Latest news with #infatuation
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong review – a singular new voice
The heart is a peculiar organ. It wants what it wants, as Emily Dickinson wrote. Especially when you're young and have no previous experience of love and desire, or the deleterious effects of time on both. This is the core subject of 24-year-old Harriet Armstrong's debut novel, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies, published by the consistently adventurous independent press Les Fugitives. When the unnamed narrator, a third-year psychology student, meets fellow student Luke in their campus kitchen, she falls hard. They begin sharing meals and confidences in her room, which bears a 'suicide beam' running the length of the ceiling. This memento mori is archly juxtaposed with the narrator's breathless infatuation, which feels as if 'some great transition was occurring inside me, something was aligning, I could actually feel it'. She finds herself 'wide open and completely soft like a small trembling animal held in two hands, two hands which could crush it completely but which would not'. Armstrong expertly adumbrates the emotional intensity and vulnerability of first love, with every page bearing a startling observation or wry aside. The world is made anew: 'I had never seen a winter which was so yellow … before Luke I had never really felt gendered … Luke and I were inventing ourselves.' Of course, her loved one is filtered through her perceptions, and while he is intelligent and attractive, we can also see that he's a self-involved, self-pitying young man, with all that entails. He leaves her dangling and fails to reciprocate her abundant, overflowing emotions. Unlike us, she can't see him objectively. Nor can she see herself fully. While she's aware that her self-conscious awkwardness is the result of her neurodivergence, she's yet to gain the self-knowledge that might deter her from withholding men such as Luke. And so we fear for her future the deeper she falls. What's compelling is that unlike, say, Esther in The Bell Jar, the narrator has no perspective through which to filter her descent. At times the novel is unbearably intense, like experiencing the essence of obsession as it's lived in every moment – which is not to say that it isn't also very funny. Armstrong astutely atomises the gen Z world of online living and flat sharing: 'I didn't want to get up to go and make breakfast and be faced with some shirtless boy cooking ramen'. The passage where the narrator Googles vaginal dilators will, for a number of reasons, bring tears to the eyes. Armstrong's voice is by turns jejune, candid and ludic, but always aware of its effects and its commitment to emotional truth. The Cartesian split alluded to in the title is crucial. While cerebral and obsessively analytical, the narrator is equally fervent about engaging with the messily somatic: 'Perhaps sex was a necessary component of the life that I wanted, perhaps some things really couldn't be accessed at all except through sex.' Luke is ambivalent about her joining Tinder. And so she embarks on a series of tragic dates, losing her virginity with a thirtysomething comedian in a sex scene of almost surreal awkwardness, but written with such dark humour and insight that it ends up feeling triumphant. Almost inevitably, Luke eventually turns away from her. Memories of their time together pour back 'like some biblical flood or plague'. Eventually, it becomes 'impossible to even breathe without thinking of Luke'. At the book's close, she is invited to his 24th birthday party, aware that he's moved on but unable to process the fact, leading to a searing denouement. The final scene is as deft and devastating as the conclusion to a Cheever story. While ostensibly belonging to the subgenre of novels about young women negotiating 21st-century relationships, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies is a world away from the derogatory label 'sad girl lit'. It announces Armstrong as a bright and singular voice in literary fiction. To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong is published by Les Fugitives (£14.99). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong review – a singular new voice
The heart is a peculiar organ. It wants what it wants, as Emily Dickinson wrote. Especially when you're young and have no previous experience of love and desire, or the deleterious effects of time on both. This is the core subject of 24-year-old Harriet Armstrong's debut novel, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies, published by the consistently adventurous independent press Les Fugitives. When the unnamed narrator, a third-year psychology student, meets fellow student Luke in their campus kitchen, she falls hard. They begin sharing meals and confidences in her room, which bears a 'suicide beam' running the length of the ceiling. This memento mori is archly juxtaposed with the narrator's breathless infatuation, which feels as if 'some great transition was occurring inside me, something was aligning, I could actually feel it'. She finds herself 'wide open and completely soft like a small trembling animal held in two hands, two hands which could crush it completely but which would not'. Armstrong expertly adumbrates the emotional intensity and vulnerability of first love, with every page bearing a startling observation or wry aside. The world is made anew: 'I had never seen a winter which was so yellow … before Luke I had never really felt gendered … Luke and I were inventing ourselves.' Of course, her loved one is filtered through her perceptions, and while he is intelligent and attractive, we can also see that he's a self-involved, self-pitying young man, with all that entails. He leaves her dangling and fails to reciprocate her abundant, overflowing emotions. Unlike us, she can't see him objectively. Nor can she see herself fully. While she's aware that her self-conscious awkwardness is the result of her neurodivergence, she's yet to gain the self-knowledge that might deter her from withholding men such as Luke. And so we fear for her future the deeper she falls. What's compelling is that unlike, say, Esther in The Bell Jar, the narrator has no perspective through which to filter her descent. At times the novel is unbearably intense, like experiencing the essence of obsession as it's lived in every moment – which is not to say that it isn't also very funny. Armstrong astutely atomises the gen Z world of online living and flat sharing: 'I didn't want to get up to go and make breakfast and be faced with some shirtless boy cooking ramen'. The passage where the narrator Googles vaginal dilators will, for a number of reasons, bring tears to the eyes. Armstrong's voice is by turns jejune, candid and ludic, but always aware of its effects and its commitment to emotional truth. The Cartesian split alluded to in the title is crucial. While cerebral and obsessively analytical, the narrator is equally fervent about engaging with the messily somatic: 'Perhaps sex was a necessary component of the life that I wanted, perhaps some things really couldn't be accessed at all except through sex.' Luke is ambivalent about her joining Tinder. And so she embarks on a series of tragic dates, losing her virginity with a thirtysomething comedian in a sex scene of almost surreal awkwardness, but written with such dark humour and insight that it ends up feeling triumphant. Almost inevitably, Luke eventually turns away from her. Memories of their time together pour back 'like some biblical flood or plague'. Eventually, it becomes 'impossible to even breathe without thinking of Luke'. At the book's close, she is invited to his 24th birthday party, aware that he's moved on but unable to process the fact, leading to a searing denouement. The final scene is as deft and devastating as the conclusion to a Cheever story. While ostensibly belonging to the subgenre of novels about young women negotiating 21st-century relationships, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies is a world away from the derogatory label 'sad girl lit'. It announces Armstrong as a bright and singular voice in literary fiction. To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong is published by Les Fugitives (£14.99). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Vogue
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Do Opposites Attract?
Two summers ago, I had a weekend tryst in Miami with a former Albright Scholar who wrote op-eds on Middle Eastern policy for The Wall Street Journal. He was the kind of private-equity-toiling man whose calendar included both Capitol Hill briefings and silent meditation retreats in Big Sur. I was tan, tipsy, and constantly tripping over the heels I wore to the wedding where we met. We hit it off immediately. He told me I had 'an incisive mind'; I told him I loved his restraint. By the end of the first night, we were already planning our next getaway. Then the texting began. Over the next few weeks, it became painfully clear that all my knowledge of current events came from The Daily Mail. I forced myself through episodes of The Ezra Klein Show and The NPR Politics Podcast, trying to memorize the talking points, but performance has a shelf life. Things came to a head at an IMF fundraiser when I asked him when the DJ was coming on. Chemistry is sneaky; you think you're building something sustainable because someone knows how to look at you right. But eventually the fix wears off, and you realize you don't even eat dinner at the same time, let alone believe in the same version of adulthood. The saying 'opposites attract' has been co-opted by dating apps and chemistry teachers. But in practice, it lives in a stranger place—that unstable overlap between infatuation and projection. It's party girl meets introverted coder. Jet-setter falls for someone who watches YouTube explainers about bird migration on Friday nights. Difference might pull us in, but years of dating my polar opposites have taught me that daily life can be all too quick to pull us apart. One of the starkest opposites I dated came from a prominent entertainment family—one of those surnames etched into theater plaques on Sunset and movie credits your dad recognizes. But this guy, let's call him 'A,' wanted no part of it. No money, no connections, no help. He insisted on living independently, funding his life with odd jobs and graffiti—yes, actual illegal tagging, often on buildings owned by family friends. At first, it felt cartoonish. 'Fuck the world,' he'd say as we crouched behind recycling bins at 3 a.m., prepping his spray cans. I wore gloves—not for legal reasons, but because the canister was freezing. He painted walls like love letters to a revolution that only existed in his head. It felt misguided and performative—privilege disguised in Krylon matte black. God, it was hot.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift files for restraining order against alleged stalker who claimed to be in relationship with her
Taylor Swift has filed for a restraining order against a 45-year-old man who she says has been showing up at her home in Los Angeles in the last year claiming that he is in a relationship with her and that she is the mother of his child. The filing names the alleged stalker as Brian Jason Wagner of Henderson, Colorado. In Swift's legal declaration, per NBC, the 35-year-old singer-songwriter states that Wagner has been turning up at her home regularly since July 2024. On each occasion, he was stopped and confronted by Swift's security team. "I am informed that Mr. Wagner made various statements about living at my property (not true), being in a relationship with me (not true), believing I am the mother of his son (not true), and needing to see me in person, all of which are untrue and disconnected from reality," wrote Swift. She goes on to allege that Wagner returned to the property twice in the last month. Swift's team ran a criminal history check and learned that while he was incarcerated in 2023, Wagner began sending Swift 'lengthy communications' detailing his infatuation with her and making various claims about being in a relationship with her. Swift added: "Mr Wagner has also sent my staff hundreds of emails with similarly concerning and threatening language, tried to divert mail from my residence to his attention, and even lied to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to somehow change the address on his driver's license to my Los Angeles home.' Swift's team learned of the latter ruse only when Wagner's driving license bearing Swift's address was shipped to her home. Swift makes clear in the filing that she has never met or spoken to Wagner or provided him with her address. She also says the volume of email communications from him has increased in recent weeks. "Therefore, the fact that Mr Wagner has determined where I reside and visited the property several times, refusing to leave and claiming to need access, makes me fear for my safety and the safety of my family," Swift wrote. "The fact that both of these recent visits and Mr Wagner's inappropriate and threatening communications to my staff about me have escalated in recent weeks creates a fear of imminent harm." The Independent has approached Swift's representatives for comment. A formal hearing regarding the restraining order will take place on June 30, but Swift has already been granted a temporary restraining order for herself, her home, her car and her workplace against Wagner until then. Last year, a separate stalker pursuing Swift was arrested three times in five days outside her home in New York.
Fox News
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Taylor Swift fears 'imminent harm' from ex-convict who allegedly visited her home carrying potential weapon
Taylor Swift has been granted a restraining order against an ex-convict who has allegedly not left her alone. On Friday, Swift filed for a temporary restraining order against Brian Jason Wagner after he allegedly came to her Los Angeles home several times over the past year. "Mr. Wagner made various statements about living at my property (not true), being in a relationship with me (not true), believing I am the mother of his son (not true), and needing to see me in person, all of which are untrue and disconnected from reality," Swift wrote in the legal declaration which was obtained by Fox News Digital. In the legal document, Swift claimed that Wagner began showing up at her Los Angeles residence in 2024 and made several visits in July of that year. "On at least one of the occasions in July 2024, Mr. Wagner was carrying a glass bottle that could have been used as a weapon," she wrote. According to Swift, Wagner returned to her home last month and "was there checking on a friend (again, this is entirely untrue)." Swift's security detail ran a background check on Wagner and discovered that he first began attempting to contact the pop star while he was incarcerated. He would write Swift letters "at length about his infatuation with me, a romantic relationship with me (which does not exist), and other completely fabricated stories about his involvement in my personal life," according to the document. The documents also state that Wagner had updated his home address on his driver's license to her Los Angeles residence. According to the document, Wagner sent her team "hundreds" of threatening emails and tried to have her personal mail sent to his home. "I have no relationship with Mr. Wagner and I have never met nor communicated with him," Swift wrote. She explained that his recent visit in May prompted her to act on a restraining order. "The fact that both of these recent visits and Mr. Wagner's inappropriate and threatening communications to my staff about me have escalated in recent weeks creates a fear of imminent harm," she wrote. A judge in Los Angeles granted Swift the temporary restraining order.
