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Rebecca Liu
Rebecca Liu is a commissioning editor at Guardian Saturday and a staff writer at Another Gaze.

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There are only girls on the internet

Book Review

August 2022

Rebecca Liu

Book Review

August 2022

I remember the first time I saw it, like a freshly alert hare alarmed by movement in the distant grasslands. It was 2013. Model...

Book Review

September 2020

Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Bland Fanatics’

Rebecca Liu

Book Review

September 2020

The Anglo-American commentariat is full of lofty egos. Pankaj Mishra has developed a reputation as their great deflater. ‘Watch...

The peculiar thing was that Astrid appeared exactly as she did on screen She was neither taller nor shorter Her smile had the same stretched quality, as if it had been worn thin from overuse She seemed less like a star and more like one of her movie roles, a beautiful but otherwise normal woman who swore in traffic and ate takeout in bed Jenny tried to imagine how she would describe this moment to her brother The house was large and the drive was gated The leaves of the terracotta-potted ficus trees looked glossier and more recently watered than the ones outside Jenny’s own small house But the light that hit Astrid’s face was no spotlight The same sun was jerking sweat from Jenny’s forehead   ‘Jenny Narahashi, the Japanese tutor,’ Jenny said Strictly speaking, Jenny was not a tutor — she was a translator The fee was generous, but that wasn’t why Jenny was here She was doing this for her brother Franklin had been the sort of movie geek who, unprompted, informed strangers that to shoot Barry Lyndon, Kubrick used the low light lenses NASA designed for the dark side of the moon   What would he make of the soft pucker of Astrid’s eyebrows as she peered at Jenny? There was something disorientating about being so close to someone famous It was disorienting Jenny needed a moment to make sure that Astrid was not recoiling but stepping back to let Jenny inside   The kitchen, like its owner, was almost too normal A stained mug loitered in the sink The fridge was magnet-poxed The countertops were marble; but whether it was Egyptian, French or Tunisian, Jenny couldn’t tell   The boy sat on a barstool at the kitchen island He had a child’s slouch and a leading man’s designer sunglasses balancing on styled hair So this was her prospective tutee, drinking Italian mineral water The glass bottle dripped green light onto the white counter-top   ‘Marlow, Jenny,’ said Astrid ‘Jenny, Marlow’ Jenny supposed movie stars didn’t have to ask to use your first name ‘The Japanese tutor, the one who translates Dinowhatever’ Astrid paused  The kid rolled

Contributor

August 2019

Rebecca Liu

Contributor

August 2019

Rebecca Liu is a commissioning editor at Guardian Saturday and a staff writer at Another Gaze.

Jia Tolentino’s ‘Trick Mirror’

Book Review

August 2019

Rebecca Liu

Book Review

August 2019

Talk about the fates of young professional women today and you will often alight on two themes: the anxieties that come with living in...

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fiction

July 2014

Zone

Mathias Enard

TR. Charlotte Mandell

fiction

July 2014

I remember the day Andrija the invincible collapsed for the first time, the warrior of warriors whom we’d never...

fiction

March 2011

In the Field

Jesse Loncraine

fiction

March 2011

There were flickers of red in the water, a tint the colour of blood. He stood in the river,...

Interview

Issue No. 17

Interview with George Saunders

Aidan Ryan

Interview

Issue No. 17

The American short story writer George Saunders has the kind of reputation that makes one hesitate before typing his...

 

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