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Book Snob – X-IT by Jane George Review and Giveaway!
X-It by Jane George
LOVE IS A DRUG.
In 1980 NYC, eighteen-year-old J.J. Buckingham is an uptight trendoid. Working as a mannequin painter and a counter girl, she moonlights as a creature of the nightclubs. J.J. falls for aloof, crazy-talented artist and bicycle messenger X-It. In order to win his love, she succumbs to the dark machinations of drug dealer Marko Voodoo. X-It will love her if she’s the queen of underground Manhattan, right? Her plan backfires with horrendous consequences. J.J. must scrap her way out of a maze of drugs, clubs, and danger before she realizes she’s worthy of a better life. And true love might just come in the form of a clean-cut geek in Buddy Holly glasses.
DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of X-It in exchange for an honest review. No promise of a positive review was made and I wasn’t compensated in any way.
Beautifully written X-It is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Jane George has woven a concise, raw and honest work of literature that maintains it’s literary standards without ever crossing over in to the realm of pretentious and indulgence. This book doesn’t rely on a lot of exposition but instead takes you directly into the meat of each moment, each heartbeat and each disaster.
I love books that have that element of poetry that doesn’t really have a genre. Some people call it Lit Fic, but most become a parody of itself. X-It never does. If you’ve ever loved something unattainable, then you know X-It. I had my own X-It in a way. The story isn’t nearly as tragic and he was never as selfish, but I loved him, in my own way. I idealized him and wanted so much from him that was never his to give. I felt that longing, that desperation George has infused in every word of X-It.
X-It is set in 1980 and 1981. The main character J.J. runs from her life in San Fransisco to make her own way in NY. Just as she gets her feet under her, with a roommate who becomes her best friend and obsession, work she is good at and a life that, the very life she was running from shows up at her apartment door. Pulled into a life of drugs, clubs and wanna-be punk rockers, J.J. begins down the road that will ultimately take everything she thought she wanted away from her.
At the core of X-It is a romance. A tragic and all consuming love that overshadows reason. But can obsession ever live up to expectations? Is the grass ever really greener, or is real love, honest, giving, accepting love worth fighting for?
This book is not for the faint of heart. Nothing is explicit, nothing is overt, but the insecurities of J.J. are so well portrayed you can slip into her skin and feel the need for relief, for a moment of rest, for just a little something to make the moment to moment miseries bearable. J.J.’s slip into drug abuse could happen to anyone. And readers are not spared the real life consequences of that road.
The real reason to read this book though, is the prose itself:
Charred mannequin arms reach up from the cellar like victims begging to be saved. Their graceful, stylized gestures make their doomed petition all the more poignant.
Lose yourself in something spectacularly unexpected and beautifully devastating. Pick up a copy of X-It today.
Very nice review, especially about the writing.