While this is absolutely a work of fiction, it comes from a deeply personal place to me. In some ways, this book has been percolating inside me since my own grandparents moved me from our walk-up in Brooklyn to College Hill nearly thirty years ago.
It was still, in those days, rare to be a Latina at Brown. I was part of a very small community of minority students that sat inside this larger school: a position that came with the comforts of an intimate collective, but all the challenges of feeling like a visitor to a dominant culture.
― Xochitl Gonzalez, Letter from the author
What booksellers are saying about Anita de Monte Laughs Last
- An imaginative, inventive and interesting novel. Imaginative in putting together a historic event with present day significance, inventive in it’s use of magical realism, and interesting in its views on women in the arts, and privileged and unprivileged students in academia.
― Andrea Ginsky, Bookstore Number 1 LLC in Sarasota, Florida | BUY
- Two days after I finished listening to this book, headlines broke that artist Carl Andre had died. Based on the life and work of Ana Mendieta and her husband, Carl Andrea, Gonzalez captures the ghostly rage of a woman murdered by her jealous husband while grounding the reader with a contemporary narrative that was extremely compelling.
― Adah Fitzgerald, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | BUY
- Wow, wow, wow. This one has fangs. Anita is pure fire. Add Xoxhitl to your list of authors to watch, if you haven’t already. This is a vibrant revenge/coming-of-age story with dual timelines, mirrored situations, and magical elements. It explores the art world, and who is seen and why. A love song to minority women, to up and coming artists, and to anyone that wants to be seen and heard for who they are, not who they know.
― Krista Roach, E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia | BUY
- A deeply moving book of art, race, feminism and power in relationships. Raquel is a latina woman at Brown, when she decides to base her senior thesis on famous minimalist artist, Jack Martin, she uncovers his artist wife, Anita De Monte. Martin was accused of murdering Anita and successfully erased both her and her art from history after he was acquitted. A gripping story told from the multiple perspectives of Anita, Jack and Raquel.
― Kathy Clemmons, Sundog Books in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida | BUY
About Xochitl Gonzalez
Xochitl Gonzalez is the New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming. Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus, Washington Post, and NPR, Olga Dies Dreaming was the winner of the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize in Fiction and the New York City Book Award. Gonzalez is a 2021 MFA graduate from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her nonfiction work has been published in Elle Decor, Allure, Vogue, Real Simple, and The Cut. Her commentary writing for The Atlantic was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, Gonzalez holds a BA from Brown University and lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hectah Lavoe.
