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A review by cowboyjonah
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
5.0
This was SO good... The format of a fictional biography, complete with photographs, real manipulated quotes, and stories from the "author" all came together to create such an interesting, mysterious and creepy character that we never actually meet, leaving the reader to interpret what stories are real and what are not. X at times seemed so narcissistic, so genius, so unlikeable, and so desperate that she almost seems not human, or at least not a human any person reading this book will ever interact with. I want to see and watch Xs art and read her books because Lacey's writing is so intricate and detailed it will make you forget the whole book is fiction. The amount of intricate research, references and creativity the author had to have put into this... Insane
The themes discussed throughout the book itself and through Xs work were also very intriguing - identity, death, reality vs. unreality, grief, love etc were explored in subtle and fascinating ways, even after finishing the book I can't decide is X is a genius or a con, maybe in between, does her persona shape how the reader feels about her? By living through so many identities does she cease to be a real person? Which one is the real her? Both X and C.M. (the narrator) are characters explored with such depth you can't forget about them.
This book was chosen for a local book club and the quote they gave describing the book sums up one of my favorite parts about the novel: "This is at the heart of X's art: We will all experience death and yet we have no real relationship with it - and no real desire to want to develop one -, so we continue to create unrealities in which death only happens to others in order for us to continue to delude ourselves that we are actually living separated from death while also simultaneously dying. By creating so many "I's", X is able to make a mockery of this grand illusion that we all so readily want to agree exists, but, as we are shown in the novel, we continue to only see the illusions and congratulate the author of them rather than understanding what the author is trying to teach us". Abjection and death were thoughtfully provoked in this novel, definitely one of my favorites for the year so far!!
The themes discussed throughout the book itself and through Xs work were also very intriguing - identity, death, reality vs. unreality, grief, love etc were explored in subtle and fascinating ways, even after finishing the book I can't decide is X is a genius or a con, maybe in between, does her persona shape how the reader feels about her? By living through so many identities does she cease to be a real person? Which one is the real her? Both X and C.M. (the narrator) are characters explored with such depth you can't forget about them.
This book was chosen for a local book club and the quote they gave describing the book sums up one of my favorite parts about the novel: "This is at the heart of X's art: We will all experience death and yet we have no real relationship with it - and no real desire to want to develop one -, so we continue to create unrealities in which death only happens to others in order for us to continue to delude ourselves that we are actually living separated from death while also simultaneously dying. By creating so many "I's", X is able to make a mockery of this grand illusion that we all so readily want to agree exists, but, as we are shown in the novel, we continue to only see the illusions and congratulate the author of them rather than understanding what the author is trying to teach us". Abjection and death were thoughtfully provoked in this novel, definitely one of my favorites for the year so far!!