A review by bookstolivewith
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Okay so I keep trying (and failing) to write a coherent review but here’s the long and short of it: I found Confessions of the Fox endlessly interesting and fascinating and I am definitely not smart enough to understand everything happening here. And that’s okay, because a) I am not the intended audience as a cis-straight woman and b) that leaves me even more room to read it again and again until I figure it out.
I wish this was a book that had been taught in a college course — and I would urge professors, especially those who teach classes that involve discussions of gender and sexuality, to teach it. There is an unbelievable amount to discuss here.
On one hand, it’s a “found” novel that explores the concept of communal writing and memory. It also unpacks sexuality and gender, both in the 18th century and in the 2010s. The footnotes not only include real-life and modern references, but jointly tell the story of the “transcriber” and their struggles alongside the struggles of the fictional characters they’ve found. The manuscript explores the rise of capitalism in England and how it insidiously twists inside every single aspect of life, even death itself. No stone is left unturned here, and all of it is done through beautiful written prose that is as emotional as it is intellectual.
I would highly recommend reading this one, although I will warn you that the manuscript itself can be tricky to read, full of English cant and old words. I’m still trying to figure out the right words to express how I feel about Confessions of the Fox, and in some way, I suspect that it’s the author intention to have the book defy labels and summaries and something so simply said as a single word. However, I do feel that it will probably be one of the most important books I’ve read in a while.
I wish this was a book that had been taught in a college course — and I would urge professors, especially those who teach classes that involve discussions of gender and sexuality, to teach it. There is an unbelievable amount to discuss here.
On one hand, it’s a “found” novel that explores the concept of communal writing and memory. It also unpacks sexuality and gender, both in the 18th century and in the 2010s. The footnotes not only include real-life and modern references, but jointly tell the story of the “transcriber” and their struggles alongside the struggles of the fictional characters they’ve found. The manuscript explores the rise of capitalism in England and how it insidiously twists inside every single aspect of life, even death itself. No stone is left unturned here, and all of it is done through beautiful written prose that is as emotional as it is intellectual.
I would highly recommend reading this one, although I will warn you that the manuscript itself can be tricky to read, full of English cant and old words. I’m still trying to figure out the right words to express how I feel about Confessions of the Fox, and in some way, I suspect that it’s the author intention to have the book defy labels and summaries and something so simply said as a single word. However, I do feel that it will probably be one of the most important books I’ve read in a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Confinement