Books
In-person fitness classes are back, and with them, a juicy new debut.
The Peloton fad is over, or so declared Bustle last week.
For me, the bikes have become reminders of pandemic-era isolation and the loneliness it begot.
Ditch the bike, right?
Sheila Yasmin Marikar is a fitness class evangelist.
says the writer, whose debut novel,The Goddess Effect, hit shelves earlier this month.
Anita, the 30-something protagonist, moves to LA to live in a communal living space for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Anita could use some validation about her cross-country move, and her ambient insecurities make hersusceptible to cultish behavior.
Before long, shes making decisions based on What would Venus do?
But Ive made friends and built relationships through some of these classes.
Yasmin Marikar is currently working on her second novel, set in Northern Californias wine country.
Below, she talks reporting adventures, bizarre workouts, and her favorite unlikable women.
How did this book come about?
The idea came from back in 2014.
I had written astory about modern-day communesfor theNew York TimesStyle section.
These were up in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
I visited a lot of these communes and got to know people living there.
Was LAs fitness scene always part of the story?
The Goddess Effect came into it as a thing for Anita to lose herself in.
I’ve been obsessed with boutique fitness for more than 10 years.
And it wasnt just Body by Simone.
How much did you make up, versus relying on actual experiences from workout classes?
An instructor like Venus is not someone Ive ever encountered.
Shes very withholding, which [is a trait] my friend Amanda Montell wrote about inthe bookCultish.
Youre very in the know about the LA fitness landscape.
What did your research process look like, in addition to attending different classes?
A lot of the research came from my own adventures reporting.
In terms of Anita, is she reflective of one person, or more of a composite character?
Anita is a brasher, more reckless version of me.
If I were an animated cartoon and unafraid of consequences, I might be Anita.
Thats funny; I dont always find her likable.
Yeah, and its a little bit by design.
I wanted to have an unlikable female narrator.
And to be inside anyones head is probably just not a place you want to be.
So many of the characters around her have a bit of cringe to them, too.
I mean, I loveSuccession,Industry.
She knows that something is up with this company.
But instead of fixating on that, shes like, I could make a post about this ceiling.
So let me just scroll.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
