Review by Booklist Review
In this postmodern tale of high heartbreak, our young narrator is pursuing a creative life in the twenty-first century. The tumult of the narrator's first love is rekindled one night when remembering the Leap Day birthday of Thomas, a beloved ex-lover. Thomas and our narrator first fell into each other's orbit years ago, and their carnal attraction and messy emotional bond spanned the many years that followed. Intriguingly, the narrator is speaking to Thomas after Thomas' death, unfurling the details of their affair, revisiting the sex, romance, pain, euphoria, STIs, and artistic productivity that defined their epic first love as well as the London, San Francisco, and New York spots that became playgrounds for their sometimes toxic and always intoxicating antics. Joseph honors the stylistic legacy of Kathy Acker, and the Beats before, in a delicious stream of consciousness. The book celebrates the freedom and nonconformity of the narrator's youth, and the enormous capacity for love and tragedy that such a life can hold. This raucous and dazzling debut showcases a bright new voice in fiction.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Joseph's middling debut about memory and toxic relationships shows flashes of brilliance, but ends up feeling overwrought and overlong. The unnamed narrator, a transfemme writer from Lancashire, England, realizes it's the birthday of their deceased lover, Thomas James, and suddenly gets the urge to write about themself and their immensely unhealthy relationship with the enigmatic Thomas. The story spans a decade and several continents, as the narrator moves between London, San Francisco, and New York City. Interspersed are a vast array of friends made at parties, most importantly Adam, who eventually winds up in a toxic love triangle with the narrator and Thomas. The narrator constantly tries their best to rid themself of Thomas's manipulative ways, but to no avail. A death impacts the final act, as the ensemble cast tries to pick up the pieces afterward. The author certainly has chops, as evidenced by the narrator's sharp musings on the futility of existence ("all of these gestures we make, all of these cave paintings are just ways of killing a few hours before bed"), but the plot meanders and drags to the point of incoherence. This one needs a sharper focus to give its inspired moments their due. (Dec.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A transgender performer and writer recounts a doomed love affair with a beautiful Londoner. It's a phrase that repeats throughout the novel: "ten years since we met, six years since we last spoke, four years since your death." The "you" here is Thomas James, a gorgeous scenester with whom the narrator, JJ, had an off-again, on-again affair. When the book begins, the peripatetic JJ is in Mexico City and, struck by the realization that it is about to be Thomas' birthday, sits down to write "the chant recalling [his] life." What follows is an almost operatic retelling of queer longing and artistic struggle: JJ bounces between London and the U.S., couch surfing, party-hopping, and trying to sustain their dream of becoming a writer. JJ tries everything from stripping to perfume selling, honing a reputation as a performance artist, all the while pining for Tom. Tom, with his churlish mockery and his barely concealed misogyny, encapsulates everything JJ struggles with: gender definitions, confidence in their artistry, the need to overcome their working-class roots. This struggle builds until the catastrophic end of the affair, though JJ's heartbreak is unending. As perhaps befits a work about a performance artist (a career JJ shares with the author, like their near-names), Joseph's novel is less about story and more about style. JJ notes, "My own tastes have always been baroque, florid even; I always wanted everything in gold leaf," which is as precise a definition of the novel's style as there could be. It's also true, though, that this high drama gets pushed too far at times; comparing Tom's looks to "a little boy, bundled onto the Kindertransport by his desperate mother" is one of multiple unfortunate examples. A debut that lies in the gutter while looking up at the stars, with moving, if sometimes overindulgent, results. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
