A Novel by
Lauren Porosoff Mitchell

Mixing urban edge with magic realism, this lyrical first novel is the frank story of a young woman trying to come to terms with her promiscuity and fear of falling in love. Look at Me tells the story of Dana, whose mother was loving and charismatic, with some of the powers of a witch, but who dies tragically young. In response, Dana, barely in her teens, learns to use sex to grab attention and relieve her loneliness. As an adult, a geneticist working in a large hospital in Washington, D.C., she feels caught between the different pulls of her parents. A scientist like her father, she still seeks the irrational,nurturing atmosphere her mother created. As Dana puts it, "a man of science wedded to a sorceress" — what kind of daughter indeed can issue from such a mixed heritage?

Dana’s odyssey is that of a sexual aggressor, comfortable with the ‘slut’ side of her nature, but frightened by any love that she cannot control. She has a compulsion to prove her ability to attract, again and again, but finally has to grapple with the dangerous urges she finds in herself and acts out. Look at Me is a striking debut, a spare, beautifully written novel by a twenty-four year-old talent with a highly intelligent take on compulsive sex and the fear of losing oneself to love.