A review by msand3
Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard

3.0

Shepard’s final work is a brief collection of various voices and perspectives on the approach of death, written in his sparse, straight-forward, staccato prose style. Despite its label as fiction, it feels deeply personal. The fractured narrative transforms Shepard’s observations into something more than a diary of dying, such as one might find in Daudet’s [b:In the Land of Pain|110988|In the Land of Pain|Alphonse Daudet|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402552612s/110988.jpg|106913]. It’s hard for me to review this work, knowing that Shepard spent his final weeks crafting it (first by hand, then through dictation). It’s not a great piece of fiction, but sometimes writing doesn’t have to be great to get across truth. This is an honest, real, and unflinching portrait of the last days of the artist coming to terms with the end of his days. It was worth a read just for that.