"Anyone who was ever fortunate enough to be a part of X's life had to accept this hazard -- she lived in a play without intermission in which she'd cast herself in every role."
A sprawling, hyper-ambitious work, "Biography of X" pivots from genre to genre as the story demands. The result is a stunning read that compels the reader to question narration and the nature of biography itself.
"I desired her beyond reason, beyond self-protection, beyond common sense, and it is just as difficult to call that love from afar as it is not to call it love when within it."
Catherine Lacy also manages to weave disturbing elements of contemporary society into the work, with references to "The Great Disunion" and "South First!" as part an alternate history. These allusions are unexpected but adeptly handled, lending a weight to the overall story.
" ... Though most of the time I did not question the illusion I lived within, there were moments when I could see our life clearly and knew that everything was beautiful and nothing was right."
On top of this historical undercurrent, Lacey builds a tale of grief management and a commentary on the lens that love forces us to view the world through. "Biography of X" is almost overwhelming in its sheer number of layers, but is well worth the work required to consider it holistically.
"At the morgue they weighed her body, measured it, measured each limb, weighed each organ, determined the cause of death. They gave me a document that described her body in the most discrete terms, as if we could ever say for certain where she ended and where the world began."
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