Review of Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González

*Anita de Monte Laughs Last* by Xochitl Gonzalez (2024). Published by Flatiron Books.

If you’re new here and found this blog through the mysterious powers of the Internet, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I’m a dedicated reader and movie watcher who thought to turn this website into a little digital archive of sorts. I was watching and reading so much that I wanted to keep track of it all, so I began blogging as a way to keep these books as memories somewhat forever.

That said, I recently fell into a period of unemployment, and this blog was a solace for me. Not only was it a way to make a little bit of money when there was nothing else coming my way really, but I found, after getting my finances in order, that I enjoyed sitting down to write blog posts when I had nothing else to do in my day.

If you like this review in the end, feel free to click around. This is my digital home, so I’m happy to have you here.

Anyways, my hobby as of late during the funemployment period has been to wander my local library every Saturday morning before we go grocery shopping. I go with my mother, who only picks up some magazines, and I typically head straight into the new fiction section. I like to be on top of the new releases, even though sometimes they aren’t always for me.

That said, I’ve been meaning to read work from this author, but like so many other things in life, I procrastinated so hard on doing so. I have an incredible amount of books on my to-read list, which means that I’m perpetually behind and will never ever get to all of these bookd.

But Anita de Monte Laughs Last was in the new fiction section this time, and I knew it was my chance to pick it up. So I did, and I read through all of it over the course of two nights.

Let’s get into the review before I start rambling too much!

Talented artist Anita de Monte dies tragically young, while a college student uncovers her buried legacy a decade later.

I want to begin this review with acknowledging something that was controversial about the book. I read through it originally without knowing this story, but as soon as I Googled the book, I began realizing that people were calling it out for this reason. Apparently it is based on the story of Ana Mendieta, but without any credit. Now the books are being published with credit to her life and family, although I had a copy that didn’t do that. More on that later.

This story opens in 1985, and Anita de Monte is a rising star. The art world all knows her name and her work, and with her husband, who she has a lot of problems with, they are quite the combo when they step out and into the galleries. It seems like everything is going right professionally for her until one particular night.

When her husband and she gets into a fight, she falls out of the window and to her death. We don’t know exactly if it was a murder or a suicide; her husband, trying to clear his name, claims it’s a suicide successfully. He then becomes the head of her estate, not her sister, and then spends a lot of his time trying to bury her name as he becomes more successful in the art world himself.

Flash forward to 1998, 13 years later. Our protagonist is Raquel, an art history student at a prestigious college. She’s a student of color who feels very out of place within the world of her school, which is full of rich white kids whose parents are going to set them up with the internship of their dreams.

Raquel needs to figure out what she’s going to do for her senior thesis, and she has no idea right now. Her professor is somewhat useless unless she wants to do something in a specific niche he specializes in, and the other girls around her are using their connections to get a job. She works hard, but doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

However, she starts dating someone who’s well connected, which gives her the chance to move up from the ranks. Sometimes we wonder if this relationship is a good match, or if she can be using him (and him using her) in a way that allows her to go up the social ladder to get some success. We also learn his family is connected to Anita’s buried legacy later on, which is a fun rabbit hole.

That said, when Raquel accidentally stumbles upon Anita’s stories, it becomes the crux of her research and thesis. She wants to rediscover this remarkable woman, finding out what really happened to her and her work throughout the years. And that’s where Raquel finds her own niche, even in 1998 without the technology we have today to aid her in this journey.

Overall Thoughts

I want to say that I did genuinely enjoy this book and its writing style. I was devouring it, but because I started it late at night, I began falling asleep in the middle section due to the time. Usually I finish these kinds of books in one night if I really get into them.

The writing itself is also very well done. The parallel storylines between Anita and Raquel offer some insight into the art world and privilege throughout the book, and how a decade after her death, she still has not been able to get the justice she deserved.

However, I do find it a bit unethical if Gonzalez did lift the story from Mendieta’s life and then didn’t plan to credit her. Considering how tragic her death was, and the parallels from the story, it becomes slightly obvious that there was some form of inspiration involved here. Crediting her later also implies to me they might’ve wanted to clear that up, but it was a tad late.

All in all, I would recommend this book if you’re interested, but with the caveat that this one element of it can be seen as problematic.

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