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There’s been no shortage of drama on this season of The White Lotus—just see that incest plotline!—but one of my favorite things to follow has been rather subtler: Specifically, I’m having a lot of fun decoding everything I can about the show’s characters from the books they’re reading on vacation.
This installment of The White Lotus isn’t the first to get a little literary with it. Season one, which was set in Hawaii, featured peak-mean teen queens Olivia (Sydney Sweeney) and Paula (Brittany O’Grady) reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Portable Nietzsche and, somewhat hilariously, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (likely thing for a college sophomore to bring on a trip!) by the pool. “We have a stylist pick our outfits, and then we have a book stylist pick out our books,” Olivia not-so-kindly told an admiring bro onlooker who questioned whether they were actually reading the tomes they toted around.
While this season’s books of choice aren’t quite so undergrad coded, they’re still fun to analyze within the larger context of the show. Below, find a roundup of everything the White Lotus Thailand’s guests have read so far this season—along with a little speculation about what the books mean to (and for) the characters reading them.
Jaclyn Lemon: My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand
An actress is gonna actress! It’s not hard to see why TV star Jaclyn would be drawn to Streisand’s life story, especially since the Funny Girl star was—like Jaclyn—tempted to cheat on her spouse (with one Omar Sharif). That said, Babs, unlike Jaclyn, didn’t actually do it.
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Chelsea: The Essential Rumi by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
A white, self-described spiritual woman reading Rumi by the pool? Color me shocked! In all seriousness, Chelsea (who, bizarrely, isn’t given a last name—is she Cher?) seems like one of the few people at the White Lotus Thailand willing to learn something about cultures other than her own, even if it is in a vaguely Orientalist way. Is Rumi Thai? No—but at least she’s trying!
Laurie Duffy: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Now we’re talking! I happen to have read an Emma Straub book on my own vacation just last summer, which further cements my theory that I am Laurie and Laurie is me (if I may be so bold as to compare myself to a Carrie Coon character). It makes sense that the Brooklyn-set novel would appeal to Laurie, who we know has a teenager, a demanding job, and a weird set of female friendships; all three themes also show up in Modern Lovers. Perhaps Laurie is actually less eager to escape her home base than she may appear?
Belinda Lindsey: Surrounded by Narcissists: How to Effectively Recognize, Avoid, and Defend Yourself Against Toxic People (and Not Lose Your Mind) by Thomas Erikson
Okay, this one just feels like an Easter egg planted for maximum meta comedy. Of course, Belinda needs to learn how to deal with narcissists; she works for the White Lotus hotel franchise! Cue laugh track.
Lochlan Ratliff: Hunger by Knut Hamsun
What is it with mildly disaffected young men and Norwegian novelists? The downward slide of Hamsun’s protagonist might mirror Lochy’s own distress at the tension within his family and his increasingly fucked-up relationship with his older brother, Saxon, but, really, I feel like he’s reading this one because he thinks that’s what guys do. At least it’s not Knausgård?
Victoria Ratliff: The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Oh, Victoria. She just wants everything to be as lovely and luxurious and splendor filled as a Fitzgerald novel, but her stupid kids keep growing social consciences and giving each other hand jobs and ruining her bliss. What’s a Lorazepammed-out North Carolina MILF to do, except delve deep into a book about a whole different set of idle rich people?
