Biography of X

This novel has pretty much everything: an alternate history setting that is at times omnipresent and a detail at others ; a mysterious contemporary artist ; many LGBTQ+ characters ; drama and love. It weaves brilliantly facts and fiction, real artists and writers (oh hello David Bowie & Susan Sontag) and completely imaginary characters (or are they?), and manages to be serious with obvious satirical elements. Very enjoyable.

I pushed to page 146 of this one before I stopped. I kept going because I enjoyed Lacey’s Pew so much, but I have to finally throw in the towel. I’m super disappointed.

I enjoyed the very beginning which introduced me to Lucca and the annoying Mr. Smith. I also enjoyed hearing how Lucca and X met and Lucca’s initial foray into X’s past. But as the story goes on it becomes, for me, incredibly tedious. The dystopian Southern Territory gets over explained and its extremes harder to swallow. The intentional inclusion of sources about a range of female artists lumped together to make X made it feel meta in a way that was inaccessible to me. Most of the details included make this “biography” feel dry and boring instead of compelling.

Such a sad dnf