-
Access Our
Best Book Club
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:At once a twisted psychological portrait of a woman crumbling under unimaginable pressure and a razor-sharp satire of the contemporary art scene, Fake Like Me is a dark, glamorous, and addictive story of good intentions gone awry, from the critically acclaimed author of I'll Eat When I'm Dead.
Carey Logan was the art world's genius wild child.
FAKE
I was a no-name painter clawing my way up behind her.
LIKE
When Carey died, she left a space that couldn't be filled. Except, maybe, by
ME
After a fire rips through her loft, destroying the seven billboard-size paintings meant for her first major exhibition, a young painter is left with an impossible task: recreate the lost artworks in just three months without getting caught - or ruin her fledgling career. Homeless and desperate, she begs her way into Pine City, an exclusive retreat in upstate New York notorious for three things: outrageous revelries, glamorous artists, and the sparkling black lake where brilliant prodigy Carey Logan drowned herself.
Taking up residence in Carey's former studio, the painter works with obsessive, delirious focus. But when she begins to uncover strange secrets at Pine City and falls hard for Carey's mysterious boyfriend, a single thought shadows her every move: What really happened to Carey Logan?
Barbara Bourland's voice is sharp and satirical. She nudges readers to think about weighty topics: the formation of identity, the commodification of people, the desire to succeed, the pressure to be authentic and the potentially devastating consequences of greed. Fake Like Me is an unconventional thriller with an unreliable narrator that demands the reader's full attention, but provides plenty of rewards in exchange...continued
Full Review
(528 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Jamie Chornoby).
In Fake Like Me, author Barbara Bourland alludes to artist Lee Lozano (1930-1999) and her elusive, controversial final project called Dropout Piece. This piece of performance art was Lozano's act of withdrawing from the art world in order to be an outsider. She slipped into isolation through the end of her life, pushing the boundaries of lived art, performance art, and conceptual art. Bourland considers Lozano's unusual project, and how her rigorous, defiant act might have influenced artists that came after her.
To understand what inspired Dropout Piece and why it was important to Lozano to remove herself from social spheres, it is necessary to review her short and strange history as an artist. Most of her work was created within the ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked Fake Like Me, try these:
by Xochitl Gonzalez
Published 2025
New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death
by Jessica Knoll
Published 2024
From the megabestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive comes another shocking thriller inspired by the real-life sorority and target of America's first celebrity serial killer.
Lisa Gabriele, author of The Winters
A ridiculously propulsive page turner. Barbara Bourland has written a 'du Maurier-esque' literary thriller about sexual jealousy and artistic legacy, a gorgeously scathing critique of the New York art scene, and a warning about the deadly consequences of stifling female expression. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.
.gif)