Who are you when no one is looking? This question came to mind when reading Allie Rowbottom's incisive debut novel, Aesthetica.
The story follows Anna, a former Instagram celebrity, on her path of reflection and redemption as she seeks to undergo a high-risk elective surgery called Aesthetica™, which is said to “reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures, returning her, she hopes, to a truer self.”
As readers bounce between Anna's past and present, Allie paints a nuanced portrait of a woman stepping into herself while considering her relationship with fame, family, and the trappings of a landscape predicated on image and youth. In this interview, Allie shared more about why Aesthetica is a continued conversation from her memoir JELL-O Girls, her thoughts on privacy and pace, and embracing womanhood. This episode also opens with a story by Dakota Bossard.
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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/allie-rowbottom
Learn more about Allie's work: https://allierowbottom.com/
Follow Allie: https://www.instagram.com/allierowbottom/
Purchase Aesthetica: https://bookshop.org/p/books/aesthetica-allie-rowbottom/18180848?ean=9781641294003
Follow Dakota: https://tiktok.com/@dakotabossard
Brandon Stosuy and Rose Lazar — "Crying is a cool thing."
Mason Spector — "I find a lot of value in the sadness."
Chelsea Hodson — ”I’m genuinely excited about creating things.”
Katherine May — ”It’s okay to get on with the business of living.”
Tembe Denton-Hurst — ”Growing isn’t always in the big moments.”
Ross Gay — ”There’s always a gathering inside of us.”
Tarajia Morrell — ”We imagine our future, our family, ourselves.”
Ella Frances Sanders — ”People ask questions differently, and they also answer questions differently.”
Naj Austin — ”What does it mean to put ourselves on a platform that requires less of us?”
Kayla Maiuri — ”Fiction teaches us so much about reality.”
Jon Staff — ”Our words matter, and our lack of words matter.”
Lisa Taddeo — ”I’ve been there, and you’re not alone.”
Ashley Merrill — ”Design is in service of your rest.”
Coco Mellors — ”If you create something and no one sees it, does it count? Yes.”
Hannah Traore — ”The context is always important.”
Laura Cramer and Starr Hout — ”We’re so capable of realizing dreams.”
Katie Kitamura — ”There’s also incredible power in grief.”
Grace Miceli — ”Slowing down is about trusting myself more.”
Matthew Herman — ”I hope we’re all realizing that we can live by our own rules.”
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