Life Is About Losing Everything

The selection this month was Nicolette's:  Life Is About Losing Everything, by Lynn Crosbie.

This was the second month in a row where Liz and Nicolette were in agreement about a book.  A rare occurrence, even after 6+ years.  They had little positive to say.  Most of the readers around the table found it to be self indulgent, wandering, in dire need of editing, totally forgettable.

Two of us, myself included, found the book to be lyrical and poetic.

Reviews from across the country are equally diverse.  Canadian Lit is a small enough community that many were guessing at who's who in the parade of thinly disguised characters.

The stories are true, but lovesick and slanted.  

(from Scenes D'un Reve Casanier, Life is About Losing Everything).

I wondered if some of this was true or just metaphor for bad relationships (S & M, heavy drugs, sex with a robot and with a tiny boy toy).  Some of it was funny, some morbid.  The psyche here is in recovery.

If you come to this expecting a linear story or conventional form, then it will be sure to disappoint.  It's meandering, frustrating, takes unexpected turns.  Like a surreal dream.  It is a bit like a Jackson Pollock in that it is visceral, experiential, dark.

This is something I can see returning to, to read in small bursts, like a book of poetry.  Out of sequence, wherever it falls open.