weird and totally fascinating… alt history southern us fascist secession as the setup for alt history of contemporary (US) art. there are so many layers here, to the world & the characters. idk if I’ve read something like this before - really engrossing and dark and also imo very funny in a very understated way! like

“Brian Eno transitioned in this timeline”

is both very cool and extremely funny to me as a throwaway detail, as is

David Bowie calling out X for saying fascist sympathizer shit he said irl

… soo many implications to consider too - like

I’m literally just realizing that AIDS is never mentioned, & likely wasn’t a public health crisis at all in this world because of the drastic differences in politics happening here…!

really compelling characters; they are unknowable and mysterious in interesting real ways, they do things that make you wonder “why?” while feeling coherent & consistent. the (fictional & real) art discussed is actually interesting, & X feels like exactly the sort of artist you might have a complicated personal relationship with the work of. C is a good narrator - likeable but flawed, comes up short in ways you think about… and that you’re sure she’d think about too. I related to her kind of painfully at times tbh, yikes!!! she (& the author, in different ways) withhold answers very satisfyingly. slated for a reread sometime in the future & I’d love to read Catherine Lacey’s other stuff.