Olivia Gatwood

Law & Order: SVU meets the Button Poetry YouTube channel

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for violence against women, including rape.)

If you have a son, how will you love him?
She is pacing the living room,
while the Thanksgiving Day Parade
plays behind her, a montage of inflated
cartoon bodies, floating slow
down 6th Avenue, smiles
painted onto their faces.

I consider not responding.
I consider explaining that I can love him and not show more trust him. I consider saying that I won’t
love him at all. Just to scare her. Instead, I say,

If I am ever murdered, like,
body found in a ditch, mouth
stuffed with dirt, stocking
around my neck, identified
by my toenails, please don’t go
looking for a guilty woman.

("My Grandmother Asks Why I Don't Trust Men")

***

16. Laughter is not about humor,
it is about acknowledging a shared joy.
Laughter is about bonding.

EXAMPLE: WHEN I HEAR MEN LAUGHING,
I DO NOT ENTER THE ROOM.
I CRAWL HOME IN THE DARK.

("Mans/Laughter")

***

Aileen, I wish I could’ve taken you there.
It’s too late now. I wish you hadn’t hurt all those people.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know you hate it when I say that,
what I meant was that I wish all those people hadn’t hurt you.

("Aileen Wuornos Isn't My Hero")

***

In the Author's Note, Gatwood writes at length about her obsession with true crime shows, and the resulting - if paradoxical - feelings of fear and control they instilled in her:

"I want to believe that the motivation behind most true crime is to bring to light the epidemic of women’s murder worldwide, to use nonfiction storytelling as a method of illuminating a clear pattern. But I don’t believe that. If that were true, it wouldn’t focus on crimes committed by random strangers, and instead would reveal the much more common perpetrators: men whom these women knew and often loved. If true crime were truly mission-oriented, it would focus on the cases that are not explicitly perverse and shocking, the ones that are familiar, fast, and happen at home. If true crime sought to confront the reality of violence against women, it would not rely so heavily on fear-mongering narratives of cisgender white girls falling victim to men of color."

Life of the Party: Poems is a reaction to these shows, and the culture that spawned them. The same culture that taught her to fear men, and her own body. These poems are about crimes true and fictionalized; about violence against women, in all its forms: physical, sexual, psychological; violences so conspicuous that they are impossible to ignore, as well as the "smaller" insults called microaggressions. Gatwood identifies and names these things, embodies them in her verse, gives them life in her words - all so that she may eviscerate them with the same.

Gatwood's poems are at at once stirring and despondent; beautiful and cutting (not that the two are mutually exclusive!); fierce and feminist AF. Life of the Party is both a memoir and a cultural history; some of the loveliest and most heartbreaking poems are those which incorporate actual headlines from real-life cases: "Murder of a Little Beauty" (JonBenet Ramsey), "Body Count: 13" (the West Mesa murders). Aileen Wuornos is present in so many of these verses, even when she is just passing through, like a visitor in the night.

There are odes to the women of Long Island ("when I show them the knife I carry in my purse, tell me it’s not big enough"), bitchface ("resting bitch face, they call you but there is nothing restful about you, no"), unpaid electricity bills, and a lover's left hand. Woven throughout the named poems is an untitled, serialized piece about Gatwood's babysitter, the cool older girl who, by book's end, either overdosed - or was killed by her abuser, depending on your POV.

Yet, as bleak and depressing as many of these poems are/can be, Life of the Party ends on hopeful notes: "All of the Missing Girls are Hanging Out Without Us," having a grand old time (surprise!) and, "In the Future, I Love the Nighttime," thanks to the virus that did away with all the violent-minded men in the world. (Turns out the apocalypse is just peachy!)

http://www.easyvegan.info/2019/08/27/life-of-the-party-poems-by-olivia-gatwood/ show less

Powerfully Uncomfortable (Complimentary)

CW: References and Description of Sexual Assault, Harm to Child (Dog Bite)

This is an incredibly powerful story performed brilliantly by the author taking a fascinating perspective on a unique figure in the #MeToo movement. This is a cold burn that is bleakly uncomfortable written exquisitely that effectively uses the short story to provide a character study of a female lawyer representing the accused of sexual assault through a case she knows too much show more about with exploration of themes of constructed reality and self.

I wish I had the words and mind to say more, but I'm certainly left uneasy and captivated by the prose, and will definitely be seeking our more of this author's work. show less

This collection - whew - some of it delighted me: Girl, Ode to the Women on Long Island, Ode to Pink ("my favorite color is Pepto Bismol"), Staying Small, The Sandias, 2008. Others were too dark even for me who gravitates to bleak literature. Worth hand picking.

Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood is a measured character study that explores the relationships between women. This is a recommended debut novel that flirts with being a thriller and science fiction dystopian.

After some incident when she was eighteen, Mitty left Arizona for to stay with an old friend of her mother's, Bethel in her dilapidated oceanfront home in Santa Cruz. She hasn't been home since. Mitty is now in her late twenties while Bethel is in her late seventies. A new couple show more has just moved into the house next door, Lena and Sebastian. Sebastian is a renowned tech founder and Lena is his perfect girlfriend. Mitty observed the couple after they moved in and soon she and Lena meet and begin to spend time together, forming a friendship.

The narrative revolves around Mitty and Lena, their friendship and the secrets they both have. Mitty is hiding a secret and is hesitant to make friends because of it. Lena is uncomfortable with her uneven memory and the control Sebastian has over her. The plot is rather slow paced, basic, and Lena's secret is very predictable early on. I kept reading because the quality of the writing is excellent. I was expecting the pace, tension and action to increase and wanted to know Mitty's secret.

Whoever You Are, Honey would have benefited from more action, progression in the plot and the inclusion of more science fiction elements to build up tension while keeping the poetic language. What we have is beautiful, lyrical language about loneliness, friendship, memories, and seeking perfection. The inclusion of AI is very basic has been done before and with much more intensity, credibility, and caution. This wasn't a good fit for me. Thanks to Dial Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley . My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
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