Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Anita de Monte Laughs Last

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

74 reviews

mulhollen's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I greatly enjoyed the book Anita de Monte Laughs Last. I listened to this on audiobook and the actors brought these characters to life. I couldn’t stop listening. I finished this book over a weekend while trying to squeeze it into any of my free time!

I loved the different point of views throughout the book of Anita, Jack, and Raquel.

However my rating for this book is lower as it was not clear this book was based off Ana Mendieta and her life. So much was mirrored to Anita’s life and even specific art, but Gonzalez wrote without consulting the family or mentioning her name. Feels hypocritical and similar to how Jack hides Anita’s work.

I keep my rating higher as it least accomplishes what Raquel does for Anita. Gets people talking about Ana! I probably would not have known her story without this book.

I hope Gonzalez and Mendieta family can work together and turn this into the dedication Ana deserves.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/style/ana-mendieta-family-estate.html

Content Warnings

autumn_alwaysreadingseason's review against another edition

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3.0

1985. Anita de Monte is an up and coming artist who becomes involved with a white man named Jack. He's an artist too and his actions make Anita feel that her work doesn't matter as much to him. She opts out of a residency in Florida to follow him to California. But when he stops introducing her as an artist, and he constantly loses his temper, she has had enough. She decides to take herself seriously if he won't. They have a toxic and abusive marriage, which results in her death. The art world protects Jack and Anita fades into the background.

In the 1990s, Raquel is an art history major at Brown. Her mentor is a Jack Martin scholar and she is writing her senior thesis about Martin to get a good recommendation. She becomes involved with an artist and loses herself, mirroring Anita's story in some ways. But after months of body shaming, an incident makes Raquel wake up. She frees herself and also discovers Anita's work and story.

This is a tough one. Looking back, I appreciate how Gonzalez weaves these two women together and criticizes the art scene for centering white male narratives. Anita's work had so much more meaning that Jack's minimalist pieces, but she wasn't recognized. The volatility of their relationship was always on full display and many people witnessed how terrible he was to her, but nobody did anything about it. Creative industries often abuse women (women of color even more).

However, this was hard to get through because of how terrible the men were. I had to mentally prepare myself every time I listened to it. I also should have looked up content warnings because there is a lot of body shaming and one of the characters struggles with disordered eating.

The audiobook production on this one is intense. The actresses got into character and really displayed the passion and emotion in the scenes that required it.

Content Warnings