Reviews tagging 'War'

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

10 reviews

moond4ncer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional relaxing slow-paced

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

3.0

X should have been an ex- even before pointing the gun. This is a story written from the perspective of an obsessive narcissist about a misanthropic narcissist. X is not interesting enough to be as awful as she is to the people that love her. And our narrator is so unreliable at times I wondered if I was wasting my time.

 I was reminded near the end though that each partner in a relationship has their own version of the relationship, from to way that they perceive you from the way they see the role they play in the relationship. When these things are factually inaccurate, the couple has to work harder in different ways. 


It was also a reminder that as time goes on everything evolves. Relationships change, and people change too (though not usually into different people like X). Even the experience of the book changed. At times I was hanging on every word. At times it was so slow or pretentious that I didn't think I'd pick it up again. Altogether I think I've walked away with an insistent urge to hug my lovely boyfriend and a reminder that life and love are as complex as each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, War, Gaslighting, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

kt2e56's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Really well crafted. 

Actually feels like a real biography and the author does a great job mixing the real world with her own alternate version of history to really convince you of X and this story. Speaking of the alternate United States of this book, I like that it wasn’t spelled out right away but a gradual reveal about 10% or so into the book. It was like a punch in the gut once the Southern Territory was revealed.

Also a really gorgeous portrait of a woman (the fictional author) struggling to make sense of not only her marriage but of the abuse she endured and whether or not it was true (like some of the folks she interviews seem to be suggesting) that *her* suffering and the way she was treated was justified because it fueled art. 

It’s common for victims to blame themselves or feel like they deserved to be treated badly or were lucky to be with their abusive but often more charismatic partner. 

Just a really, really thought provoking book and I think it’s going to stay with me for awhile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual violence, War, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Self harm

bluedilly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Stalking, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Excrement, Infidelity, Murder, Misogyny, Sexism, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, War, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Biphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Homophobia, Classism, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Sexual assault, Dementia, Ableism, and Adult/minor relationship

barfbabe's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Death

Moderate: War, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse

mirandakellymacbeth's review against another edition

I found the world this book is written in (an alternate time line USA) to be super interesting but the characters to lack anything relatable or even enjoyable about them. Like the more I learned about X the more annoyed I was with her and the more annoyed I was for her wife’s obsession (or “love”) for her. Ultimately I decided to stop reading it because it felt a little bit like a drag. I would have preferred a tradition first or third person story form int his world rather than the biography form. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

Minor: War, Racism, Abortion, Homophobia, and Death

readingpicnic's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, War, Stalking, Murder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

overmonroeville's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, War, Racism, Stalking, and Physical abuse

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rachaelwho's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This one was not for me. It feels unfair not to like it- it's not NOT what the description says it is, but I thought it would be more compelling and exciting. There didn't seem to be a good reason why it couldn't be, but it wasn't. It was unbearably dry and felt so, so very long. I've loved others of Lacey's books and was stoked for this one, and on paper it seems to deal with all the usual themes she does so much with in other works, but it just didn't do it for me. I did get a little self-satisfied kick from recognizing the names of real art world characters dropped into the (fictional) works cited. I think maybe I'd have liked this more at a brisker pace, half the length, and that's likely on me because I say that a lot lately. Maybe I'll try this one again but it drained me and felt positively colorless, bloodless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Outing, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, War, and Homophobia

random19379's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse

savvylit's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This ambitious novel takes place in an alternate version of the United States in which the South seceded from the rest of the country in the 1940s. For fifty years, the South remained impenetrable to Westerners and Northerners. Then, in the 1990s, reunification began. This unique setting and political context frames the entire "biography."

Biography of X is a sort of literary mystery that's entirely narrated by her widow, C.M. Lucca. C.M. intertwines her discoveries about X's secretive past with memories of her own toxic relationship to her. Readers come to discover alongside C.M. that X was an incredibly unlikeable and manipulative narcissist. At first, her narcissism is harder to see as X hides behind her art. Performance, film, novels - at some point, X did it all. From nearly the beginning of her life, X adopted so many different personas that she became a notorious and inveterate con artist.

X's fictional life as depicted in this story is both glamorous and fascinating. C.M. recounts X's friendships with real-life superstars such as David Bowie, Tom Waits, and Susan Sontag. However, it's not X's glamorous life that makes this novel so compelling to read. Rather, it's the immersive effect of the narration by C.M. C.M. is haunted by X and her controlling ways. Even years after X's passing, C.M.'s life revolves exclusively around X. As she embarks on her investigation, C.M. continues her pattern of deferring her own personality and interests to those of X. Ultimately, this novel offers a fascinating look into the long-term effects of an intimate relationship with a narcissist.

Thank you @netgalley and @fsgbooks for the advanced reader copy of Biography of X in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death, War, Abandonment, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Drug use and Domestic abuse