Reviews with content warning for Racism - Anita de Monte Laughs Last

Wow! What a book. It's so beautifully and incredibly written. The story is nuanced, and layered, and deep. It touches on the female experience, specifically the Latina female experience who take up space in predominately white spaces. I had a difficult time making it through the book. Not because it was bad, but because it was hitting some hard truths for me that were enraging, sad, and overall difficult to process.

I absolutely loved Anita's character. So strong and powerful. So sassy. So confident in herself and her art. I enjoyed seeing Raquel's growth. Her journey resonated with me. It was frustrating and made me so angry to see her settling for crumbs and being made to feel "less than". Seeing her seek validation from outside herself. It hurt to read a story that reflected a lot of my own experiences during college and spending time in white spaces feeling like the odd one out, and like I should feel grateful for merely being there.

There's the feminist POV. A woman sacrificing herself to uplift her male partner. Her partner who the world assumes is more successful than you. Like people reading "Dr." and assuming the person is male. The man's feeling of entitlement. Entitlement to her time, her body, her affection. The assumption that "he knows best" or that his dreams and desires are more important than hers. And her, willing to disappear herself, make herself small (literally, TW: ED) just to fit into his life.

And finally, the spaces. Elevating men and their work to the detriment of women in the field. And this erasure being perpetrated by fellow women! Who gets to have a legacy? Who dictates who that is?

This was such a good read! Painful and enraging at times, but so, so worth it! Honestly, there was more than once I wanted to "burn the whole b*tch down!"

Specific notes:

Anita was so friggin' sassy and I loved it so much!
Jack wanted all the control and power in the dynamic. He can leave when he wants, if he wants. But him? He cannot be “leavable.” She cannot leave him.
He's the typical needy, mediocre white man who needs his own personal cheerleader at all times. He needs his ego constantly fed.
On top of everything he needs to be her hero. He needs to be her comforter and soother. He needs to be needed.
Margot and Claire's entitlement and racism is fricking enraging! The only way a woman of color con obtain a position over them is a result of affirmative action? Please!! Ugh. This section had me screaming in rage.
Anita's first show in New York is followed by a panel called "How women's art practices have affected male artists social attitudes." Not only was Anita not on the panel but there were NO women on the panel.
Nick getting Raquel tummy control party hose had me seeing red.
Narcissists will always accuse you of being the narcissist.

Content Warnings

annamay1021's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

kaneebli's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

bookmarked_by_kate's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

katiebugdpm's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.25

as well written and engaging as this book is, it is deeply uncomfortable to read. while I understand this book sets out to tackle some heavy topics, there were times when it felt slimy, the way she wrote. what made it worse was the utter lack of care the author has for the subject.
Anita de Monte is based off a real life artist named Ana Mendieta- a women mentioned only vaguely in the dedication (just called 'Ana'). Ana Mendieta was a Cuban artist with (essentially) the same life as the fictional Anita, who has a living family that has spoken out regarding her treatment in the book. Like Anita, Ana Mendieta was murdered by her artist husband, also thrown out of a 34th story window. A husband who was also aquitted. Had this book not been as disrespectful and exploitative towards Ana and her family, it would have earned 2 or 2.5 stars (due to how uncomfortable it was to read, and how excessive some of the misogyny/DV/racism was). For more information about Ana, here is an article that can be found in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/style/ana-mendieta-family-estate.html

Content Warnings

seshat59's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There are some solid criticisms of <u>Anita de Monte Laughs Last</u>, namely that Gonzalez never once mentions the name of the real life artist, Ana Mendieta, on whom this story is so heavily based. Some speculate it’s due to legal purposes, and others that she never consulted Mendieta’s family. Either way, I encourage you to read their reviews. I’m adding this as a forward to my previous review because I think it’s important to have all the facts.

As a book, however, I did really like what Gonzalez did. The duality between Anita and Raquel, basing Anita and Jack on real artists, bringing some publicity to Ana Mendieta. (As an art history minor, I never learned anything about Mendieta, but my focus was on ancient art, but still…) The novel was so compelling that I did google and find the real story, and it’s fascinating. Mostly I wanted to see if the art described was real, and it certainly is.

I love the exploration of gender, of egos, of imbalances in relationships, and abuse therein as well. Gonzalez really explores how lonely it is to be a person of color learning about white washed history and how isolating it is.

Content Warnings

matildacc's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

jennyms's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

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