Book Descriptions
for Look by Zan Romanoff
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
High school senior Lulu regularly uploads photos and video to a platform called Flash (think Snapchat). Lulu meets down-to-earth Cass at a party. Although Cass is uninterested in social media and stereotypical trappings of moneyed teens in L.A., Cass's best friend, Ryan Riggs, is the teenage brother of Flash's founder. Ryan is renovating a formerly grand hotel built by his great-father as his family "project." Lulu and Cass regularly hang out at the unfinished hotel, which feels like a refuge. Ryan prohibits anyone else from taking photos there but is constantly framing his visitors through the lens of his own camera. As Lulu and Cass fall for each other, the hotel becomes their intimate, private space-until Ryan betrays them. Lulu, white and Jewish, had already begun thinking critically about media's treatment of women through reading for her cinema studies class and discussions with Cass. Ryan's unconscionable violation of their trust and privacy intensifies her reflection on the female body, from her own to Ryan's great-grandmother's, a silent film star whose work seeded the family fortune, as possession and commodity. Lulu's own understanding of what she chooses to share on platforms like Flash shifts with her expanding perspective on female exploitation. The relevance and immediacy of these issues in the lives of teens today, along with the complexity and depth of Lulu's relationships with family and friends, both add to the satisfying substance of this queer romance. (Age 14 and older)
CCBC Choices 2021. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2021. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
"[For] readers of Nina LaCour . . . Sharply incisive [and] deeply romantic." --Booklist
"Part coming-of-age story, part slow-burn romance, part feminist-manifesto." --SLJ
"[One of] the LGBTQ books that will change the literary landscape." --O Magazine
What Lulu Shapiro's 5,000 Flash followers don't know:
The video of her with another girl was never supposed to go public. Owen definitely wasn't supposed to break up with her because of it. Behind the online persona Lulu painstakingly curates, her life feels like a terrible, uncertain mess.
Then Lulu meets Cass. Cass isn't interested in looking at Lulu's life, only in living in it for real. And The Hotel--a gorgeous space with an intriguing, Old Hollywood history--seems like the perfect hideaway for their deepening romance. But just because Lulu has stepped out of the spotlight doesn't mean it'll stop following her every move.
Look is about what you present vs. who you really are, about real and manufactured intimacy and the blurring of that line. It's a deceptively glamorous, utterly compelling, beautifully written, queer coming-of-age novel about falling in love and taking ownership of your own self--your whole self--in the age of social media.
"Romantic and deeply resonant...Everything I hoped for and more." --Robyn Schneider, author of The Beginning of Everything
"Witty, sensual, well-observed." --Francesca Lia Block, author of Weetzie Bat
"I loved this book." --Mary H. K. Choi, author of Emergency Contact
"A beautifully rendered...feminist coming-of-age story." --Jessica Morgan of Go Fug Yourself
"Gorgeous." --Robin Benway, author of Far From the Tree
"A complex, empathic examination of identity." --Amy Spalding, author of The Summer of Jordi Perez
"A beautiful, intimate novel. I loved it so much." --Maurene Goo, author of The Way You Make Me Feel
"Immediate...Deft...Astute...Compelling...Gripping and credible." --BCCB
"[Zan Romanoff] is one of the best YA writers working today."--Brandy Colbert, author of Little & Lion
"Part coming-of-age story, part slow-burn romance, part feminist-manifesto." --SLJ
"[One of] the LGBTQ books that will change the literary landscape." --O Magazine
What Lulu Shapiro's 5,000 Flash followers don't know:
Then Lulu meets Cass. Cass isn't interested in looking at Lulu's life, only in living in it for real. And The Hotel--a gorgeous space with an intriguing, Old Hollywood history--seems like the perfect hideaway for their deepening romance. But just because Lulu has stepped out of the spotlight doesn't mean it'll stop following her every move.
Look is about what you present vs. who you really are, about real and manufactured intimacy and the blurring of that line. It's a deceptively glamorous, utterly compelling, beautifully written, queer coming-of-age novel about falling in love and taking ownership of your own self--your whole self--in the age of social media.
"Romantic and deeply resonant...Everything I hoped for and more." --Robyn Schneider, author of The Beginning of Everything
"Witty, sensual, well-observed." --Francesca Lia Block, author of Weetzie Bat
"I loved this book." --Mary H. K. Choi, author of Emergency Contact
"A beautifully rendered...feminist coming-of-age story." --Jessica Morgan of Go Fug Yourself
"Gorgeous." --Robin Benway, author of Far From the Tree
"A complex, empathic examination of identity." --Amy Spalding, author of The Summer of Jordi Perez
"A beautiful, intimate novel. I loved it so much." --Maurene Goo, author of The Way You Make Me Feel
"Immediate...Deft...Astute...Compelling...Gripping and credible." --BCCB
"[Zan Romanoff] is one of the best YA writers working today."--Brandy Colbert, author of Little & Lion
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.