The Book of Formation

Simonini’s ambitious debut novel tells the story of the rise of a popular self-transformation movement through the eyes of a successful journalist who becomes increasingly involved with its central figures. Mayah Isle is a celebrity talk show host who uses her platform to spread the movement’s message—that personality is malleable, and that humans can enact radical change within ourselves by learning how to manipulate it. When the unnamed narrator is assigned to write a profile about Mayah, he is initially surprised when she instead directs him toward her enigmatic adopted son, Masha, who had previously been kept out of the public eye. Over the course of the novel, however, Masha takes over Mayah’s role on the talk show and succeeds her as the de facto leader of the personality movement. Through interview transcripts, the novel paints an intimate and complicated portrait of Masha as the initially skeptical journalist’s relationship to the movement—and to his ailing body—undergoes its own fascinating transformation. Strikingly intelligent, the novel concludes on a haunting note that questions how much people can actually know about what makes them who they are. (Nov.) Correction: a previous version of this review named the incorrect character.