Confessions of the Fox

August 10, 2020 9:30 PM - by Rosenberg, Jordy

A Marxist, transmasculine re-imagining of the life of Jack Sheppard, notorious 18th century English thief, as a rollicking and bawdy historical adventure-romance, with a side of academic satire. By Jordy Rosenberg. New York Times editors choice and a New Yorker best book of the year.
posted by latkes (2 comments total)

This is one of those books that layers different things together, on top of each other, in ways that obscure and hide each other, and then at the end it takes your hand, and you step back together and look at what's been built, and reflect on it, and that reflective moment was so powerful for me it brought tears to my eyes this morning.

Earlier on it's mostly an adventure novel. A feminist, trans-ist (should be a word!), and anti-colonialist romp that provides the fun of historical romance and familiar adventure tropes but with an improved ideology. With a lot of hot and dirty sex. It's also a satire about a somewhat sad-sack academic trapped in an absurdly Orwellian university, which is itself in a neoliberal downward spiral. The bit about our modern hero's personal life was not my favorite part of the book, but I chuckled. Perhaps the familiarity of aspects of it made it less fun.

But toward the end as all the bits start coming together, and you realize what Rosenberg is up to, it really caught me. And I found it very beautiful and moving context and myth making that we need right now. I liked it!
posted by latkes at 9:48 PM on August 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Found this interview with Jordy Rosenberg... I'm looking for more...
posted by latkes at 9:55 PM on August 10, 2020