Publishers Weekly
★ 11/20/2023
Gonzalez (Olga Dies Dreaming) takes inspiration from the mysterious 1985 death of Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta for this astute account of an art history student who researches the circumstances of a similar tragedy. Award winning Cuban artist Anita de Monte, who is married to successful minimalist artist Jack Martin (a stand in for the sculptor Carl Andre), mysteriously plummets to her death from the window of their 33rd-floor apartment in New York City. Gonzalez then jumps to 1998, when third-year Brown University art history student Raquel Toro is on the brink of starting her senior thesis on Martin. Raquel begins a coveted summer internship with Belinda Kim, an acclaimed Asian American feminist curator opposed to the “art for art’s sake” philosophy trumpeted by Raquel’s white thesis adviser. Under Kim’s tutelage, Raquel learns of de Monte’s mysterious death, propelling her research on Martin in an unexpected direction. Her own life begins to resemble de Monte’s when she falls for a Brown classmate, a wealthy white up-and-coming artist with ties to the New York art world. Just as de Monte played second fiddle to Martin during their marriage, Raquel’s boyfriend downplays her research, and both relationships fray due to the men’s deceitful and manipulative behavior. In addition to the intrigue generated by Raquel’s search for answers about de Monte’s death, Gonzalez crafts excoriating and whip-smart commentary on the art world’s Eurocentric conceptions of beauty and the racism faced by first-generation students of color. This is incandescent. Agent: Mollie Glick, CAA. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
"The novel is the best, most elusive combination: a thought-provoking and a brilliantly entertaining triumph." —NPR
“Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a cry for justice. Writing with urgency and rage, Gonzalez speaks up for those who have been othered and deemed unworthy, robbed of their legacy." —The Washington Post
"Admirers of Xochitl Gonzalez’s debut, Olga Dies Dreaming, will be pleased to encounter in Gonzalez’s follow-up novel, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, not one but two protagonists who echo the titular Olga’s best qualities. Like Olga, they are Latina women of vision and will, who emphatically refuse to be put in a corner." —New York Times Book Review
"Unflinching and thought-provoking." —People
"This rollicking page-turner from the bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming includes of-the-moment commentary about who succeeds and why." —Real Simple
"Incandescent." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The writing is absolutely fabulous, the story is gripping, and the characters are memorable. Outstanding.” ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Gonzalez’s sophomore outing deserves a mouse on her doorstep in gratitude... This is a brutal but ultimately heartwarming and certainly thought-provoking novel of Latinx magic, family, and feminine power." —Booklist (starred review)
"Part campus novel, part ghost story, Xochitl Gonzalez’s second novel fearlessly takes on racism and misogyny in the rarefied world of fine art and art history... Anita de Monte Laughs Last boldly questions the choices behind what we are taught and demands that the complete story be disclosed." —BookPage (starred review)
"Gonzalez has that particular penchant for navigating perspectives in a voice that’s at once delightfully humorous and sobering." —Elle
"An uncompromising message, delivered via a gripping story with two engaging heroines." —Kirkus (starred review)
"Gonzalez’s newest novel is a dynamic exploration of love, art, and power." —LitHub
"A new captivating novel that explores othering, erasure, power, and legacy through the lens of two women of color navigating the art scene years apart." —TODAY.com
"Gonzalez crafts excoriating and whip-smart commentary on the art world’s Eurocentric conceptions of beauty and the racism faced by first-generation students of color. This is incandescent." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Funny, piercing, and full of moxie, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is unsparing in its assessment of what goes on behind the castle walls, the price people pay to be accepted into those hallowed halls, and what it takes to liberate oneself from the dangers that lurk within. Really, what Xochitl Gonzalez has written is an affirmation for anyone who's ever had to 'work twice as hard to get half as much.' Anita de Monte Laughs Last is rollicking, melodic, tender, and true. And oh so very wise." —Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
"Bravo! A remarkable story about reclaiming what has been erased. Reader, enjoy!” —Ana Castillo, author of So Far From God
Library Journal
★ 03/29/2024
What type of man brings his girlfriend to his wife's funeral? Gonzalez (Olga Dies Dreaming) answers with Jack Martin in this extraordinary tale of art, love, jealousy, betrayal, and murder, a Reese's Book Club pick. Jack is the most famous sculptural artist of his time. His wife is Anita de Monte, a fellow artist and Cuban exile, whose ambitions are fierce. She has many successes, winning the Rome Prize, among others. Jack's attempts to usurp her artistic abilities do not prevail, and after many attempts to control her, he throws her out of a 33-story window. Raquel Toro, a Puerto Rican graduate art student at Brown University, learns of Anita's untimely death while doing research on Jack, the topic of her thesis. While discovering Anita's art as well as her tragic death, Raquel assesses her own life and severs her relationship with a wealthy student who treats her as if she were a mannequin to boost his own ego and mold her into his perfect companion. VERDICT Gonzalez's novel is based on the true story of artist Ana Mendieta who tragically died young, allegedly at the hands of a jealous man. The writing is absolutely fabulous, the story is gripping, and the characters are memorable. Outstanding.—Lisa Rohrbaugh
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-11-18
An undergraduate at Brown University unearths the buried history of a Latine artist.
As in her bestselling debut, Olga Dies Dreaming (2022), Gonzalez shrewdly anatomizes racial and class hierarchies. Her bifurcated novel begins at a posh art-world party in 1985 as the title character, a Cuban American land and body artist, garners recognition that threatens the ego of her older, more famous husband, white minimalist sculptor Jack Martin. The story then shifts to Raquel Toro, whose working-class, Puerto Rican background makes her feel out of place among the “Art History Girls” who easily chat with professors and vacation in Europe. Nonetheless, in the spring of 1998, Raquel wins a prestigious summer fellowship at the Rhode Island School of Design, and her faculty adviser is enthusiastic about her thesis on Jack Martin, even if she’s not. Soon she’s enjoying the attentions of Nick Fitzsimmons, a well-connected, upper-crust senior. As Raquel’s story progresses, Anita’s first-person narrative acquires a supernatural twist following the night she falls from the window of their apartment —“jumped? or, could it be, pushed?”—but it’s grimly realistic in its exploration of her toxic relationship with Jack. (A dedication, “In memory of Ana,” flags the notorious case of sculptor Carl Andre, tried and acquitted for the murder of his wife, artist Ana Mendieta.) Raquel’s affair with Nick mirrors that unequal dynamic when she adapts her schedule and appearance to his whims, neglecting her friends and her family in Brooklyn. Gonzalez, herself a Brown graduate, brilliantly captures the daily slights endured by someone perceived as Other, from microaggressions (Raquel’s adviser refers to her as “Mexican”) to brutally racist behavior by the Art History Girls. While a vividly rendered supporting cast urges Raquel to be true to herself and her roots, her research on Martin leads to Anita’s art and the realization that she belongs to a tradition that’s been erased from mainstream art history.
An uncompromising message, delivered via a gripping story with two engaging heroines.
