I was once graced the chance to go behind the scenes of a city aquarium and surprise-allowed to hand feed a shark. Noticing my hesitation, the friend-of-a-friend who got us “backstage” assured me I was totally safe: just hold the food a certain way, as once the shark’s eyes break the waterline they are near-to-completely blind. I don’t know why this fact dazzled me, as my vision also goes all weird below the waterline, but it stuck with me. The bifurcated-’n’-flipped novella/biography The Möbius Book gives us the above/below-the-waterline view into an epic point in Catherine Lacey’s life, but is also a wonderfully entertaining example of the Where’s-Waldo-ness of any author’s personal life hiding in plain sight within their fictions. And CL’s “shark” story is way more jaw-droppingly interesting.
The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey, (List Price: $27, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374615406, June 2025)
Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia