Chemical Pink; A Novel of Obsession

by Katie Arnoldi

• ISBN13: 9780312874506
• ISBN10: 0312874502
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2001-03-07
• Publisher: Forge Books

Summary

A stunning and compelling portrait of two obsessed personalities and the perversely symbiotic relationship that draws them together. Aurora Jeanine Johnson is an unwed mother from Savannah, Georgia, desperate to sculpt a new life--and a new body--in California, where the quest for the perfect butt or bicep reaches religious intensity. Spending every spare moment training at the gym, Aurora is barely getting by--until she meets the man who will offer her everything she most desires. Charles Worthington is a wealthy eccentric, rich enough to indulge his every decadent whim and fantasy. Aurora is his sexual ideal, the raw material from which he will shape his masterpiece. He will transform Aurora into the woman of his dreams -- and fantasies -- no matter the cost. To achieve their common goal, Aurora hands over complete control of her life to Charles. He dictates her diet, her lifestyle, her training -- and when and how much she'll take of the body-altering drugs he "prescribes" for her. He decides whom she sees and where she goes. And what kinky games of his own devising they will play. For Aurora, everything that Charles asks is a small price to pay to become the woman she's always dreamed of being. Or is it? Chemical Pinkis a gothic duet that explores the boundary between obsession and pathology.

Author Biography

Katie Arnoldi lives in Venice, California, where she surfs competitively in long board competitions. She is married to the painter Charles Arnoldi; they have two children.

Table of Contents

"One of the most unusual pieces of fiction I've ever seen. I read it non-stop in 4 ½ hours; couldn't put it down. Comic and horrifying, sadistic and hilarious, tragic and funny all at the same time. . . .I never read anything quite like this. It's as if the Marquis de Sade got loose again with his funny bone banging at our front door."--Liz Smith, syndicated column

"Chemical Pink is a dazzling first novel--entirely original, dizzyingly controlled, all ice-cool momentum on the surface and all shock below."--Joan Didion

"Chemical Pink is a compelling novel that explores a dark and troubling world. I was fascinated -- and occasionally repelled -- by this rarefied subculture that Arnoldi so skillfully leads us into. She is a talented writer with a sharp, distinctive voice."--Carrie Fisher

"It is difficult these days to shock and beguile with a kind of aggressive innocence, but Miss Arnoldi has in this book. It is disturbingly funny and utterly unflinching."--Susanna Moore, author of In the Cut