Fiction Reviews

Members of a ruling class called the Masters live only for pleasure; those who serve them have their real names withheld and are constantly tortured with body art carved into them with teeth and nails; and when teenagers grow up they are killed. Triquarterly Books, 18.95 (376p) ISBN 978-0-8101-4292-3 Murray (The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Kidnapped) offers a fascinating if uneven portrait of a Latinx artist as she struggles to balance life and art. The narrative takes the form of a shifting series of Wikipedia entries, snippets of confessional autobiography, blog entries, Snapchats, Instagram posts, marketing copy, and unpublished Yelp reviews as Los Angeles performance artist Amanda Ruiz navigates identity, the difficulties of making art as a marginalized woman, and a desire for love. When not cycling through fights and reconciliations over their human and robot foibles, Mic studies what little knowledge remains of a long-since destroyed Earth—reverently researching Al Pacino, Nikki Minaj, and Japanese culture—while Quiver escapes into a virtual reality that allows her to experience the wonders of nature—and where she keeps glimpsing a mysterious redhead.