Early in Sophie Madeline Dess's extraordinary debut novel, readers come to understand two things: 1. Artist Ava's solo show consists entirely of portraits of her filmmaker brother, Demetri; 2. Demetri is dying. This setup could portend a maudlin sentimentality, offering little more than the catharsis of a good cry. But Dess demands so much more, both from her story of these brilliant and broken siblings and from her audience.

The novel, framed as the unconventional catalog written by Ava to accompany her show, is awash in painterly observations of color, texture, light, stance. Though it does, in fact, catalog the work, (ex: "Pupils, oil on linen, medium/ Please look at this one the longest.") it also tells the story of the siblings' overlapping and often tortured existence. Dess plays with imagery of reflections and mirrors throughout, underscoring the way Ava and Demetri seem to exist only through the creative perceptions of the other. Their estranged father probes, "neither of you are free, do you see?" and though he adds, "But I'm sure you already understand that," his words are more hope than certainty.

Despite the raw candor Ava seems incapable of hiding, readers will doubt her, marveling at the details of all she looks at while noting the things she may never fully see--her brother, her art, and herself. But they will not question the energy coursing through What You Make of Me nor the undeniable talent that created it. This is a fierce and unapologetic debut from a writer to watch

Demetri and his sister, Ava. Ava and her brother, Demetri. As fiercely competitive as they are co-dependent, the two have long been locked in an emotionally charged relationship. Ava, defiant and impassioned, grew up in the shadow of soft, charming, and intellectual Demetri. But in the aftershocks of familial trauma, it is Demetri who finds himself emotionally ruined, whereas Ava has no time nor patience for grief. As they grow up, following one another from city to city, the siblings are set on their own parallel paths as artists, thinkers, and lovers. Ava throws herself into her obsession with her art, which gradually leads to fame and financial stability – as well as extreme existential insecurity. But Demetri flounders in his own work, unable to escape the wake of tragedy; until, that is, he decides to make Ava his subject.

When Nati, an Italian gallery owner, arrives in New York, Demetri and Ava orbit her, possessed by their own priorities. But when they both fall for her, Nati refuses to play their game. Once again, and perhaps for the last time, the brother and sister must face what they most want from each other, and what they’re unwilling to give.

Intense, provocative, and emotionally acute, this brilliant debut from Sophie Madeline Dess exposes the darkest edges of love and obsession, and lays bare what it means to sacrifice another's life for your art.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of "What You Make of Me." On the one hand the premise and the overarching story being told of complex sibling relationships and the struggle to make authentic art drew me in, but the prose felt overwrought and at times distracted from the narrative rather than complemented it. Overall though, this was a captivating debut from an interesting new voice and I will be keeping an eye out for what's next from Sophie Madeline Dess.

I found “What You Make of Me” to be a good and interesting read. The narrative offered a unique perspective on complex relationships and creative ambitions that kept me engaged, even though the pace felt a little slow for my taste—though that might just be a personal preference.

Overall, I awarded it 3 stars. While the book was solid and had its moments of brilliance, it didn’t quite align with my usual reading style. However, I would still recommend it to other readers that align with this style of writing.

What You Make of Me is a poignant and introspective novel that explores themes of identity, family and art. Dess’s lyrical prose drawing readers into Ava and Demetri’s rich inner worlds. The novel’s strength lies in its deeply human portrayal of resilience and self-discovery, making it a compelling read for those who appreciate character-driven narratives. The emotional depth and thought-provoking themes make it a moving and memorable experience. I highly recommend reading it.

I regret to say that this book (What You Make of Me by Sophie Madeline Dess) was not my cup of tea and that I didn't finish it. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

DNF. On the surface, the writing isn't bad, yet I've never been so bored. The concept feels like there should be more drama with Ava and Demetri but it reads juvenile and forced.

Sadly, this book really disappointed me. The premise was immediately appealing to me - brother and sister are both artists and each other's muses, brother and sister have weird codependent relationship and fall in love with the same woman, brother and sister have childhood trauma and basically only have each other - but it just fell so flat to me. I never love when a book seems obsessed with its writing style, and this book seemed to think that having Ava and Demetri say a lot of bonkers stuff to each other would make us find their relationship interesting. I don't think we were supposed to find Ava or Demetri likable, but they confused me to the point that I didn't really care what happened to them. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

What You Make of Me was one of my most anticipated books of the first half of 2025. I love stories about intellectuals and artists and siblings and weird sex stuff. The word “provocative” in a blurb always gets me, plus it’s got a wonderful cover.

The novel opens with the narrator admitting “That’s always the way with language, an insufficient medium. I try not to use or consume it. It’s not that I haven’t read, it’s that I’m an adolescent reader… And, anyway, words should be spoken, not written. Like how they used to do it—a return to the glory days of oral!” Which accurately sets the tone for the entire novel. It’s written from the perspective of a non-reader, a non-writer.

She and her brother come across as perpetually 16 years old. They say cringey fake deep things and the prose rambles like it’s one long unedited blog post. Paragraphs end with “Alas.” and “Anyway…” There were occasional brilliant thoughts and phrases (loved the description of a character as “recklessly tall”) but they were buried in irrelevant excess. I wanted to hack entire pages down to single sentences. It didn’t work for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF. This was a really rough read. I was looking forward to a heartfelt (if codependent) sibling story, but I didn’t find this to be very smart or well written, neither structurally nor on the sentence level. Lots of overwritten and awkward descriptors, completely unnatural dialogue, and frustratingly abstract footnotes that I didn’t even realize were there until I switched apps. Best of luck to this author, but her work is definitely not for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have never, ever seen a book description so made for me IN MY LIFE! And the cover—SO GOOD…

Twin siblings battle not just in life, but in love with one another, mixed in with a dark past and art! Say less—take all my money!

I flew to pick this up! I was so giddy… but sadly, that was short-lived.

This was not at all what I got. Instead, I got an odd sibling relationship that almost always didn’t make sense, plot and dialogue that mostly went nowhere, and overall just a bizarre story that didn’t come together.

It had all the ingredients to be something great, but it just doesn’t get there.

3.75 stars

This captivating novel is about two siblings, Demetri and Ava, who have a haunting and dark past that lends the book its eerie atmosphere. Even in their adult lives, it continues to haunt them and influences their art, keeping them co-dependent on each other, making it difficult to discern if this relationship is a gift or a curse. Their bond becomes even more complicated with the arrival of a person who becomes an obsession for both.

The book starts off strong and thought-provoking, encouraging readers to understand and be patient with the siblings. Praise to the author for successfully telling the stories of these two siblings, who navigate their dark past and adult lives, and the lengths one might go for their art.

This book is a slice of live style characterization of the relation between Ava and her brother Dimitri with no real plot. She is an artist and he is kind of her muse, she depends on him, their mother died and their father is distant and doesn’t really care for his children (even the younger daughter could use some guidance)

I don’t get this book, it just isn’t for me. I really struggle with the slice of life style and I can’t relate to either of the characters. The character of Ava feels like she is written to shock and be art at the same time which feels novel but also a bit over the top, I’ m really missing a story arc here.

It’s probably a good book to dissect the relationship between the siblings and have room for interpretations of the meaning, but in my opinion it’s not a book to read for entertainment.
But the cover is very pretty! Kudos to the artist!

Coming out on February 25th is Sophie Madeleine Dess’s debut novel What You Make of Me, and to be honest, it is hard to know what to make of it, which is sort of the point. It is a story about two eccentric siblings, Ava and Demetri, living eccentric lives in one of the most eccentric places on the planet, New York City. Both of them are trying to make ends meet, Ava as a painter and Demetri as a filmmaker, but are finding it quite difficult to do so, so they lean onto each other to get by. With that said, they are so codependent, the relationship becomes extremely toxic just prior to Demetri learning he has terminal cancer: Ava becomes infatuated, and ends up having an affair, with Demetri’s lover, who is equally as screwed up as Ava and Demetri. This “love” triangle is not the central focus of Dess’s new work, however. As Dess says on her website: “What You Make of Me has, at its center, a brother and sister.” Thus, the work is about the unusual nature of family dynamics, especially between brothers and sisters that are mirror images of each other.

Read the rest of my review on Cobleskill Commentaries: https://greatbutunknownperformances.wordpress.com/

this ARC was provided by Random House via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review:

the synopsis lied to me :( this was bizarre. nothing happened to the siblings in their youth that they had to heal from, they were just weird. the sister continued to be weird and mean while her brother died, i didn’t understand their rivalry at all. they could’ve easily been friends. not the descriptions of art and the art scene that i wanted. i just didn’t like it right away, but at least it was short. from the description this sounded like it could be like sirens & muses by antonia angress, but it was really just a rambling, inner monologue of a character who competed with her brother and painted weird paintings

I genuinely didn't understand this - I think it was too smart for me. The sibling relationship was confusing to me and I felt like not much was going on. There was something there but I was repeatedly missing it. I feel like my opinion is going to be on the unpopular side after this comes out.

Thank you to Penguin Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Press for the ebook. Ava has been pushed her whole life into becoming a painter by her brother, Demetri, a documentary filmmaker whose films Ava refuses to watch because they might be about her. The two live in separate apartments in NYC, but seem to share one mind and are now even sharing Nati, an Italian gallery owner, even though Ava won’t confess to Demetri that she is seeing her behind his back. Things become impossible for Ava as her brother is now dying and she goes over and over their lives to try and figure out who they really are.