Welcome!
I’m the author of the novel-in-stories Plastic. Told from the perspectives of eleven interconnected characters, Plastic is a story of loneliness and longing, of alienation and acceptance and of the never-ending pursuit of the American Dream.
Reviews for Plastic
With Plastic, Margaret Gracie explores how hyper-capitalist values infiltrate our minds and dominate our bodies. The Sanderson family offers us a mirror, demonstrating the unfairness of expectations placed on mothers versus those placed on fathers, and the shallowness of our money- and beauty-obsessed culture. A potent, ambitious debut.
– Deborah Willis, author of The Dark and Other Love Stories, long-listed for a Giller Prize
Margaret Gracie’s Plastic revolves around the life of Debbie, a former Miss America, and the power and damage her extraordinary beauty can wield. Via Gracie’s deft storytelling in multiple points of view, we’re transported into a world where appearances hold massive importance—at a cost that goes far beyond skin deep.
– Julie Paul, author of The Jealousy Bone and The Pull of the Moon
This collection of interwoven stories offers a devastating examination of the current cultural belief that money and beauty are at the heart of happiness. I was struck … by her critical understanding of these ‘‘plastic’’ characters whose lives she dissects with a sharp and clever knife, but also with great compassion for their struggle.
– Isabel Huggan, author of Belonging: Home Away from Home