MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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RON JACOBS relishes a riotous epistolary novel of revenge against sexual harassment and patriarchy
NO PRISONERS TAKEN: Virginie Despentes
[Georges Biard/CC]
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To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
Dear Dickhead
Virginie Despentes, MacLehose Press, £14.99
VIRGINIE DESPENTES is a French author. A runaway, sex worker, punk rocker and iconoclast, her newest novel, titled Dear Dickhead, features a protagonist accused of sexual harassment and stalking his assistant.
This protagonist, who is a popular crime novelist, is called out by his victim during the period of the so-called #Metoo movement. The victim conducts her campaign on a personal blog that functions as a journal wherein she describes her experiences, the mental health crisis the harassment caused and her desire to destroy the man who victimised her.
The result, as it is played out in the novel’s pages, is vivid, sometimes humorous, painful and problematic. It is a battle of the sexes played by 2020 rules. The house formerly dominated by the male of the species doesn’t always have the odds in its favour.
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