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jo's Reviews > Crudo
Crudo
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i'm a bit stuck on something here. crudo, the italian word, means indeed "raw." but anyone who has spent more than a week in italy, and laing definitely has, knows that the first association anyone has to the word crudo used by itself and out of context is to prosciutto. italians call prosciutto "prosciutto crudo" or just "crudo." i wouldn't know why laing would choose this particular word for her novel's title, but since it evokes luxury and pleasure (prosciutto is both super tasty and expensive -- the good kind at least), i think it goes with some of the themes of the novel.
which are, in no particular order, love, luxury living in italy and england, an august-november marriage, the t* regime, the end of the world, aging, nostalgia, and kathy acker. (this is my second t* novel; the first is the beautiful and omg hopeful The Book of Dog, by our own Lark Benobi).
i loved this book. i love the free-flowing yet carefully chosen language, the ruminations on how to love and age and enjoy things in late-stage capitalism, when so many are in incredible pain and deprivation and, also, a ridiculous head of state is bringing us all to the brink of worldwide insanity.
i love that kathy and her husband enjoy each other so damn much, don't sleep in the same room (a still shameful practice that i think would fix many a couple), and have a somewhat open marriage but are too in the throes of love to make anything of it. i love the massive love between these two, that the protagonist thinks of herself, a la kathy acker, a kind of gay man, that she surrounds herself with art and literature and good friends, that she's a free spirit who is openly narcissistic (as per her definition) but doesn't give a shit.
also i love that the book unabashedly and openly cannibalizes other published words (mostly by kathy acker) without putting the stolen bits in quotation marks (but acknowledging them in the endnotes). it's comforting to creators to think, to paraphrase kathy acker, that all literature/art is plagiarism. if this, this book, is how plagiarizing others looks like, let's all do it i say.
which are, in no particular order, love, luxury living in italy and england, an august-november marriage, the t* regime, the end of the world, aging, nostalgia, and kathy acker. (this is my second t* novel; the first is the beautiful and omg hopeful The Book of Dog, by our own Lark Benobi).
i loved this book. i love the free-flowing yet carefully chosen language, the ruminations on how to love and age and enjoy things in late-stage capitalism, when so many are in incredible pain and deprivation and, also, a ridiculous head of state is bringing us all to the brink of worldwide insanity.
i love that kathy and her husband enjoy each other so damn much, don't sleep in the same room (a still shameful practice that i think would fix many a couple), and have a somewhat open marriage but are too in the throes of love to make anything of it. i love the massive love between these two, that the protagonist thinks of herself, a la kathy acker, a kind of gay man, that she surrounds herself with art and literature and good friends, that she's a free spirit who is openly narcissistic (as per her definition) but doesn't give a shit.
also i love that the book unabashedly and openly cannibalizes other published words (mostly by kathy acker) without putting the stolen bits in quotation marks (but acknowledging them in the endnotes). it's comforting to creators to think, to paraphrase kathy acker, that all literature/art is plagiarism. if this, this book, is how plagiarizing others looks like, let's all do it i say.
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Reading Progress
March 4, 2019
–
Started Reading
March 4, 2019
– Shelved
March 4, 2019
–
35.0%
March 5, 2019
–
50.0%
March 9, 2019
– Shelved as:
great-britain
March 9, 2019
–
Finished Reading
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Simon
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Mar 10, 2019 12:07PM
Great review! Bonzer!
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fantastic!!!
I am so happpy that you loved this book, because I am expecting so much from it and your love of it tells me I am probably not wrong to anticipate it eagerly!
Bryn (Plus Others) wrote: "I am so happpy that you loved this book, because I am expecting so much from it and your love of it tells me I am probably not wrong to anticipate it eagerly!"and the pressure is ON! lolololol
it's actually a rather light and breezy book, so don't expect gravitas k?
LOL sorry for the pressure! I'll expect the light & breezy, which sounds great but not necessarily what I was expecting after the nonfiction of hers I read.
Is it good? I’d love to read it.
I read The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone and it was fantastic -- it is a mix of memoir about being lonely in New York and examinations of artists in urban environments whose experience of loneliness (often connected to queerness) she feels had a profound impact on their work -- Hopper, Warhol, David Wojnarowicz and a few others. For someone who is more familiar with modern art it might not have been as exciting, but I knew next to nothing about any of the artists she wrote about, and for me she got the balance of memoir just right, exactly enough to propel her investigations about the artists.
Bryn (Plus Others) wrote: "I read The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone and it was fantastic -- it is a mix of memoir about being lonely in New York and examinations of artists in urban enviro..."Thank you!
I loved all the things you loved about it -- I am so, so glad I read it.
And yes, light and breezy and without gravitas but about such weighty things -- it was exactly what I was hoping for.
