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3.0 

My Nemesis

By Charmaine Craig
My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

From the acclaimed author of Miss Burma, longlisted for the National Book Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, comes an immersive and searing story of two women, their marriages, and the rivalry between them

Tessa is a successful writer who develops a friendship, first by correspondence and then in person, with Charlie, a ruggedly handsome philosopher and scholar based in Los Angeles. Sparks fly as they exchange ideas about Camus and masculine desire, and their intellectual connection promises more—but there are obstacles to this burgeoning relationship.

While Tessa’s husband Milton enjoys Charlie’s company on his visits to the East Coast, Charlie’s wife Wah is a different case, and she proves to be both adversary and conundrum to Tessa. Wah’s traditional femininity and subservience to her husband strike Tessa as weaknesses, and she scoffs at the sacrifices Wah makes as adoptive mother to a Burmese girl, Htet, once homeless on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. But Wah has a kind of power too, especially over Charlie, and the conflict between the two women leads to a martini-fueled declaration by Tessa that Wah is “an insult to womankind.” As Tessa is forced to deal with the consequences of her outburst and considers how much she is limited by her own perceptions, she wonders if Wah is really as weak as she has seemed, or if she might have a different kind of strength altogether.

Compassionate and thought-provoking, My Nemesis is a brilliant story of seduction, envy, and the ways we publicly define and privately deceive ourselves today.

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118 Reviews

3.0
“idk how i read this so quickly but i couldn't put it down. stressed me out in the best way”
Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes“First off, I was completely smitten with the WRITING. The story itself yes; but the writing was phenomenal. I will definitely be reading more from this author. A cleverly written novel about a woman named Tessa, who is a writer and has this attitude of always being the smartest person in the room. She believes herself to be a “true feminist” aka what we call “white feminism” if you will... Though she is married to Milton, she falls in love with another writer Charlie; who is everything she should despise. A misogynist. Charlie is married to Wah(mixed race); who is described as a quiet, passive woman, who in all actuality, is very smart and strong. Tessa does not like Wah because she preserves her as being “basic” when the truth is, she’s incredibly jealous and wants Charlie all to herself. Throughout this story, we follow along with Tessa as the narrator as she criticizes everyone around her, including her daughter she has a strained relationship. This story showed how contradictory one can be when it comes to matters of the heart, or otherwise. How when you feel entitled to something, and judge a book by its cover you can miss a great opportunity to learn something great about yourself and others before it’s too late. Quote from the book: “Is it always like that, with someone who gives too much and another who takes mercilessly? A tale of martyrdom and narcissism, or a tale of love and temperament—which one is this, would you say?””

About Charmaine Craig

CHARMAINE CRAIG is the author of the novels Miss Burma, longlisted for the National Book Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Good Men. Formerly an actor, she teaches in the program in fiction at UC Riverside and lives in Los Angeles.

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