Book Reports

In this inventive novel, Catherine Lacey tells a compelling story about the investigative journey of C.M. Lucca, who writes a biography of her recently deceased wife named “X,” a performance and installation artist, writer, and musician with many identities. Lacey creates a dystopian vision of the United States in the second half of the twentieth century, focusing on the art scene of downtown New York City between 1970 and 1995 that is at once real and familiar. Using contemporary artwork in the novel’s storytelling and design, she peels away layers of art in the text (cameos in the novel include Ed Ruscha and an entirely different sort of Art Basel) and sets off literary and artistic fireworks with photographs and other imagery. —Scott RC Levy