New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2015]
338 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 23 cm.
I added this book to our collection this year since it had received such glowing reviews. Booklist in a starred review stated, "Jaw dropping, awe inspiring, and not afraid to shock....There's no one else like her; prepare to be blown away by both the words and pictures."
I was not so taken with this memoir. Crabapple is a talented and hardworking artist, and she does have a lot of daring and moxie as she jumps into risky adventures of international travel and pushes and pushes to have her intense drawing-based artworks accepted in the competitive New York art world (and she works constantly at improving her drawing and painting skills). So far so good, but her tale is also one of a massive ego, and also one of ethical contradictions where she is both entranced with the debauched world of the super-rich, while at the same time disdainful of it. It's interesting, but problematic.
There is also her use of her conventional attractiveness to both support herself and gain access to the exclusive realms of the super rich. She works as a nude model, works with strippers and burlesque performers - and writes about the interesting, hard, exploitative and dangerous work that entails, but also seems to accept and at times endorse the sexualization and commodification of women. Again, it makes for interesting reading, but it is troubling in that it goes largely unchallenged.
So would I recommend this memoir? Well, I'd definitely mention it to someone curious about contemporary bohemian life and about ways that people make it in the art world. Did I find it inspiring or wonderful? Not so much.
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