is too easily convinced to sacrifice her true identity and all she knows for the prospect at being connected to Hollywood, and her regrets slowly arise until she is in too far to turn back.
If you check Goodreads, the book is labeled as a thriller, but I honestly don't think it fits into that category. I would likely place it in the genre of contemporary fiction that is just dipping its toes into horror. If this book becomes a movie, I hope the darker parts are emphasized to place this into the horror genre.
November 30, 2019
Slight spoilers ahead....you’ve been warned!
This book had a great hook, and a great premise. I think with a bit of re-working, it would be a much better story. There were plot holes, and the build up took entirely too long. I am all for an unrealistic story, but this one did not have enough plausibility for me to even suspend my belief. I predicted what was happening very early on and was disappointed when the twist was what it was. I think this would have been a much better book if that wasn’t the twist. The book idea of this woman filling in as a body double for a reclusive celebrity was enough of a story without the predictable twist. I wish the author would have written that story, not the one we got. I wanted to hear more about her public appearances, her outings, etc as Rosanna 2.0. I needed more outside characters to build the suspense, and to also allow more interaction for our main character, Rosanna 2.0. I wanted to see more suspicion from friends, more questions from the media, etc. I wanted more background on Max, more commentary from friends of Rosanna’s who knew him to really up his creep factor. All in all, this could have been much better. I’m curious to see what other reviewers and readers will think once this book is released.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book had a great hook, and a great premise. I think with a bit of re-working, it would be a much better story. There were plot holes, and the build up took entirely too long. I am all for an unrealistic story, but this one did not have enough plausibility for me to even suspend my belief. I predicted what was happening very early on and was disappointed when the twist was what it was. I think this would have been a much better book if that wasn’t the twist. The book idea of this woman filling in as a body double for a reclusive celebrity was enough of a story without the predictable twist. I wish the author would have written that story, not the one we got. I wanted to hear more about her public appearances, her outings, etc as Rosanna 2.0. I needed more outside characters to build the suspense, and to also allow more interaction for our main character, Rosanna 2.0. I wanted to see more suspicion from friends, more questions from the media, etc. I wanted more background on Max, more commentary from friends of Rosanna’s who knew him to really up his creep factor. All in all, this could have been much better. I’m curious to see what other reviewers and readers will think once this book is released.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
February 20, 2020
The blurb for this book was intriguing. The actual book fell short.
We have a young woman working a dead end job at a movie theater. She's approached by a wealthy but mysterious stranger. His proposition? With his guidance and training (and she finds out later, plastic surgery and starvation) she will impersonate Rosanna Feld, a starlet who needs a break from the limelight. Her period of employment will last three years and then she is to disappear into obscurity so Rosanna can resume her life. For some odd reason, the young woman jumps at the chance.
The wealthy man, named Max, whisks her to L.A. and puts her up in a shoddy, run down apartment. I don't know about anyone else but this would be a major red flag for me. Max is soon dressing her, instructing her, and even has a doctor come and do surgery on her. This all happens in the apartment. The major setting of this book is the apartment.
Other than a hairdresser and doctor, for a long period of time Max is the only person the nameless narrator sees. I'm no doctor but you can tell that she has the beginnings of Stockholm syndrome. She's like an infant that depends on Max for everything. Her daily life in the apartment is so boring that it's almost maddening to the reader.
Max decides that she's ready to be seen out in public to put her transformation to the test. This goes well and I started to think, okay, this book is about to start building up to something. Now it will finally get juicy.
It doesn't. Max controls who she sees, what she says, where she goes, what she eats. Then after her outings she goes back to the same crappy apartment. Her transformation is a success. People think she's Rosanna. Mentally, she thinks she is Rosanna.
Have I mentioned that we still haven't seen the actual Rosanna? Any guesses as to where she might be?
The characters are one dimensional. The nameless narrator may be a good idea, but this narrator only has tiny snippets of backstory. If you blink or skim, you will miss them. You don't care about her as a person at all. Ever. Not to mention you never have it explained to you why she would ever make such a drastic, life-altering decision in the first place.
The book trudges on and on and just when you think It will build to something exciting, it falls flat. The ending came and was not only confusing but it was as flat and monotone as the rest of the book.
Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.
We have a young woman working a dead end job at a movie theater. She's approached by a wealthy but mysterious stranger. His proposition? With his guidance and training (and she finds out later, plastic surgery and starvation) she will impersonate Rosanna Feld, a starlet who needs a break from the limelight. Her period of employment will last three years and then she is to disappear into obscurity so Rosanna can resume her life. For some odd reason, the young woman jumps at the chance.
The wealthy man, named Max, whisks her to L.A. and puts her up in a shoddy, run down apartment. I don't know about anyone else but this would be a major red flag for me. Max is soon dressing her, instructing her, and even has a doctor come and do surgery on her. This all happens in the apartment. The major setting of this book is the apartment.
Other than a hairdresser and doctor, for a long period of time Max is the only person the nameless narrator sees. I'm no doctor but you can tell that she has the beginnings of Stockholm syndrome. She's like an infant that depends on Max for everything. Her daily life in the apartment is so boring that it's almost maddening to the reader.
Max decides that she's ready to be seen out in public to put her transformation to the test. This goes well and I started to think, okay, this book is about to start building up to something. Now it will finally get juicy.
It doesn't. Max controls who she sees, what she says, where she goes, what she eats. Then after her outings she goes back to the same crappy apartment. Her transformation is a success. People think she's Rosanna. Mentally, she thinks she is Rosanna.
Have I mentioned that we still haven't seen the actual Rosanna? Any guesses as to where she might be?
The characters are one dimensional. The nameless narrator may be a good idea, but this narrator only has tiny snippets of backstory. If you blink or skim, you will miss them. You don't care about her as a person at all. Ever. Not to mention you never have it explained to you why she would ever make such a drastic, life-altering decision in the first place.
The book trudges on and on and just when you think It will build to something exciting, it falls flat. The ending came and was not only confusing but it was as flat and monotone as the rest of the book.
Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.
March 30, 2020
“The Body Double” by Emily Beyda opens in a narrative by a worker at a movie theater concession stand. She makes an Instant connection with readers through the first person construction. She shares in great detail what she sees: the landscapes, the people, and her surroundings. She describes people and places based on her observations, expectations and feelings. She rationalizes her doubts and justifies her opinions. Readers get to know her well. Someone else knows her well, too. She is perfect, well almost perfect, for the most important role of her life – standing in for Rosanna an “ill” celebrity.
Beyda constructs a story so preposterous that it is becomes believable in this age of celebrities and social media. The intense mannerism training, the social manipulation, and the physical alterations are the staple of reality TV. Readers follow as she gets a new name, new residence, and a new, large bank account. The pace is very slow as she morphs into Rosanna, leaving her past behind. She soon learns that this transformation is different from what she imagined; it becomes more than a well-paying job, more than a temporary fill-in part. This role has changed her; it sent her to a dark place. The supporting characters are also seen through her eyes. No one is as she expected; no one is her friend; no one cares about her. Readers soon come to distrust if not hate most of them.
“The Body Double” starts with in intriguing premise, a stand-in for a celebrity, but too much of the story is centered on the mechanics of her transportation, rather than on her performance as the replacement celebrity. I was given a review copy of “The Body Double” by Emily Beyda and Random House. This debut novel by Emily Beyda has compelling components, but I was somewhat disappointed by the slow-burn brooding, and wanted more “celebrity conflict.”
Beyda constructs a story so preposterous that it is becomes believable in this age of celebrities and social media. The intense mannerism training, the social manipulation, and the physical alterations are the staple of reality TV. Readers follow as she gets a new name, new residence, and a new, large bank account. The pace is very slow as she morphs into Rosanna, leaving her past behind. She soon learns that this transformation is different from what she imagined; it becomes more than a well-paying job, more than a temporary fill-in part. This role has changed her; it sent her to a dark place. The supporting characters are also seen through her eyes. No one is as she expected; no one is her friend; no one cares about her. Readers soon come to distrust if not hate most of them.
“The Body Double” starts with in intriguing premise, a stand-in for a celebrity, but too much of the story is centered on the mechanics of her transportation, rather than on her performance as the replacement celebrity. I was given a review copy of “The Body Double” by Emily Beyda and Random House. This debut novel by Emily Beyda has compelling components, but I was somewhat disappointed by the slow-burn brooding, and wanted more “celebrity conflict.”
March 16, 2020
I'd like to thank NetGalley, Emily Beyda, and Doubleday Books for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.
A young woman is asked to secretly become Hollywood star, Rosanna Feld’s body double while Rosanna recuperates from her recent illness. No one really knows why she has disappeared. However, to keep her ‘brand’ alive until she returns, a replacement is needed. Max, Rosanna’s agent, trains this young look-alike to ‘become’ Rosanna, and the story continues with how Max controls her movements, thoughts of Rosanna get into her head, and what happens when she begins to go out into public imitating Rosanna, even to Rosanna’s closest friends. But where is Rosanna? When is she coming back? Is she coming back? This book keeps you guessing.
I rated it 3.5 and rounded up to 4 stars. It is a little wordy, describing everything that this woman (I don’t think her name is ever given!) thinks and feels. It kind of kept me off balance, messed with my mind – but maybe that was the author’s goal!
However, it kept my attention enough that I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen and how the story was going to end!
A young woman is asked to secretly become Hollywood star, Rosanna Feld’s body double while Rosanna recuperates from her recent illness. No one really knows why she has disappeared. However, to keep her ‘brand’ alive until she returns, a replacement is needed. Max, Rosanna’s agent, trains this young look-alike to ‘become’ Rosanna, and the story continues with how Max controls her movements, thoughts of Rosanna get into her head, and what happens when she begins to go out into public imitating Rosanna, even to Rosanna’s closest friends. But where is Rosanna? When is she coming back? Is she coming back? This book keeps you guessing.
I rated it 3.5 and rounded up to 4 stars. It is a little wordy, describing everything that this woman (I don’t think her name is ever given!) thinks and feels. It kind of kept me off balance, messed with my mind – but maybe that was the author’s goal!
However, it kept my attention enough that I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen and how the story was going to end!
June 2, 2020
3.75⭐️
She is not herself anymore. She is Rosanna. They changed her face. How she spoke. How she dressed. Everything that made her different is now replaced by Rosanna. Because Rosanna needed a break amd she got it.
This was really interesting. I liked seeing how one person could completely disappear into another with practice.
She is not herself anymore. She is Rosanna. They changed her face. How she spoke. How she dressed. Everything that made her different is now replaced by Rosanna. Because Rosanna needed a break amd she got it.
This was really interesting. I liked seeing how one person could completely disappear into another with practice.
March 21, 2021
If I never hear the name Roasanna again, it’s too soon.
May 5, 2020
"It was ok" is the text equivalent of two stars on Goodreads, and that is about all I can say for this book. In this take on the unreliable narrator fad in novels the story is told in the first person by a young woman whose name we never learn. She is snatched from behind the snack bar in a small town somewhere because she bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous "influencer" - one of those social media stars followed online pushing clothes, makeup, etc. The star, Rosanna, has been out of the limelight for some months and needs a body double to make some appearances she is not ready for. Max, Rosanna's assistant, sets about turning our girl into Rosanna's double, promising big bucks.
That much of a plot is a reasonable start, although it's not original. (Google "doppelgangers in movies" to get a few dozen examples.) That much we learn in the first twenty pages or so. The book then drags with virtually nothing happening other than the narrator blathering about her thoughts, her dedication to becoming Rosanna and preparing to meet the real Rosanna, until after the midpoint of the book. I recommend reading two pages, skipping 20, then read 2, skip 20, etc. until then. After that the body double is out in society as Rosanna and things get weird and a bit more interesting. Still, it's way too slow moving. You can read 2, skip 6, until the end where the twist comes, although it really isn't much of a twist since it was predictable from early on.
That much of a plot is a reasonable start, although it's not original. (Google "doppelgangers in movies" to get a few dozen examples.) That much we learn in the first twenty pages or so. The book then drags with virtually nothing happening other than the narrator blathering about her thoughts, her dedication to becoming Rosanna and preparing to meet the real Rosanna, until after the midpoint of the book. I recommend reading two pages, skipping 20, then read 2, skip 20, etc. until then. After that the body double is out in society as Rosanna and things get weird and a bit more interesting. Still, it's way too slow moving. You can read 2, skip 6, until the end where the twist comes, although it really isn't much of a twist since it was predictable from early on.
June 12, 2020
This book had such an interesting premise. Something has gone very wrong with a young starlet and she is actively avoiding the public eye. She needs to hire a body double in order to make public appearances while she focuses on her mental health and recovers. I was fascinated by this story and the aura of celebrity.
Unfortunately this just wasn’t very good. The writing was technically proficient, but the writer writes in a literary style that just isn’t suited to this kind of plot. This was a dark, twisted tale but the literary writing style made it difficult to read. I felt like I was being tortured through much of the book because we spend so much time on stupid details. We spent endless pages on what Rosanna likes to eat, read, wear, watch, buy, how she does her makeup, who her friends are, every conversation she has ever had. Probaby a minimum of 200 pages was spent on this. I’m not being the slightest bit sarcastic either. I was so bored. It felt like an interrogation. I was being presented the same facts over and over again and demanded to know what Rosanna liked.
I also, didn’t buy into the premise about halfway through. We learned that it has been a full year since anyone besides Max has seen Rosanna. That’s a long time. She just disappeared with no explanation and a year later this double comes on the scene. Add in the over the top obsession that Max has with Rosanna and I deduced pretty quickly what was going on here. So all that was left was the journey. I already know the end, would the journey be worth it?
It wasn’t. I didn’t believe that none of Rosanna’s close friends was suspicious of how much she had changed in a year. They comment on it and then just casually toss it away with “I guess you have changed since we saw each other last.” No, that doesn’t really explain personality changes. It just doesn’t. Or the fact that she looks younger, a lot younger. They remark on this too and then just ask for her beauty secrets. It was shallow and fake.
It was a very weird ending. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. I had to read certain portions several times in order to make sense of it. It did not pay off for me.
Reviewed for Written Among the Stars
Unfortunately this just wasn’t very good. The writing was technically proficient, but the writer writes in a literary style that just isn’t suited to this kind of plot. This was a dark, twisted tale but the literary writing style made it difficult to read. I felt like I was being tortured through much of the book because we spend so much time on stupid details. We spent endless pages on what Rosanna likes to eat, read, wear, watch, buy, how she does her makeup, who her friends are, every conversation she has ever had. Probaby a minimum of 200 pages was spent on this. I’m not being the slightest bit sarcastic either. I was so bored. It felt like an interrogation. I was being presented the same facts over and over again and demanded to know what Rosanna liked.
I also, didn’t buy into the premise about halfway through. We learned that it has been a full year since anyone besides Max has seen Rosanna. That’s a long time. She just disappeared with no explanation and a year later this double comes on the scene. Add in the over the top obsession that Max has with Rosanna and I deduced pretty quickly what was going on here. So all that was left was the journey. I already know the end, would the journey be worth it?
It wasn’t. I didn’t believe that none of Rosanna’s close friends was suspicious of how much she had changed in a year. They comment on it and then just casually toss it away with “I guess you have changed since we saw each other last.” No, that doesn’t really explain personality changes. It just doesn’t. Or the fact that she looks younger, a lot younger. They remark on this too and then just ask for her beauty secrets. It was shallow and fake.
It was a very weird ending. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. I had to read certain portions several times in order to make sense of it. It did not pay off for me.
Reviewed for Written Among the Stars
March 13, 2020
Lots of potential, but it was slower than molasses in the winter. In this 12 1/2 hour Audible after 2 hours of listening to fluff, I went to where there was 3 hours left in the book. I figured out early on the twist. Not anything like Veritigo, the Skin I’m In, or the other comparisons. That said, a good scriptwriter can spin this into gold and make a terrific movie or Netflix series.
June 8, 2021
This book was stupid and boring AF and I wish, oh how I WISH I could get back the several hours of my life that I just wasted reading this.
Plot: What plot? What was the point of anything that happened in this novel? I couldn't tell you.
Characters: A delusional nameless woman whose sole personality trait is being f*cking insane and the creepy, pathetic guy who recruits her to do a creepy job.
Every other character might as well not exist.
Writing: Terrible pacing, superflous descriptions, repetitive narration.
I hate myself for not DNFing this.
Plot: What plot? What was the point of anything that happened in this novel? I couldn't tell you.
Characters: A delusional nameless woman whose sole personality trait is being f*cking insane and the creepy, pathetic guy who recruits her to do a creepy job.
Every other character might as well not exist.
Writing: Terrible pacing, superflous descriptions, repetitive narration.
I hate myself for not DNFing this.
July 12, 2020
I really thought
was going to be super popular when I first started seeing it on people's TBR list... so I of course, jumped to my library and placed a hold on it.. Unfortunately, I saw it on their wants to-read list and I didn't read the reviews until now... Now that I am at the thank God end.
The story had some really interesting ideas, and some of it was ok... but overall there was just so much of everything wrong about this book.... it is super crazy, that's for sure. I asked myself so many times, who would do this? Who would respond, act, or behave in that way? Who would believe this shit? Well, clearly the unnamed character who becomes Roseanna, "or nothing at all" seemed to ... but if you read this, you will know all about that!
The scary part of this book was that two whacks were able to find each other in the whole wide world they literally found each other. That she would accept this job and not think about how it was going to end or what the probability was that she would live to spend the promised money. Now at the end, after she has clearly made the slide down the slippery slope of sanity, she arrives at the bottom of that hill only to bump into Max and they lope off together in a plot of implausibility. For me, once the ruse was accomplished we could have moved on to the ending because nothing of any consequence happened in the middle.... it was just yammering.
So, thank goodness that is over... 2.5 stars for my time. I would be interested in reading what Ms Beyda comes up with next. Her ability to write, to be creative are certainly evident. But for once, I would like to read something with that much thought and creativity with a plausible plot.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because this is her first book and it wasn't terrible.
Happy Reading!
was going to be super popular when I first started seeing it on people's TBR list... so I of course, jumped to my library and placed a hold on it.. Unfortunately, I saw it on their wants to-read list and I didn't read the reviews until now... Now that I am at the thank God end. The story had some really interesting ideas, and some of it was ok... but overall there was just so much of everything wrong about this book.... it is super crazy, that's for sure. I asked myself so many times, who would do this? Who would respond, act, or behave in that way? Who would believe this shit? Well, clearly the unnamed character who becomes Roseanna, "or nothing at all" seemed to ... but if you read this, you will know all about that!
The scary part of this book was that two whacks were able to find each other in the whole wide world they literally found each other. That she would accept this job and not think about how it was going to end or what the probability was that she would live to spend the promised money. Now at the end, after she has clearly made the slide down the slippery slope of sanity, she arrives at the bottom of that hill only to bump into Max and they lope off together in a plot of implausibility. For me, once the ruse was accomplished we could have moved on to the ending because nothing of any consequence happened in the middle.... it was just yammering.
So, thank goodness that is over... 2.5 stars for my time. I would be interested in reading what Ms Beyda comes up with next. Her ability to write, to be creative are certainly evident. But for once, I would like to read something with that much thought and creativity with a plausible plot.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because this is her first book and it wasn't terrible.
Happy Reading!
abandoned-books
August 15, 2020A nameless narrator whose identity is lost in so many other ways within her seemingly dead end life is presented with the opportunity to drop everything and serve as the body double for a troubled celebrity. Is this the opportunity of a lifetime or is it sinisterly too good to be true?
“He knows who I am and he wants me anyway.”
“I’m disappearing completely, perfecting a skill I learned a long time ago. The only difference now is that I have someone else to disappear into.”
The Body Double requires patience. The build is incredibly slow and we’re audience to the narrator’s often bizarre meandering thoughts. I did feel this aspect was intriguing.
I don’t think that it’s patience that I lack. It’s serotonin. I wish I had the motivation to see this through but I’m concerned about how it’s making me feel. It’s not providing the stimulation my brain needs and I think it’s wise for me to close the ebook at the 22% mark.
This is not a thriller, despite the way it’s been promoted. It is an intricate character study with a hint of mystery. It looks squarely at the path of one’s mental state when plagued by deep insecurity. I think the narrative is effective in what it aimed to accomplish and for the right reader, this would be an excellent piece of fiction to analyze.
Thank you to the publisher for my digital review copy. All opinions are my own.
“He knows who I am and he wants me anyway.”
“I’m disappearing completely, perfecting a skill I learned a long time ago. The only difference now is that I have someone else to disappear into.”
The Body Double requires patience. The build is incredibly slow and we’re audience to the narrator’s often bizarre meandering thoughts. I did feel this aspect was intriguing.
I don’t think that it’s patience that I lack. It’s serotonin. I wish I had the motivation to see this through but I’m concerned about how it’s making me feel. It’s not providing the stimulation my brain needs and I think it’s wise for me to close the ebook at the 22% mark.
This is not a thriller, despite the way it’s been promoted. It is an intricate character study with a hint of mystery. It looks squarely at the path of one’s mental state when plagued by deep insecurity. I think the narrative is effective in what it aimed to accomplish and for the right reader, this would be an excellent piece of fiction to analyze.
Thank you to the publisher for my digital review copy. All opinions are my own.
August 12, 2025
I was really intrigued by this plot, and I think it has the potential to be such a good story. However, I found parts of it slow and needlessly drawn out, and I wasn’t at all satisfied with the resolution. I would have preferred to see more elaboration on what was going on with Rosanna and her life before. Everyone kept saying vague things that alluded to some big secret and I never felt like we got the details on that I wanted. The last 5 or so pages were also just confusing to me. Three stars since it mostly kept my interest and has potential, but I agree with the review that was written on this at a blind book swap “that was a weird ass book. I felt compelled to finish it”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2020
This book would have been so much better if it wasn't all over the place. Interesting concept, but I struggled to get through it... too wordy with unnecessary words. The plot moved along far too slowly and too much of it was unbelievable.
March 3, 2020
Review by @cvillebooksandwine
𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗣𝗨𝗕 𝗗𝗔𝗬!
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗱𝗮
Thank you to @doubledaybooks #partner for my free copy!
•
#QOTD If you could spend a day with 𝗮𝗻𝘆 celebrity, who would it be?
#AOTD I’d probably pick Meryl Streep!
•
A strange man discovers our nameless narrator selling popcorn at a decrepit small-town movie theater and offers her an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld. A nervous breakdown has forced Rosanna out of the public eye, and she needs a look-alike to take her place in the tabloid media circus of Hollywood. Overseen by Max, who hired her for the job, our narrator spends her days locked up in a small apartment in the hills watching hidden camera footage of Rosanna, wearing Rosanna's clothes, eating the food Rosanna likes, practicing her mannerisms, learning to become Rosanna in every way. But as she makes her public debut as Rosanna, dining at elegant restaurants, shopping in stylish boutiques, and finally risking a dinner party with Rosanna's true inner circle, alarming questions begin to arise. What really caused Rosanna's mental collapse? Will she ever return? And is Max truly her ally, or something more sinister? With echoes of Hitchcock's Vertigo,The Body Double is a fabulously plotted noir about fame, beauty, and the darkness of Hollywood.
•
This book had me intrigued from the first moment I heard about it! And to top it off @doubledaybooks sent me 𝘵𝘩𝘦 cutest gift bag with @coteshop nail polish to match the cover! I found the premise intriguing and it had my heart beating so fast wondering what was happening next! It was definitely a super slow burn and I guessed the twists early on, but I am definitely excited to see what Emily Beyda writes next! I give this one 3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
•
#bookreview #bookphoto #bookstagram #thriller #suspense #bookaddict #charlottesville #cville #goodreads #lovebooks #bibliophile #bookaholic #thebodydouble #mystery #emilybeyda #doubleday #arccopy #booksharks #booksparks #sponsored #partner
𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗣𝗨𝗕 𝗗𝗔𝗬!
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗱𝗮
Thank you to @doubledaybooks #partner for my free copy!
•
#QOTD If you could spend a day with 𝗮𝗻𝘆 celebrity, who would it be?
#AOTD I’d probably pick Meryl Streep!
•
A strange man discovers our nameless narrator selling popcorn at a decrepit small-town movie theater and offers her an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld. A nervous breakdown has forced Rosanna out of the public eye, and she needs a look-alike to take her place in the tabloid media circus of Hollywood. Overseen by Max, who hired her for the job, our narrator spends her days locked up in a small apartment in the hills watching hidden camera footage of Rosanna, wearing Rosanna's clothes, eating the food Rosanna likes, practicing her mannerisms, learning to become Rosanna in every way. But as she makes her public debut as Rosanna, dining at elegant restaurants, shopping in stylish boutiques, and finally risking a dinner party with Rosanna's true inner circle, alarming questions begin to arise. What really caused Rosanna's mental collapse? Will she ever return? And is Max truly her ally, or something more sinister? With echoes of Hitchcock's Vertigo,The Body Double is a fabulously plotted noir about fame, beauty, and the darkness of Hollywood.
•
This book had me intrigued from the first moment I heard about it! And to top it off @doubledaybooks sent me 𝘵𝘩𝘦 cutest gift bag with @coteshop nail polish to match the cover! I found the premise intriguing and it had my heart beating so fast wondering what was happening next! It was definitely a super slow burn and I guessed the twists early on, but I am definitely excited to see what Emily Beyda writes next! I give this one 3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
•
#bookreview #bookphoto #bookstagram #thriller #suspense #bookaddict #charlottesville #cville #goodreads #lovebooks #bibliophile #bookaholic #thebodydouble #mystery #emilybeyda #doubleday #arccopy #booksharks #booksparks #sponsored #partner
October 16, 2020
A surreal, Lynchian take on psychological suspense squarely in the "persona swap" genre so beloved of smart women who spend all our time thinking about the conundrums of female identity with all its cracks and fissures, fakes and doublings, its rushes of power and its crashes of abjection (the link goes to Miriam Bale's original article defining the genre). The prose is so polished it would be hard to believe it's a debut if it didn't also have that level of commitment peculiar to debuts. It's the kind of writing you only do when you're allowed to please yourself first, and for a long time, before you ever have to think about an audience. Never showy, but hypnotic and transfixing and sort of hyper-articulated in a way I can take a whole lot of. Not everyone can, and a lot of readers are going to be upset that this is being marketed in the suspense/thriller genre at all. It really isn't, but of course I get it. The best parts remind me of my favorite passages in Jennifer Egan's LOOK AT ME, another highly committed but hard to classify book about female identity. For hundreds of pages I had absolutely no idea what kind of book I was reading, and I love that. Books don't surprise me that often, but this one was a mindfuck from beginning to end.
The ending itself was the least surprising part. But can you honestly say of Persona, Daisies, Mulholland Drive, 3 Women, Images, Clouds of Sils Maria that the ending is the important thing? Most often it just returns the narrator back to the beginning of a new cycle where nothing has changed, even though a body has replaced another body, cell by cell. Until then--which is to say, until the last page--I couldn't put it down. I was making every excuse to read this book, getting up early, staying up late. Beyda's debut strikes me as a real accomplishment, not least because I cannot imagine what she'll try next. I'll read it, though.
The ending itself was the least surprising part. But can you honestly say of Persona, Daisies, Mulholland Drive, 3 Women, Images, Clouds of Sils Maria that the ending is the important thing? Most often it just returns the narrator back to the beginning of a new cycle where nothing has changed, even though a body has replaced another body, cell by cell. Until then--which is to say, until the last page--I couldn't put it down. I was making every excuse to read this book, getting up early, staying up late. Beyda's debut strikes me as a real accomplishment, not least because I cannot imagine what she'll try next. I'll read it, though.
September 19, 2019
I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So, I don't know what I just read. It was twisted enough to keep reading because I wanted to know what happened. But I'm not sure what happened or how it got to the point which it did.
A young woman is selected as a body double for a celebrity, Rosanna Feld, (think a Kardashian of sorts) to make appearances since Rosanna is suffering from crippling depression/anxiety/addiction. But the assistant, Max, who has selected the new Rosanna has some intense work for her to take on before she can make her public debut.
Saying any more would give spoilers. I'm unsure if I liked this. It felt extremely repetitive. I'm not sure if that was a choice to make me feel anxious while reading, or if the author was trying to flesh out a short story to novel length.
If you like a twisted commentary on celebrity and body image and obsession, give it a whirl.
So, I don't know what I just read. It was twisted enough to keep reading because I wanted to know what happened. But I'm not sure what happened or how it got to the point which it did.
A young woman is selected as a body double for a celebrity, Rosanna Feld, (think a Kardashian of sorts) to make appearances since Rosanna is suffering from crippling depression/anxiety/addiction. But the assistant, Max, who has selected the new Rosanna has some intense work for her to take on before she can make her public debut.
Saying any more would give spoilers. I'm unsure if I liked this. It felt extremely repetitive. I'm not sure if that was a choice to make me feel anxious while reading, or if the author was trying to flesh out a short story to novel length.
If you like a twisted commentary on celebrity and body image and obsession, give it a whirl.
October 19, 2019
The story sounded intriguing. A young girl with a real likeness to a celebrity is hired to become her body double. Rosanna Feld has disappeared from society and is rumored to have had a breakdown. She is hired by Max who keeps her hidden in an apartment to learn everything about Rosanna.
I found the story a bit slow paced. It was hard to like any of the characters or feel real sympathy for them. The body double is in a very strange situation with no one from her past life to rely on and no one in Rosanna's life that seemed to really know her either. It was an ok read, just a bit too depressing. I received an ebook from the publisher in exchange for a review.
I found the story a bit slow paced. It was hard to like any of the characters or feel real sympathy for them. The body double is in a very strange situation with no one from her past life to rely on and no one in Rosanna's life that seemed to really know her either. It was an ok read, just a bit too depressing. I received an ebook from the publisher in exchange for a review.
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