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    Persona
    Persona
    Persona
    Audiobook6 hours

    Persona

    Written by Genevieve Valentine

    Narrated by Justine Eyre

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    “Blending celebrity and international diplomacy in a near-future Paris, Valentine crafts an intimate thriller than unmasks the players in the game.” —Publishers Weekly

    When Suyana, Face of the recently formed United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation, is secretly meeting Ethan of the United States, a potential ally for her struggling country, the last thing she expected to be was a victim of an assassination attempt. Daniel, a teen runaway turned paparazzo hoping to make a name for himself, witnesses the first shot targeted for Suyana. Without thinking, he jumps into the action telling himself it’s not selflessness, it’s the scoop. Now Suyana and Daniel are on the run—and if they don’t keep themselves one step ahead, they’ll lose it all.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 10, 2015
    ISBN9781442380776
    Author

    Genevieve Valentine

    Genevieve Valentine is the author of Persona and of the critically acclaimed novel Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, which won the Crawford Award for Best novel, as well as a nomination for the Nebula Award and the Romantic Times Best Fantasy of the Year. Her short fiction has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. She lives in New York City. Visit her at GenevieveValentine.com.

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    Reviews for Persona

    3.5/5

    62 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      Received a galley through S&S!

      Very different from my usual fare, but then my resolution this year was to extend my genre boundaries even more and I've been doing a decent job so far.

      "Persona" is a near-futuristic, character-driven techno-political-thriller(ish) and yes it is awesome. Suyana and Daniel are each flawed and sympathetic and kick-ass in their own ways, as is the varied supporting cast. The action is brisk, the setting is engaging, and DAMN this would make a great movie. Ecoterrorism, advanced photo-tech, Parisian street chases....and flashes of taught political suspense woven throughout.

      AWESOME
    • 3/5
      I follow Genevieve Valentine's blog, so I was aware that this book was partially inspired by her affection for beauty pageants. "Faces" are diplomats, often trained from youth to be the public face of their nation. They seem to make decisions, but in reality their votes and actions are decided for them. The media treats them like celebrities and no one knows how powerless they really are.

      This was a pretty cool look at a Quecha Face and her desire to be more than just a figurehead, and the danger she's in because of that.
    • 4/5
      Meh. Thinks of itself as more provocative than it actually is. Could have been an interesting rethinking about global ambassadors (faces) and diplomats (handlers) and 'celebrity' photographers (snaps), but although you're given enough to get it, there's never any rationale or context for it. The plot involves ecoterrorism. Not sure why. Not sure what the message of this book is or what the author is going for. It's hard to root for any of the paperdoll like characters. In short, the premise had promise, but the execution of the story elements is a fail. A lot going on that stirred up no emotional response in me at all. Not poorly written, but just empty - like a smartly giftwrapped box that has nothing inside but tissue paper.
    • 3/5
      Persona‘s a near future thriller that just never grabbed my interest.In Valentine’s version of the future, each country has a Face, a celebrity ambassador who represents in the country in the media but doesn’t actually get to make decisions. Suyana’s the face of United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation, a young country that desperately needs to increase their status and make alliances. Luckily, Suyana’s arranged to date the Face of the United States. But when she’s heading to that first date, someone tries to kill her. Daniel, an unregistered and illegal journalist, witnesses the attack and despite himself becomes involved in Suyana’s life.I don’t know why I never became invested in Persona. There are no obvious flaws I can point to, but then again, there’s not any obvious strengths either. While I thought the Faces and such sounded intriguing, it’s execution didn’t live up to it. I listened to Persona on audio, and the narrator was fine. But normally when I get into an audio book, I’ll find excuses to listen to it, ending up spending time playing solitaire while listening to the story. That never happened with Persona.I also had trouble believing the connection between Daniel and Suyana. I get that being in dangerous situations together makes people grow close, but I still felt like their connection was superficial.At heart, I think the issue was the pacing. A thriller is supposed to be thrilling. It needs to be something fast and exciting, where you keep flipping those pages. Persona’s most exciting scene was the assassination attempt in the beginning.I know this review is a lot shorter than normal, but I really don’t know what to say about Persona. It went in one ear and out the other. If there’s a sequel, I don’t think I’ll bother reading it.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 3/5
      I feel like I just read the dark version of a screenplay for “Roman Holiday,” the 1953 movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. In that movie, Audrey Hepburn is a royal princess who escapes from her handlers in order to see Rome on her own, and Gregory Peck is the reporter chasing her for a scoop, but who falls in love with her. Okay, Persona takes place in Paris of the future, not Rome of the 1950’s, and the female lead is a diplomat, not a princess, but otherwise, there are a lot of similarities in the bones of the stories. And if you know the movie - oblique spoiler alert - you know the end of this novel as well.In any event, the female lead of this story is Suyana Sapaki, a Peruvian who represents the United Amazonian Rainforest Confederation at the International Assembly, the world’s largest diplomatic body. As the story begins, Suyana is the victim of an assassination attempt, but is saved by a photographer, Daniel Park, who has been following her in an attempt to get a scoop.Suyana escapes from her handlers in order to try to find out who wants her dead, and Daniel is torn between wanting to help her and wanting to get his story. And well, if you want to know how it all turns out, I would recommend renting “Roman Holiday” instead of reading the book. For what it’s worth, I think “Roman Holiday” is a way, way better story, and you can’t beat the cast!
    • 4/5
      In the near future, a country's representatives to the UN equivalent are chosen by their personality, appearance and other similar attributes, and they are called the Face. The face for the representative of the Brazil/Peru is subject to an assassination attempt, which is witnessed by a paparazzo, who helps her escape and hide. He is putting himself at risk, but he is after a great story.
    • 4/5
      Persona is about as different from Genevieve Valentine's The Girls at the Kingfisher Club as you can get. The latter is a fairytale retelling about twelve sisters with an abusive father, set during the jazz age in New York; Persona is a thriller about a diploma and an undercover photographer who are on the run after an assassination attempt, set in a dystopian near-future in Paris.But Valentine's writing style is absolutely recognisable: how the story hooks you in; how the narrative doesn't unfold in an entirely linear manner; the relevant tangents in parentheses; the careful sparseness of her prose; the way her characters have flaws and believable reasons for not warming to each other; the powerful punch of emotional moments; the way solutions are imperfect and have to be fought for; and the remarkably casual diversity of her characters.Persona is set in a world where "diplomacy is celebrity". Ambassadors are "Faces", micromanaged by handlers who make decisions behind the scenes, and dependant upon public approval. Suyana, the delegate for the United Amazonian Rainforest Confederation, isn't one of the Big Nine - those "who had stable economies and agriculture and militaries not given to coups" - so her influence and allies are even more limited than some.I loved the way Persona is written and I found it impossible to put down until I finished it. And then when I did, because I'd finished it, it was with that satisfying arm-flaily glow of Ahhh, this book was really good YOU SHOULD READ IT NOW.It perhaps isn't a book that I'd read over and over - as a thriller, much of it's appeal was tied up the suspense of not knowing what was happening - but that's okay. There's going to be a sequel! She had a part to play. There would be another part to play if she got out of this in one piece and went home. There would be another after that, for the cameras, and one for the Americans to save face, and another and another and another, trading out of the vast catalogue for the rest of her life, masks that never touched.The first time Hakan had explained it to her she'd nearly cried. But the longer you did it, the easier it was; you didn't feel like much of a person, after a while, but that was a problem for later too.
    • 3/5
      In this if-this-goes-on thriller, diplomacy and reality TV have merged so that national representatives are Faces. Our protagonist, Face of a rainforest (though increasingly deforested) nation, barely survives an assassination attempt due to the timely intervention of a snap, a young man who’s snuck into the country to become a member of the new paparazzi. She has to use her political savvy, and he has to use his acute understanding of his vulnerable situation and of the public’s demand for “candids” of Faces, in order to survive, even as his survival may require him to betray her. Understanding myself as someone on the autism spectrum really helped me think about this book, which reminded me of the Lymond Chronicles. It goes like this: Character: *uses small verbal and physical clues to figure out the motives, emotions and intentions of someone she doesn’t know very well*. Me: Okay … that sounds fake, but okay. It’s not that I don’t believe that such people exist, I just can’t imagine what it’s like to be one of them. So all the half-articulated calculations and inferences were obscure to me. If you’re more in tune with those kinds of characters, you might enjoy this.
    • 2/5
      In the not-too-far future, the International Assembly (sort of like a version of the UN) is about to meet, and ambassadors from different countries are preparing to cast their votes. However, these individuals have no actual power and serve as nothing more than a mouthpiece for their handlers, the people who are in charge in truth. Suyana Sapaki is one of these "celebrity figureheads" who represents the public face of her country, the United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation. She is sent to secretly negotiate with Ethan, the "Face" of US, but before they can have their meeting, she is shot from an assassination attempt. She flees from the scene with help from a paparazzi reporter named Daniel, but is he really helping her out of the goodness of his own heart, or just chasing a scoop?It's a shame that this book and I got off to a rocky start and things just never got a chance to recover. For a story that was so hectic and fast-paced, I was surprised at how dry it felt. We weren't given much opportunity to get to know Suyana or Daniel, so I never got to get a good sense of their characters. The beginning also made me feel like I was arriving to a movie long after it's already started, and yet at the same time it didn't seem like we were making much headway in the story even after a couple hours of listening. The book's premise is good, but I couldn't help but feel there wasn't enough plot-wise to keep things interesting.Also, some novels might work better in audiobook format but I don't think this was one of them. If I'm to be honest, I think it actually has the kind of story that would work best as a movie, where visual cues could add a lot to the experience.
    • 4/5
      Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.My Summary: Suyana is a representative of the United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation - known as a Face. Each country has their own Face - like a representative in the UN - and each Face is tasked with the representation and diplomatic responsibilities of their country. Anyone can be a Face ... as long as they look and act a certain way.When an attempt is made on Suyana's life, she only escapes thanks to Daniel Park. But she's not out of danger yet - there's someone out to get her, and they won't stop until they've succeeded. As Suyana and Daniel run for their lives, they discover that their "perfect system of government" may be hiding things that could mean the elimination of Faces and the deaths of anyone who stands in their way. My Thoughts: I don't tend to read a lot of political thriller, but Genevieve Valentine has definitely made me want to start. This book was incredibly fast-paced and action-packed - it was full of intrigue and the amazingly varied settings had my mind reeling. I loved the elements of political suspense, and kept thinking that fans of the movie Taken would really enjoy this novel because I felt like they had a very similar atmosphere. Daniel and Suyana were great characters - each was extremely realistic, well-developed, and - like any interesting character - very, very flawed. I really enjoyed watching them grow closer as they ran for their lives (how else do you solidify a relationship?). The cast of characters had some great variety as well. The only thing I can say is that I wish we got to learn a little more about the implied government conspiracies, but all in all this was a very solid read that'll have me looking forward to more from Genevieve Valentine.Final Thoughts: I recommend this novel to fans of political thrillers as well as dystopian novels and sci-fi.