Funny You Should Ask

Chani Horowitz approaches her first interview with Gabe Parker with preconceived beliefs about celebrity and fame that are explored, tested, and ultimately rectified by the end of the novel. She’s aware that actors and celebrities construct their personas as carefully as they sculpt their bodies and faces, but she believes—or at least jokes in her article—that to begin with, “[they’re not even the same species” (118). She imagines there’s a line that separates very “beautiful” and “charismatic” people from “regular” people like her, and furthermore, that the public polices this line. She’s sure she’s getting dirty looks when she attends the premiere of Oliver’s movie with Gabe and wants to assure people that no, she’s not with him, and thus not violating the “accepted” laws of the universe. The constant interest in whether Chani slept with Gabe demonstrates the public’s obsessive interest in the lives of celebrities and the curiosity to discover whether that line can ever be crossed—whether someone like Chani Horowitz can attract someone like Gabe Parker.

Throughout the novel, Chani grapples with the line between fantasy and reality, blurred by Gabe’s fame. At their first meeting, Chani is attracted to Gabe’s beauty and his otherworldly celebrity quality, confessing that he is her long-time celebrity crush.