Description:
True love or easy money--which would you choose?
Fresh out of grad school with her masters in philosophy, Anna is shocked when a career counselor tells her she has "no special skills." Desperate for work and financial independence, she accepts a thankless gig working for a TV talk show. She might be making minimum wage, but at least she has her beloved boyfriend Lulu, the love of her life, to come home to at night.
But one day Lulu runs to the bathroom and starts throwing up cash--thousands of euros in just a few days--hurtling the twentysomething couple into unforeseen wealth. Having spent their lives proudly rejecting consumer society, they suddenly find themselves rich, and Anna is loving every minute of it: she gets a designer bag, they vacation in Tahiti, they throw wild parties in their new luxury apartment.
As Anna grows accustomed to living large, Lulu's health suffers, and she wonders: What would be worse, losing him or losing the money?
In Self-Worth French debut novelist Emma Tholozan delivers a raw, brutally funny portrait of a generation without ideals.
Brief description:
Emma Tholozan is a writer and editor based in Paris, France. Her interests include literature and cinema. After studying philosophy, her first novel was published in 2024, a funny, wacky fable about the power of money and social success. It won the Prix des Catherinettes and the Prix du roman TMV.
Review Quotes:
"With Self-Worth, we've entered a fresh landscape of the rags-to-riches novel... The concise and ruthless honesty with which Tholozan delivers Anna's thoughts make her unlikeable in the kind of way that makes you think, in her position, "I would never act like that!" But like the best villains, we can't look away."
--The Brooklyn Rail
"Taking the pulse of consumer culture while inscribing its most ridiculous consequences, this portrait of survival and yearning brilliantly and incisively excoriates the glittering facades of purchased fantasies."
--Asymptote Journal
"The trope of the goose that lays the golden egg gets a wacky, late-capitalist makeover in Emma Tholozan's Self-Worth ... There are plenty of witty passages and a flurry of shallow cuts"
--Cameron Woodhead, The Sydney Morning Herald
"Offbeat, funny, and singular ... A breath of fresh air."
--Le Soir
"We love a weird book. Emma Tholozan's Self-Worth is next level on the wild-premise scale ... 170-something pages of consumerist chaos. Loved it. Made my skin crawl."
--Mamamia
"Over the course of her novel, Tholozan examines modern society, especially the precariat ... Tholozan's novel, with its intriguing set-up, is great fun, and there are plenty of quips that hit the mark ... Self-Worth takes a fascinating idea and uses it to explore both modern society and human nature, showing what happens when we get what we (think) we want."
--Tony's Reading List
"A fascinating, brisk, modern day sort of fable wherein a barely employed young French woman struggles to get by with a worthless philosophy degree when she discovers her boyfriend has started somehow vomiting up money. Quickly becoming accustomed to a new lifestyle, but taking an increasing toll on her love's health. A sharp, funny, and poignant morality play that delights as much as preaches."
--Seth Tucker, Carmichael's Bookstore
"LOVED! Anna is the perfect unlikable and likeable main character who you understand completely while hoping you will never do what she does. Tholozan packs so much into this short novel, all while making commentary on consumerism, money, greed, and pride. The translation is great, too!."
--Julianna Riccioli, First Light Books