My Dead Book depicts a middle-aged man's insomnia fueled by memories of deceased friends, highlighting the inequities tied to homophobia and societal neglect. The narrator embodies a queer pessimist perspective, rejecting conventional LGBTQ representation in favor of a connection with societal misfits. Through sardonic humor and a fatalistic view, Lippens captures the disillusionment felt by Gen Xers amid the AIDS crisis. The book's unique design furthers its subversive intent, echoing themes of mortality and resistance against normative narratives.
"I want to be wrong. Wrong in a new way," says the unnamed narrator of Nate Lippens's 2021 debut, My Dead Book, after learning of yet another friend's overdose and death.
Lippens's narrator aptly captures the disillusionment of the Gen Xers who endured the plague years and its consequences.
My Dead Book offers a politics of refusal grounded in negative emotions (shame, melancholy, and ambivalence) of the closet.
Embracing pessimism, the narrator turns negativity into the tenor of his life and uses gallows humor as its vehicle.
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