Laura Sims' Looker is a story about obsession, about how easy it can be to transfix on something when everything else isn't going your way. The unnamed narrator has had a tough time lately—her marriage has ended, partially because of her fertility problems, and her job as a lecturer at a local college is in jeopardy. All she has left is the cat her husband left behind, and the actress.
Ah, THE ACTRESS. She lives on her block, in a beautiful brownstone, with her screenwriter husband, their three young children, and a host of staff. The narrator is a bit obsessed with the actress—she's watched her career go from small indie films to blockbusters, and watched her profile grow. But more than that, she believes that she and the actress have so much in common, and that they could even be friends, if the actress would just give her a chance.
As things start to spiral out of control in both her job and her relationship with her estranged husband, she begins to focus more on the actress and her family. She even has a room in her apartment which she has filled with the actress' cast-offs, and she thinks the actress might even appreciate that. She just needs to figure out her approach, and when an interaction at the annual neighborhood block party shows promise, she gets excited and anticipates the start of a terrific friendship.
But that is not meant to be. And while most people would recognize the gulf between the two women, she does not. She is determined that the actress will notice her, no matter what it takes.
At just under 200 pages, Looker is a quick read that rapidly picks up steam. At times, you're not quite sure whether what the narrator is telling us is true, or if it is just a scenario she has created in her mind, so that adds another layer to the story.
Sims does an excellent job creating a portrait of mental illness and obsession, and how easy it is to focus on something you perceive to be happy and successful when you feel your life is in turmoil. The book is so short, however, that I felt things ended just as they were really taking off, and the ending itself was a little abrupt. But it's a suspenseful, sad, slightly creepy story that definitely kept my attention.
There is some animal cruelty in the book, for those of you who avoid books that include that. While some of the story certainly is predictable, some of it didn't quite go the way I thought it would, which actually pleased me, and kept me reading. You may think differently about your local celebrities after this!
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