PERSONALS. F-to-F. 27 y/o femme seeks lover before the dead Earth extinguishes all life. Me: works in bookstores, writes funny memoirs, nightly drinker, open to drug use of various kinds. You: baby dyke andro, have a car. Note: I reserve the right to fuck Matt Dillon. ( )

“They were twenty-seven already, in no time at all they’d be thirty, terrifying. No one knew what would happen then. Michelle couldn’t imagine anything more than writing zine-ish memoirs and working in bookstores.”

It's 1999 in San Francisco, and as shockwaves of gentrification sweep through Michelle's formerly scruffy neighborhood, money troubles, drug-fueled mishaps, and a string of disastrous affairs send her into a tailspin. Desperate to save herself, Michelle sets out to seek a fresh start in Los Angeles.

I started this book pretty much knowing nothing beyond the fact it was set in San Fran in the 90s and the main character was a writer. It seems like a normal memoir ish story of life in the town of friends and drugs and rebellion.

When the second half of the book moved to LA I couldn’t figure out what was going on. There was the talk of mass suicides and world ending stuff all being referred to in the background. People ‘dreaming’ about lovers who they would then try to find in waking life and in the centre of it our main character was figure out how to live their life. And what the point was in writing if no one was gonna read it.

I wondered at one point whether it would turn out ‘LA’ was actually a drug trip or some kind of last attempt for her brain to cling to life after she might have OD’d.

If I’d know the story was going to switch to an end of the world scenario I may have been more prepared but that’s my bad and really doesn’t reflect on how well this was written.

All in all this was brilliant exploration of queer life (and life ending) from a writer I’ve not read before. Confusion aside I would definitely read more of her stuff. I’d just be sure the fully read the summary.

This is a two-part apocalyptic story written in the format of a “fictional memoir.” In the first part, protagonist Michelle is living in the Mission District in San Francisco, working in a bookstore, and trying to write a book. Her life is a hot mess. She drinks, takes lots of drugs, and engages in many sexual liaisons. She gets caught in a spiral of self-destructive behavior. She moves to Los Angeles, near her brother, where she gets a job in another bookshop and begins re-writing her book. She wants to stop drinking and get her life on track, just as the world is coming to an end via “black wave.”

This story supplies much material for a group discussion, as there are several ways to interpret it. For example, is the world really ending or is the apocalypse just a device used as an ending to the protagonist’s book? Are people really connecting in dream sequences or are they losing their minds?

I found this book very creative. I got caught up in parts of it, especially the portion that takes place in Los Angeles. It is definitely an unusual take on an apocalyptic story and has a meta vibe. I Am Not a Fan of Mixed Case Sentences in Lieu of Quotation Marks. It was hard for me to get past some of the depressing content, and the numerous sex/drugs scenes, but I liked it enough to read another book by this author.

3.5
( )

Reading this novel is like leaping from rock to rock across a rushing river when you're not sure there is any way to get all the way across or if instead you're just going to tumble in and get carried downstream. Fearless, propulsive motion. Liquid language that tumults forward. A collapse between writer, narrator, and reader that feels physical and actual, not metafictional and theoretical. It left me breathless and exhilarated. ( )

4.5 stars. I don't think I'd ever have stumbled onto this book without the Tournament of Books 2017. Thanks ToB! While there were bits and pieces that didn't totally add up for me (like Michelle suddenly going quantum on a couple of relationships once she got to LA) 95% of it hit me just right, including the memoir-ish approach, author Michelle's gentle, affectionate irony toward the trainwreck that is character Michelle and most of her friends, the meta-ness of the sections in LA, and her depiction of the end of the world. I could add more instances, but I don't want to spoil the many treats new readers will have in store. Some readers have described this book as meta-fiction, or alternative in some way, which makes it sound like a chore to read, but it's not - I'd describe it as charming and fun. ( )