Kim Kardashian's Selfish book snapped up by thousands

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/18/kim-kardashian-selfish-book-selfies

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Whether it is “a nail in the coffin for artistic photography” or “strangely liberating”, Kim Kardashian’s collection of hundreds of selfies, Selfish, has climbed in to the bestseller charts on both sides of the Atlantic after just five days on sale.

The title, which runs to more than 350 pages of images of the American celebrity, famous for her reality television show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, was released on 5 May by leading art publisher Rizzoli. It sold 1,940 copies in the UK in the week to 9 May, according to book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan, putting it in seventh place in the hardback non-fiction charts and outselling new novels by major writers including James Patterson, Mark Billingham, David Baldacci and Jo Nesbo.

In the US, its sales to date run to just under 14,000 copies, reported trade magazine Publishers Weekly, putting it in 13th place in the adult non-fiction list. Its American fans include the writer Lena Dunham, who published her own “selfie with selfish”, adding: “#yeahiboughtit (I support experiments in female identity exploration/am a student of pop culture/will not be shamed)”.

Rizzoli describes Kardashian as “a trailblazer of the ‘selfie movement’”, saying that the “true American icon” has “mastered the art of taking flattering and highly personal photos of oneself”. The “collection of hand-picked images from her personal archive is a tribute to her fans who have supported her through her very highly publicised journey”, said the publisher. The images, many “never-before-seen”, range from her early life to the celebrity which has followed her reality television show and her marriage to the rapper Kanye West.

At Waterstones, non-fiction buyer Bea Carvalho said that “early sales have been really impressive, with our initial order nearly selling through within a couple of weeks”. The Bookseller’s features editor Tom Tivnan called the book “landmark publishing, a cultural touchstone, the Catcher in the Rye of the Instagram generation”.

“Seriously, one of the reasons it’s doing so well is Kim Kardashian is our dirty little secret. Even those who rail against her in the ‘why is she famous, she has no talent’ vein often pop over to the ‘sidebar of shame’ to find out what she and Kanye are up to. There is unquestionably something captivating or interesting about her,” Tivnan added. “And Rizzoli has tapped into that with a perfectly pitched book and a canny bit of publishing – what better way to tap into our selfie-obsessed culture than by making a title which is essentially an Instagram feed? It’s a brand extension similar to YouTubers Alfie Deyes and Zoella’s books.

“It’s easy to dismiss Kardashian, but there is something smart and calculating under there. I have a vague feeling that it is not merely another money-spinner from the Kardashian empire, but clever postmodern art mocking the entire culture and its fixations which has made her rich and famous. Though that may be reading slightly too much into it.”

Related: Kim Kardashian’s Selfish: a nail in the coffin for artistic photography?

Reviewers appeared unsure what to make of the glossy hardback tome, which comes with a revealing shot of Kardashian on the cover. “Kim Kardashian’s Selfish Is Anything But,” found Time magazine, adding that the book is almost “an ode to the people around her” who do her hair and make-up.

The Atlantic also noted the “industrial production, applied to one’s appearance” which the book reveals, with its reviewer finding that “Kim is, at this point, the unlikely embodiment of Duchamp’s urinal: in declaring herself, against all common sense, as art, she mocks and dares and provokes. She rejects what came before. And with her candour about who she is and what it takes to make her that way, she might also, against all odds, move us forward.”

“This book, needless to say, does not have grand literary ambitions. It has no literary ambitions at all. It barely has words. The words it does contain are so aggressively repetitive that they feel like a true feat of editorial indifference,” wrote Laura Bennett at Slate, adding that “Selfish is an insane project, a document of mind-blowing vanity and deranged perseverance. It’s also riveting. I can’t recommend it enough.”

Reviewers on Amazon have been equally split, with the work collecting almost 70 five-star reviews on Amazon.com, and 160 one-star notices. “This is neither interesting nor candid; it is an anthology of what is wrong with American culture. This was sent to me as a gag gift from a very disturbed individual I once called a friend. He is a friend no more,” wrote one reviewer. “As David Letterman would say, this is why the rest of the world hates us,” wrote another, but a third found it “a great look into Kim’s world”, giving “props to Kim for turning her selfies into a moneymaker”.