The Title Of This Book Is An Inside Joke, by Sophia Katz

 The Title Of This Book Is An Inside Joke, by Sophia Katz (Metatron Pres, 2015)

- una reseña de José María Martínez / Tive

 —Sí, esa Sophia que causó el colapso de la Alt-Lit con un texto confesional el año pasado. Su debut impreso es una colección de prosas breves, ordenadas cronológicamente como en un blog privado, que se convierten en poemas tras la resolución del conflicto entre el aislamiento y la interacción social con un final abierto y agridulce.

La primera parte del libro es un compendio de temas de la Alt-Lit —en su vertiente depresiva. Incluso comienza con un hurto en American Apparel!

'I feel lonely ~95% of the time but distract myself with food, internet, drugs, Netflix, exercise.

It seems that everybody on Earth is lonely and our existence is primarly spent thinking of ways to be less lonely.’

Sophia Katz crea un personaje femenino cercano a ella: una estudiante y DJ de 19 años —aunque no la veamos estudiar, crear arte o tocar música. Una persona hipocondriaca y ansiosa que podría ser característica de la talentosa y perdida juventud Alt-Lit.

—No, no nos cuenta otra vez sobre abusos sexuales. La historia esquiva los infames sucesos de Nueva York que sufrió la autora.

La otra mitda del libro es un puñado de poemas que desarrollan otra faceta de la escritura confesional, progresivamente surrealista (nos puede recordar a lo que en nuestro idioma escriben Óscar García Sierra y Caterina Scicchitano). Es una solución interesante a los conflictos narrados en prosa, una vez que el personaje ha decidido guardar sus sentimientos en el interior en forma de sueños y fantasías con la ayuda de una relación virtual platónica.

'I wonder why people feel the need to interact with each other. Seems like it's mostly for personal validation.'

Sophia Katz (nacida en 1994, residente en Toronto) nos enfrenta a nuestros miedos al tiempo que ofrece un punto de vista femenino que era necesario en unos escenarios ya vistos.

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 - a review by José María Martínez / Tive

—Yes! that Sophia who caused the collapse of Alt-Lit with a confessional piece last year. Her printed debut is a collection of short proses, chronologically displayed as in a private blog, that evolve into poems after the conflict between isolation and social interaction is resolved somehow in a bitter-sweet open-ending.

The first half of the book is a compendium of Alt-Lit topics —depressive-oriented stuff. It even starts with a shoplifting in American Apparel!

'I feel lonely ~95% of the time but distract myself with food, internet, drugs, Netflix, exercise.

It seems that everybody on Earth is lonely and our existence is primarly spent thinking of ways to be less lonely.’

Sophia Katz creates a female character that can be related to herself: a 19 years old Art student and DJ —although we never read about her studying, making art or playing music. It is an hypochondriac anxious person that could be taken as a representative of Alt-Lit talented & lost youth.

—No! we are not given a re-tale of sexual abuse here. The story avoids the now infamous events in New York suffered by the author.

The other half of the book is a handful of poems that develope another side of confessional writting, progressively surreal. This is an interesting solution to the conflicts narrated in prose, once the character has decided to keep her inner feelings into dreams and imagination with the help of a virtual platonic relationship.

'I wonder why people feel the need to interact with each other. Seems like it's mostly for personal validation.'

Sophia Katz (b. 1994, Toronto resident) confronts us readers with our deepest fears while bringing out a necessary female point of view on already-seen scenery.