FICTION

Vagablonde

by Anna Dorn
Unnamed. May 2020. 316p. ISBN 9781951213008. $26. F
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DEBUT Dorn’s first novel features 30-year-old Prue Van Teesen, who is single and dissatisfied with her career as a lawyer writing appellate briefs from her L.A. apartment. When she meets music producer Jax, Prue leaps at the chance to pursue her passion: rapping. She trades her antidepressants for a mix of alcohol and illegal substances as her group, Shiny AF, coalesces in Jax’s apartment/studio. The parties–cum–recording sessions pass in a blur that includes the complication that one of the group’s members is also a law client of Prue’s. With punchy, mesmerizing prose, the story tracks Prue’s thoughts and feelings in real time, as she can be both for and against something in a single breath.
VERDICT A fresh and empathetic view of how an outwardly privileged life can spiral out of control. Prue’s internal demons struggle with her artistic urges and collide with the fast and furious world of contemporary music, where going viral and staying there are the measures of success. Recommended for readers of contemporary fiction.
Reviewed by Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT , May 01, 2020
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