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A review by jessicaxmaria
Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon
3.0
(I fear this was a good book read among many Great Books recently and context always matters when reading.)
Lu Rile is a famous artist—now. But she had to make a decision decades ago that cost her a lot, and made her career. In the '90s, she's living in a pre-gentrified, dilapidated apartment in Brooklyn. She takes a self-portrait every day in her place, and one day the camera clicks exactly when a figure falls behind her, just outside the window.
Lyon's debut novel impressed me a great deal in all that was managed here: questions about art and the provenance of greatness, a non-sympathetic protagonist whose motives you would probably understand if you were in similar circumstances, and even a slip of a ghost story. There's a lot to ponder, and I'll surely be awaiting her next book.
Lu Rile is a famous artist—now. But she had to make a decision decades ago that cost her a lot, and made her career. In the '90s, she's living in a pre-gentrified, dilapidated apartment in Brooklyn. She takes a self-portrait every day in her place, and one day the camera clicks exactly when a figure falls behind her, just outside the window.
Lyon's debut novel impressed me a great deal in all that was managed here: questions about art and the provenance of greatness, a non-sympathetic protagonist whose motives you would probably understand if you were in similar circumstances, and even a slip of a ghost story. There's a lot to ponder, and I'll surely be awaiting her next book.