Meg Mason's Sophie, Standing There reviewed
A review of Meg Mason's new novel Sophie, Standing There, which follows a literary festival technician's life and her obsession with a famous author.
Meg Mason's new novel, Sophie, Standing There, follows a literary festival technician. The book is the follow-up to her 2020 tragicomedy Sorrow and Bliss.
The protagonist, Sophie, is invisible in her professional life. She is the person who attaches microphones to famous writers just before they go on stage. According to the review in The Guardian, the opening pages feature cameos from real authors. George Saunders is depicted insisting on a last-minute microphone swap. Ann Patchett appears frosty with a fan. Mick Herron steps on someone's foot and does not apologise.
Sophie is also a spectator in her own personal life. Her husband recently ended their relationship with notable callousness, dashing her hopes of motherhood. Her books are in storage and she lives in a dingy rental flat owned by her ex. The review describes her coffee table as a cable spool with '12 AWG' spray-painted on it.
Prose and Perspective
Mason's prose is described as wan and witty, adeptly mixing pathos and bathos. Her sinuous sentences capture the wavering movements of thought. The review compares them favorably to Virginia Woolf's, noting they achieve this with less fuss and more laughs.
Sophie is a bookish character aware of her literary parallels. She has 'a lot of sad girl fiction' on her Kindle. She reflects specifically on Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, a book she once recommended but now wishes she had never heard of.
The novel is also praised for its depiction of life's small joys and routine humiliations. These include the pleasure of a scalp massage at the hairdresser or the embarrassment of bumping into an ex with a leaky bottle of coconut water.
A Literary Obsession
The plot is driven by Sophie's parasocial obsession with a famous writer. For much of the book, this figure is known only as 'the author'. Mason later names her Lilac Dunne. Sophie rereads her books, talks to an imaginary version of her, and spends hours looking at her pictures and listening to podcasts.
Fantasy collides with reality when Lilac is booked for a festival event after Elizabeth Strout drops out. Sophie is terrified. An infatuation with Lilac's public persona becomes complicated by actual encounters. Lilac takes some interest in Sophie, which flatters and flusters her.
The review identifies a potential fault in the characterisation of Lilac. As a writer, she seems unstuffy, poised, and wise. In person, she is harder and more ruthless, yet remains an impenetrable figure. She lacks the psychological complexity shown by other characters, acting more as a plot device than a fully realised person.
The reviewer suggests this might be intentional. Mason's narrative is described as a 'Bridget-Jones-meets-Pirandello caper'. A line from the closing chapters opens a postmodern reflection: 'If someone wrote a novel about Sophie, which they wouldn't, but if they did, it could end there.' The novel, however, continues.
