4/5 stars
What's it about? Catherine Lacey dissects the end of her marriage through a hybrid work in two parts: a memoir detailing the breakup’s aftermath and an uneasy novella about two old friends, whose relationships have both ended, reconnecting despite suspicious activity next door.
How’d I find it? We all know how much I adored The Biography of X. If Catherine Lacey writes it, I want to read it.
Who will enjoy this book? While I didn’t care for Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry, those who did might like the oblique structure of The Möbius Book.
What stood out? Catherine Lacey knows how to put a book together. I don’t doubt that the personal nature of the content made this a taxing book to write, and she approaches that subject matter (loss, grief) with innovation in form. “Husband left wife,” she seems to say. “Here’s the cliché I survived, and the fiction that came from it.” The Möbius Book can be read in either direction (starting with the novella or the memoir piece). I found the novella a more interesting approach.
Which line made me feel something? Some of Lacey’s anguish hit close to home: “Haven’t you ever tried to love or take care of someone despite being given ample reason that they cannot or do not want to receive your love or care? A faith it could go differently. An amnesia of how it’s gone. Haroula thought for a moment, very still, then handed me a half orb of orange. No, she said. Why would I do that?”
