The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Burton, Tara Isabella. Social Creature. Anchor Books, 2018.

Social Creature takes place over the course of a year in the life of Louise Wilson. Louise begins the novel as a 29-year-old woman living in New York City, working several jobs to make ends meet. At one point, Louise had moved to New York from Devonshire, New Hampshire with her boyfriend, Virgil Bryce and dreamed of becoming a writer, however they have since broken up and Louise no longer thinks her writing career will go anywhere.

Lavinia Williams is a very wealthy, eccentric 23-year-old on “sabbatical” from Yale, living in an expensive brownstone owned by her parents and supposedly working on her novel. Lavinia hires Louise as an SAT tutor for her younger sister, Cordelia, and invites her to a New Year’s Eve party. Starting from that night, Lavinia begins taking Louise to strange and glamorous parties around the city, and other expensive and extravagant adventures. Louise meets Lavinia’s friends, including Rex, Lavinia’s ex-boyfriend, whom she feels a sudden attraction to.

After Louise experiences a violent encounter with a cat-caller outside her apartment, Lavinia insists Louise move in with her. From there, their friendship becomes more and more toxic and intertwined. Louise also begins to learn more about Lavinia’s past, including that she has had several female friendships play out similarly to her friendship with Louise, and that they have all ended badly. She also learns that Lavinia’s sabbatical was a result of her attempting suicide following Rex breaking up with her. Louise lies to Lavinia frequently: she tells her she likes Lavinia’s terrible novel, she steals money from Lavinia, and she even secretly goes on a date with Rex.

One night, at the opera, Lavinia initiates a sexual encounter with Louise, though Louise quickly realizes she did it to make Rex jealous. Their friendship continues to deteriorate. Louise steals increasingly large amounts of money from Lavinia. Lavinia forces Louise out to more and more parties and introduces her to increasingly large amounts of drugs, specifically cocaine and Adderall. The parties and adventures make Louise lose her jobs and even more dependent on Lavinia. Louise manages to get a job working an exclusive sex party, which Lavinia decides to go to against Louise’s wishes. Lavinia becomes angry when Louise will not take a picture with her, leading to a confrontation in the bathroom. The two almost make up but Lavinia sees Louise has a message from Rex. The two end up in a physical fight and Louise, either accidentally or otherwise, kills Lavinia.

Following Lavinia’s death, Louise sneaks her body away and dumps it into the harbor. She takes control of Lavinia’s life, posting frequently on Lavinia’s social media accounts so everyone will think she is still alive. She also frequently messages with Lavinia’s friends and family, as Lavinia. At the same time, Louise lives on Lavinia’s money and furthers her writing career. She also pursues a relationship with Rex. This continues on for several months, but Louise starts to run out of money as Lavinia’s parents have cut her off for not returning to Yale.

Cordelia arrives at the apartment, suspicious and worried about Lavinia. Louise lies to her, saying Lavinia is on a road trip, and forces Rex to pretend he is still in love with Lavinia so Cordelia will not find out that Rex and Louise are a couple. After an awful Christmas party where Cordelia drinks too much and is assaulted, she decides to leave. However, one night, Louise has Rex over and the two start to have sex when Cordelia walks in on them, as her flight was cancelled. Infuriated, Cordelia throws them out and becomes even more suspicious of Lavinia’s supposed whereabouts.

Rex and Louise leave, and Louise decides to go to the harbor. Realizing her life is falling apart, she wades into the water and admits to Rex that Lavinia is dead. Shocked, Rex insists that they go to the police and tries to pull Louise out of the water. Louise pushes him under and drowns him. She considers trying to fix her current circumstances, and instead simply dyes her hair, takes her fake ID, and wanders into a crowd, ending the novel.