These moments transform the novel from mindless entertainment, as if it were a Bravo show on The Real Housewives of Singapore, into a revealing Economist-style feature.
Parravani tells the story of her twin sister, whose brutal rape led to a heroin addiction and her eventual death by overdose at the age of 28. Accustomed to mimicking her twin, Parravani began to emulate her self-destructiveness.
The Hollywood gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, born Lily Shiel, shaped herself out of nothing much, and she knew it. As her eight memoirs attest, she also knew how remarkable the…