'As funny as it's intellectual, this page-turner about crashing and burning is spot-on about ambition, infatuation, theatre, film, ethics, teens, and everything else.' Emma Donoghue, author of Room

'Witty...Earnest...Laugh-out-loud...Pitch-perfect' New York Times

When Cass - a thirty something year old queer playwright - receives a prestigious award, it seems as though her career is finally taking off. That is until she finds herself at the centre of a searing public shaming. Fleeing New York, Cass moves to L.A. to start anew. Once there, she is pulled into the orbit of her charismatic neighbour, a filmmaker who's making an ethically murky documentary inspired by a group of teenage girls and their underground fight club. But just as Cass begins to dream of a comeback, the past starts to catch up with her and she is forced once more to reckon with her ambition and the chaos it creates. We Play Ourselves is a darkly funny novel about the cost of making art, and the art of making enemies.


'Funny, sharp, modern - this is an excellent debut novel. Its bold, edgy, strange heroine has adventures and misadventures, screws up again and again, but somehow won my love. I couldn't put this book down.' Weike Wang, PEN/Hemingway-award winning author of Chemistry

About the Author

Jen Silverman is a New York-based writer and playwright. Jen is the author of the story collection The Island Dwellers (2018), which was longlisted for a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut fiction, and the poetry chapbook Bath (2022), selected by Traci Brimhall for Driftwood Press. Additional work has appeared in Vogue, the Paris Review, Ploughshares, LitHub and elsewhere. Residencies and fellowships include: MacDowell, New Dramatists, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Jen's plays have been produced across the United States and internationally, in countries including Australia and the UK; they include Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, The Moors, The Roommate and Witch. Jen also writes for TV and film. We Play Ourselves is Jen's debut novel.

www.jensilverman.com

Reviews
As funny as it's intellectual, this page-turner about crashing and burning is spot-on about ambition, infatuation, theatre, film, ethics, teens, and everything else. * Emma Donghue, author of Room *
This is a book where the questions are the answers, a story of possibility that challenged and expanded the way I think about redemption. Warm in its humanity and cool in its persistent subversion of narrative expectations, it's a sharp and modern first novel. I loved it. * Maggie Shipstead, New York Times-bestselling author of Seating Arrangements *
Witty...Earnest...Laugh-out-loud...Pitch-perfect * New York Times *
In deadpan prose that belies the wackiness of Hollywood and Broadway, Silverman stages a blistering story about the costs of creating art. * Oprah Magazine: 32 LGBTQ Books That Will Change The Literary Landscape in 2021 *
The multi-talented Jen Silverman knows what she's doing on the page. Funny, sharp, modern - this is an excellent debut novel. Its bold, edgy, strange heroine has adventures and misadventures, screws up again and again, but somehow won my love. I couldn't put this book down. * Weike Wang, PEN/Hemingway-award winning author of Chemistry *
A fiercely smart and wildly entertaining exploration of artistic ambition, and what happens when the hunger for fame infects an artist's desire to create something true. A uniquely potent take on female rage and competition that also gorgeously evokes the challenge of developing an authentic self when everything we do can be exploited as content. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. * Julie Buntin, author of Marlena *
Silverman employs Cass' wry, deeply felt, often self-deprecating voice to tell this beautifully realized novel about choice, ambition, and revelation, with a nod to feminism in the context of the film and its monstrous director, Caroline. All of Silverman's characters are memorable as they drive the carefully plotted, thought-provoking story. Happily, unlike Cass' failed play, this memorable novel deserves a standing ovation. * Booklist (starred review) *
A playwright's public shame and jealousy traps her in self-doubt in this mordant debut novel... Cass's dark humor and acts of self-sabotage keep the reader engaged. Silverman's genuine, stirring novel speaks volumes about the lure and fickleness of fame. * Publisher's Weekly *
The quiet meditations on the precariousness and ever changing nature of success, ambition, and artwork are the novel's greatest strength. A resonant and thoughtful novel. * Kirkus Reviews *
A novel about what it might really mean to be an art monster. Or at least a monster who makes art. * LitHub *
A thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining yet serious novel * A Life In Books *
A penetrating exploration of the skewed values of the theatre industry [...] and the perils of the lust for acclaim * Sydney Morning Herald *



Book Information
ISBN 9781838954338
Author Jen Silverman
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Atlantic Books
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 236g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 20mm