The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Flattery, Nicole. Nothing Special. Bloomsbury, 2023.

Nicole Flattery’s novel Nothing Special is written from the first-person point of view. With the exception of a short section at the start of the novel, Flattery utilizes the past tense throughout the narrative.

The novel opens in 2010, when the narrator, Mae, is approximately 60 years old. She recalls a book that she and her mother read when she was a child; Mae grew up in New York City, where her mother worked as a waitress. Mae’s father was absent from her life. Mae notes that, in the 1990s, she and her mother did not speak. She became obsessed with the book and sent numerous emails to the publishing company, asking for information. Mae describes visiting her mother in a nursing home in the months prior to her mother’s death. Her mother was often cruel and ill-tempered.

In 1966, Mae lives with her mother and her mother’s on-and-off boyfriend, Mikey. Her mother often drinks and flirts with customers at the diner. After school, Mae visits department stores to ride the escalators. She has recently fallen out with her best friend, Maud. Mae meets a man, Daniel, at a department store and eventually sleeps with him. The next morning, Daniel’s mother tells Mae that Daniel often sleeps with young girls. Mae grows upset; Daniel’s mother gives her a referral slip for a doctor.

In 2010, Mae runs into Maud in New York. They have lunch together, and Maud apologizes for abandoning Mae in high school.

In the wake of Mae’s encounter with Daniel, she feels increasingly distant from her life. She visits the doctor that his mother recommended; the doctor refers her to a job opening with an artist. Mikey and Mae go to the movies, where he encourages her to believe in her own worth.

Mae goes to the address that the doctor gave her; the space is an artist’s studio, entirely covered in silver paper. As the novel progresses, Flattery makes it clear that this is Andy Warhol’s studio, the Factory. Mae, bold and somewhat brash, secures a job as a typist. Anita, seemingly the head typist, tells Mae never to talk to the doctor again; he often sexually pursues the women at the Factory.

Mae drops out of school and begins working at the Factory. Artists, models, and hangers-on drift in and out of the space. They all focus on Warhol whenever he visits the studio. She slowly befriends Shelley, a fellow typist. Shelley apparently moved to New York from a small town; she often refuses to answer questions about her own life. Mae senses that she could tell Shelley anything. As they grow closer, Mae appreciates that Shelley appears to live in a totally honest manner. They view one of Warhol’s movies, during which Mae pays particular attention to the character known as the Pope. Mae continues to distance herself from her mother and her former life.

Shelley soon allows Mae to join her in her central task at the Factory. Together, they transcribe cassettes of conversations between Warhol and his friends. The transcriptions will eventually constitute a book. Shelley and Mae begin to attend parties, although they remain relative outsiders. The contents of the cassettes are often overwhelming, confusing, or entirely incoherent. As she listens to the tapes, Mae senses even more separation between herself and the world around her. Mae enjoys the recordings that feature Ondine, who played the Pope in Warhol’s film. Mae and Shelley both feel that their work imbues their lives with a great significance.

The tone of the recordings begins to change; Mae notices a newfound exhaustion and frequent sadness. As Warhol becomes more famous, the parties become grander and more desperate. Mae sees the doctor at one of the parties but largely ignores him. She has brief romances with several men; Shelley often asks for details about these encounters. Shelley—who is ahead of Mae in her transcription of the tapes—warns her that the tapes get worse.

After Mae insults Anita, Anita orders Mae to take Warhol’s mother shopping. She hopes that the experience will remind Mae, who is paid very little, of her own poverty. Mae considers moving to California. One night, she moves out of Mikey and her mother’s apartment. Planning to sleep at the Factory, she enters the studio only to see Shelley in the midst of an audition for one of Warhol’s movies. The sight disgusts Mae; she realizes that Shelly, like all of the other hangers-on, does not live her life in an honest or open way.

In the subsequent months, Mae drifts from couch to couch, often sleeping with random men. She visits her mother’s diner, where Mikey gives her a jacket. Mae and Shelley approach the end of the tapes; Shelley reminds her that they will receive no credit for the eventual book. Shelley sets aside a tape for Mae. The tape features one of Warhol’s models stating that very few people are special. Mae finds a note from Shelley to her mother; the note only heightens Mae’s sense that she does not truly know her friend.

Shelley eventually invites Mae to her apartment for the first time. Her apartment is pristine and lavish; Mae learns that Shelley has been living with a wealthy man. Shelley tells Mae that she broke one of the tapes in an attempt to punish Warhol. Mae angrily leaves the apartment.

At the factory, they finish transcribing the cassettes. Anita notices that one of the tapes is missing; Mae, covering for Shelley, claims that her mother destroyed the cassette. Mae understands that she cannot return to the Factory. She gets a job at a movie theater. One night, a man tells her that Andy Warhol has been shot. Anita visits her and asks her to edit the manuscript of Warhol’s book. Mae complies and, eventually, buys a copy of the published book.

In 1985, Mae works at a bar in a nondescript town. Her mother calls her and tells her that Mikey is dying. Mae returns to New York and visits him in the hospital.