The Poser

<p><b><b><i>- </i></b>Named one of the <i>Huffington Post's</i> 2015 Books We Can't Wait To Read <b><i>-</i></b></b><br><b><br>Smart and absorbing. . . . Echoes of Steven Millhauser and Tom McCarthy. . . . Probing witty. --<i>The New York Times Book Review</i> <p/>A masterful debut . . . delivered with vaudeville verve. --<i>The Washington Post</i> <p/>Darkly funny. . . . A deeply sensitive exploration into matters of identity and authenticity. --<i>Associated Press</i> <p/><i>The Poser</i> is smart and grand and funny a wonderful fable. Mr. Rubin is a great hope for comic fiction in the 21st century. He's got the spirit and the ear. --Sam Lipsyte <p/>A hilarious and dazzling debut novel about a master impressionist at risk of losing his true self</b></p><p>All his life Giovanni Bernini has possessed an uncanny gift: he can imitate anyone he meets. Honed by his mother at a young age the talent catapults him from small-town obscurity to stardom. <p/>As Giovanni describes it No one's disguise is perfect. There is in every person no matter how graceful a seam a thread curling out of them. . . . When pulled by the right hands it will unravel the person entire. As his fame grows Giovanni encounters a beautiful and enigmatic stage singer Lucy Starlight--the only person whose thread he cannot find--and becomes increasingly trapped inside his many poses. Ultimately he must assume the one identity he has never been able to master: his own. <p/>In the vein of Jonathan Lethem's and Kevin Wilson's playful surrealism Jacob Rubin's <i>The Poser</i> is the debut of a major literary voice a masterfully written deeply original comic novel and the moving story of a man who must risk everything for the chance to save his life and know true love.</p>