Woo Woo - by Ella Baxter (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A thrilling and eccentric novel about what it means to make art as a woman, and about the powerful forces of voyeurism, power, obsession, and online performance

Woo Woo follows Sabine, a conceptual artist on the verge of a photo exhibition she hopes will be pivotal, as she plunges deeper into her neuroses and seeks validation in relationships--with her frustratingly rational chef husband, her horde of devoted Gen Z TikTok followers, and even a mysterious, potentially violent stalker.

Accompanying her throughout are Sabine's strange alter egos, from hyperrealistic puppets of her as a baby to the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann, who shows up with inscrutable yet sage life advice.

Ella Baxter approaches the desire to see and be seen that defines both the creative and romantic act with humor, empathy, and a good dose of wildness, driving Sabine to an surreal and compelling climax that forces her--and us--to reconsider what it means to be an artist and a partner.

Review Quotes

NPR, A Best Book of the Year
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of Fall

"A bewildering exploration of exposure and autonomy and of seeing and being seen, through art and in life." --Kristen Martin, A NPR Best Book of the Year

"Woo Woo [is] a hyper-focused character study of a working artist in the age of platform capitalism. It at once lampoons and indulges the quirks of the self-marketing creative . . . As both a satire of the contemporary art world and a sincere portrait of the 'chronically online' artist, Woo Woo effectively captures the emergent energies of a generation accustomed to transgression and feminism, but still struggling to metabolize these terms when a living woman embodies them." --Jenny Wu, The New York Times Book Review

"Ella Baxter cements herself as a novelist with a gift for exposing vulnerability under the surface of the absurd . . . [A] thoroughly bewildering exploration of exposure and autonomy, of seeing and being seen, through art and in life." --Kristen Martin, The Washington Post

"A captivating meditation on art, obsession, and the difficulties women face while creating their work . . . Discomfort and vulnerability permeate the tale, a smolderingly disturbing yet often hilarious chronicle of Sabine's fantastical interior world, a mental landscape characterized by a near-hallucinogenic commitment to her work . . . The book shines as a satire on the relentless blurring of reality and artifice within the art world . . . [R]eaders who enjoy capital-A Art will likely be enthralled by Baxter's careful dissection of an artist at work." --Eric Liebetrau, The Boston Globe

"Bracing . . . Woo Woo is a sharp, scathing satire of the monstrousness of the contemporary art world--namely, its competitiveness, pretensions, and suffocating insularity. Baxter has an acerbic pen, aided by an ear for dialect--she wields both internet- and therapy-speak, not to mention the willfully opaque language of the art world, to great effect in skewering her target." --Sophia Stewart, The Atlantic

"At once a ridiculously funny satire on the art world and feminist rebuttal to bodies commodified in the name of creativity, Ella Baxter's Woo Woo is a bizarre and astute reckoning with art itself." --Sam Franzini, Our Culture Magazine

"For fans of Tár and Velvet Buzzsaw, Woo Woo is at once a searing critique of the art world and a gripping story of rage and how one woman experiences art in her body. The novel asks smart questions about artistic process, celebrity, and the parasocial relationships we develop with cultural icons." --Michael Colbert, Referential

"Imagine Miranda July's All Fours crossed with Ruben Östlund's The Square, throw in some Stephen King, and that will give you a good sense of this slick tale of obsession and consumption." --Emily Cox, Art in America

"Thrilling, eccentric . . . Baxter delivers Sabine's story with the dark-humored, minimalist effects that define Baxter's writing style, and Woo Woo launches an honest, emotional, and empathetic discussion about art, mental health, and relationships in the modern world . . . Woo Woo is a fantastic novel, rife with psychological and emotional twists and turns that leaves us laughing, questioning why we're laughing, and then thinking philosophically about the ethical, moral, and social crossroads artists frequent." --Nicole Yurcaba, Heavy Father Review

"Sure-to-be strange, sure-to-be-gripping . . . A new form of art monster rises over the horizon . . . " --Drew Broussard, Literary Hub

"The whirligig pace of the novel relentlessly intensifies from chapter to chapter as Sabine navigates the boundary between real and manufactured, all in front of a live audience . . . The book is a pointedly absurdist send-up of the pretensions of the art world, which nevertheless carries at its core a real exploration of what is at stake when one lives for art. Baxter continues her triumphant exploration of real lives lived on the fringes of the surreal. Sassy, sharp, and very funny, but with a consequential heart." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Delightfully untamed . . . Baxter expertly builds suspense via Sabine's increasing distress and the presence of the stalker, and she succeeds at keeping readers guessing at the line between reality and Sabine's twisted perceptions. Those with a fondness for unreliable narrators will have a blast." --Publishers Weekly

"Woo Woo is a deeply enthralling, lowkey disturbing, and very funny portrait of an artist teetering at the edge of a spiral. I'm awestruck." --Samantha Irby

"Smart, razor sharp, and witty, Woo Woo takes us on a wild journey of female ambition, art, social media, stalkers, and dinner parties full of people with exquisite mullets vaping. I'll read anything Ella Baxter writes--and Woo Woo is unmissable." --Sarah Rose Etter, author of Ripe

"Equal parts satire, ghost story and fever dream, Woo Woo is sharply funny and thrillingly original. In her examination of artistic ambition, female rage and the obsessions that haunt us, Ella Baxter proves to be an electrifying literary force. To read her fiction is to be in the company of a truly singular mind." --Madelaine Lucas, author of Thirst for Salt

"Brimming with rich and visceral prose, Woo Woo elegantly traverses the realms of performance art, intimacy, and online surveillance. A wild odyssey, this book made me feel delightfully seen, and absolutely feral." --Nada Alic, author of Bad Thoughts

"Ella Baxter's Woo Woo is hysterically funny, a wild, unhinged journey into the heart of bewilderment. For Sabine, a conceptual artist, all of life, all of emotion, all human relationships, have the potential to become art. What does that mean when her newest exhibition nears, and a stalker makes himself known? This mordant, feral novel is an explosion of art and fury, and it is the best book I've read in a long while." --Lindsay Hunter, author of Hot Springs Drive

"Ella Baxter has written a mesmerizing, strange, propulsive world of art and loneliness and sleep deprivation that swirls her readers around like wine in a glass, forcing us to reckon with who we are and what we believe. One of the few books about process and creation that doesn't get lost in its own self-importance, Woo Woo is a novel people will want to talk about for years to come. Baxter is a master." --Kelsey McKinney, author of God Spare the Girls

About the Author

ELLA BAXTER is a writer and artist living on unceded land of the Wurundjeri people. She is the author of New Animal, which was shortlisted for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, and was longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the Matt Richell Award for New Writers.