From the author of the wildly controversial books Liar and Paul's Case comes one of the most anticipated — and perhaps, in some quarters, feared — books of the year. This is author Lynn Crosbie at her most honest, most cutting, most hilarious, and most heartbreaking. The stories told here are at once a cache, a repository, of a seven-year period in the author's life; and, too, a gymnasium, a place where she can flex her prodigious wit and her dazzling stash of literary tricks Deft with matters both low- and highbrow (here are stories about 80s big-hair bands and the lasting, theological value of the Rocky series; here, too are stories contemplating critical theory and fine art), Life is About Losing Everything speaks with manic yet grave authority about risking and losing everything, and then sorting through the remains to discover what is beautiful, what is trash, and what, ultimately, belongs.
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Review
.... brilliant ... [Crosbie] will have even the most hard-boiled reader sobbing. (Robert J. Wiersema Edmonton Journal 20120526)
... powerful ... Life is About Losing Everything [is] a book that is felt as much as it is read. (Mark Paterson Rover Arts 20120528)
... focused, lucid, and darkly comic ... (Michael Hingston Winnipeg Review 20120618)
... a finely carved, blood-stained shiv of a book, beautiful and brutal ... (Stacey May Fowles National Post 20120518)
... superb ... absolutely beautiful ... (Susan G. Cole NOW Toronto 20120510)
Imagine Courtney Love with the benefits of a graduate education, or Kathy Acker slightly gentled by CanLit prettiness and politesse. (Laura Penny Globe and Mail 20120518)
Should we try to separate fact from fiction? Can we? Provocative, entertaining and poignant, Life is About Losing Everything makes us sweat for the answers. (Brett Joseph Grubisic Vancouver Sun 20120615)
... an immaculate mix of humour, drama and beauty ... the book is a feral creature, full of intense love even when it bites. (Emily M Keeler FASHION 20120601)
... raw and honest ... although [Crosbie's] experiences are unique, the themes are universal. (Michelle Singerman Post City Magazines 20120801)
Life is About Losing Everything courageously recounts an ugly side of life. (Heather Cromarty Toronto Review of Books 20120911)
... powerful ... Life is About Losing Everything [is] a book that is felt as much as it is read. (Mark Paterson Rover Arts 20120528)
... focused, lucid, and darkly comic ... (Michael Hingston Winnipeg Review 20120618)
... a finely carved, blood-stained shiv of a book, beautiful and brutal ... (Stacey May Fowles National Post 20120518)
... superb ... absolutely beautiful ... (Susan G. Cole NOW Toronto 20120510)
Imagine Courtney Love with the benefits of a graduate education, or Kathy Acker slightly gentled by CanLit prettiness and politesse. (Laura Penny Globe and Mail 20120518)
Should we try to separate fact from fiction? Can we? Provocative, entertaining and poignant, Life is About Losing Everything makes us sweat for the answers. (Brett Joseph Grubisic Vancouver Sun 20120615)
... an immaculate mix of humour, drama and beauty ... the book is a feral creature, full of intense love even when it bites. (Emily M Keeler FASHION 20120601)
... raw and honest ... although [Crosbie's] experiences are unique, the themes are universal. (Michelle Singerman Post City Magazines 20120801)
Life is About Losing Everything courageously recounts an ugly side of life. (Heather Cromarty Toronto Review of Books 20120911)
About the Author
Lynn Crosbie was born in Montreal and is a cultural critic, who writes a weekly pop culture column for the Globe and Mail.A Ph.D in English literature with a background in visual studies, she teaches at the University of Toronto and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her books (of poetry and prose) include Pearl, Queen Rat and Dorothy L'Amour. She is also the author of the controversial book, Paul's Case and the editor of The Girl Wants To. She is a contributing editor at Fashion, and a National Magazine Award Winner who has written about sports, style, art, and music.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Danila Botha
Format:Paperback
Lynn Crosbie's Life is About Losing Everything is stunning, in the sense that its beautiful and searing honesty, gorgeous imagery and lifelike, yet magical narrative literally stun.
An acclaimed and deeply admired poet who is also an exceptional novelist, the book is the perfect hybrid of fiction and non fiction, creating a rare and genuine intimacy between author and reader that is incredibly inspiring.
It is difficult to imagine any author so successfully tackling all of the big issues of life; from the challenge of being one's individual, idiosyncratic self, to connecting meaningfully in friendships and romance, to losing those things- but Crosbie does so with aplomb, in a way that is both authentically heartbreaking and galvanizing, both vulnerable and incredibly brave.
In the chapter Save the Broken Things in my Life,, she writes: "the song is like Hemingway's idea that while many of us are broken, some get stronger in the broken places" Soon after, she writes, in equally exquisite, heart piercing fashion: "My mother watched and cried. We were both afraid for different reasons. I knew I would end up like her, stylish and ruined"
Still my favorite are the moments of absolute tenderness, the very last line of the book, "I hear the soft, rustling sound of true love", and this one: "Margaux likes the spokes of the sun, yellow and orange. You feel everything, she says, like an angel."
Buy this book. It'll move you deeply and inspire you to write, and live, fearlessly.
An acclaimed and deeply admired poet who is also an exceptional novelist, the book is the perfect hybrid of fiction and non fiction, creating a rare and genuine intimacy between author and reader that is incredibly inspiring.
It is difficult to imagine any author so successfully tackling all of the big issues of life; from the challenge of being one's individual, idiosyncratic self, to connecting meaningfully in friendships and romance, to losing those things- but Crosbie does so with aplomb, in a way that is both authentically heartbreaking and galvanizing, both vulnerable and incredibly brave.
In the chapter Save the Broken Things in my Life,, she writes: "the song is like Hemingway's idea that while many of us are broken, some get stronger in the broken places" Soon after, she writes, in equally exquisite, heart piercing fashion: "My mother watched and cried. We were both afraid for different reasons. I knew I would end up like her, stylish and ruined"
Still my favorite are the moments of absolute tenderness, the very last line of the book, "I hear the soft, rustling sound of true love", and this one: "Margaux likes the spokes of the sun, yellow and orange. You feel everything, she says, like an angel."
Buy this book. It'll move you deeply and inspire you to write, and live, fearlessly.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By David
Format:Paperback
I have read Lynn Crosbie's Globe column (I am not a big fiction reader), and what is cool is this book reminds me of her weird but totally original writing about pop and "real" art.
The book reminds me of Chuck Klosterman and Mark Leyner and it is based on a Kid Dynamite ( Tyson) quote that's awesome.
The book reminds me of Chuck Klosterman and Mark Leyner and it is based on a Kid Dynamite ( Tyson) quote that's awesome.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Karen
Format:Paperback
What an absolutely fantastic book from Lynn Crosbie. It's incredible how Crosbie, through such a vividly personal work can still allow the viewer to see so much of themselves.
Stories like the stunningly beautiful The Glory of Love just gave me chills when I read it, just because it rang so true to everything that friendship and connection between to souls can be.
It is the amazing, beautifully concocted combination of themes and feelings in this book that make it the special and one-of-a-kind work that it is. From these years of Lynn Crosbie's life, from the beautiful to the crushingly heartbreaking or scary, springs forth beauty and the work of, to be honest, one of the most incredible writers I've ever had the joy of reading.
Stories like the stunningly beautiful The Glory of Love just gave me chills when I read it, just because it rang so true to everything that friendship and connection between to souls can be.
It is the amazing, beautifully concocted combination of themes and feelings in this book that make it the special and one-of-a-kind work that it is. From these years of Lynn Crosbie's life, from the beautiful to the crushingly heartbreaking or scary, springs forth beauty and the work of, to be honest, one of the most incredible writers I've ever had the joy of reading.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Queen of Queen in Exile...
I know a little about this book: it seems to me to be about having an open mind even to one's own self loathing, broken hearted despair and debilitating low self-esteem milked by... Read more
Published 2 months ago by r a m d o m
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Bookish Thoughts...
A lonely woman narrates the emotionally difficult "Life is About Losing Everything." Overweight and unfulfilled, Lynn binge drinks and has reckless sex in order to assuage the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Reader Writer Runner
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful and zero stars
I have until now valued the book reviews on Amazon. These other reviews must all be friends of hers. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Evan Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Raw, intimate and brutally honest...
Before my eyes even made it to the bottom of page one, I could feel my heart beginning to break. I've followed Lynn and her work for decades, and nothing I've read has come as... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Kisha Ferguson
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book, beginning to end.
This book is just the best: entertaining, hilarious, heartbreakingly sad and thought-provoking. As always, Crosbie's writing unfurls with breathtaking sensitivity and poetic... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Thomas Eason
5.0 out of 5 stars
a masterwork
Lynn Crosbie''s Life Is about Losing Everything is a wonderful, fantastical, and heartbreaking work. It''s also self-deprecating and really funny. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Buttercup Junction
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life Is About Losing Everything
Though I know her work very well, I was still kind of amazed at both the depth and the strange brightness of this book. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Margaux Williamson
5.0 out of 5 stars
LIFE AFTER DEATH
This book is alive. It's so alive it's hard to believe it's CanLit. The tales are culled from seven years in the life of the protagonist after the death of a key romantic... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Elyse Friedman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Losing Everything and this book bringing it all back.
This new work by Crosbie is absolutely mind-blowing, completely surreal at times, more raw and alive than almost anything I have ever read. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life Is About Losing Everything review
I picked up this book and couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting...each chapter is its own story, her writing is both humorous and touching, I'm re-reading it slowly, it's... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Eric Fitz
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