Toxicology, Jessica Hagedorn
Toxicology, Jessica Hagedorn
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Toxicology

Author: Jessica Hagedorn

Narrator: Ramón de Ocampo, Rona Figueroa, Jessica Hagedorn, Carrington MacDuffie, Robin Miles, Jesse Vilinsky

Unabridged: 7 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 01/30/2024


Synopsis

A bold new novel about the intersection of art, love, fame, and money from the acclaimed author of Dogeaters.

Jessica Hagedorn's edgy and entertaining new novel centers on the lives of two women who are neighbors in Manhattan's West Village. Mimi Smith is a filmmaker of low-budget slasher movies in search of new material. Her neighbor Eleanor Delacroix is a legendary writer of erotic fiction, now nearing eighty and addicted to cocaine and gin. Their personal and artistic lives begin to collide in unexpected ways as Eleanor grieves over the recent death of her live-in lover, the renowned painter Yvonne Wilder, and as Mimi deals with the challenges presented by her newly sober brother Carmelo; her drug-dealing boyfriend, who has mysteriously disappeared; and her wayward fourteen-year-old daughter, Violet. Looming over all these characters is the ghost of Agnes-an "illegal" and cousin of Mimi's who might have been murdered by her New Jersey employers. Toxicology is a dark yet playful exploration of money, desire, mortality, and the connection between creativity and self-destruction.

About The Author

Jessica Hagedorn is the author of the novels Dogeaters and The Gangster of Love, Dream Jungle, and a collection of poetry and short fiction, Danger and Beauty.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Crisel Blenda on February 08, 2015

I never thought that i would be very much pleased with this book. This is the most engaging book that i have read so far this year. I am not really familiar with Jessica Hagedorn or the kind of material she creates. But when I finished this book, I was immediately smitten with her work and writing s......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on June 16, 2011

there was a lot of cocaine in this book......more

Goodreads review by Dysmonia on March 20, 2013

Really good book. Made me want to move to NYC and do coke.......more

Goodreads review by Marnie on August 13, 2018

Didn't finish........more

Goodreads review by Geneviéve on July 31, 2020

I've read this 3 times during traveling and I have to say I love how this book took risks and the struggles and how they're exactly to the point. The amount of different perspectives is the one thing that I admired from it. The minus one star is only for the triggering environments, scenarios and di......more


Quotes

Praise for Toxicology:

“A razor-sharp, refreshingly unsentimental portrayal of New York artists—selfish, irresponsible, and brilliant—and the evolution of feminism.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

“Out of jump cuts and close-ups, Hagedorn has composed a jazzy, stingingly smart tragicomedy of toxic substances, hate, and delusions; hustle and creativity; obsession and passion." —Booklist (starred review) 

“This is an eclectic mix of differing voices, dream sequences, interviews, and snippets of memoir, as well as straight narrative all overlaid with Hagedorn's darkly humorous perspective... Recommended for readers of edgy, urban fiction.” —Library Journal

“A peek into a peculiarly alluring world of art, fame and mortality.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Hagedorn lets the emotional consequences of loss and waste freely expand the parameters of her novel in order to accurately express the wounded heart at play with love, loyalty and making art. When hope is located in the past, and the future not imaginable, her story’s telling relies on freedom, risk and innovation. Funny, sad and without phony resolution, Toxicology just tells like it is.” —Sarah Schulman, author of Conflict is Not Abuse and Let the Record Show