Anita de Monte Laughs Last

I’m a complete foreigner to the art world, which initially made me intimidated to pick up Anita de Monte Laughs Last. But I quickly discovered I was in amazing hands. Xochitl Gonzalez, whose debut Olga Dies Dreaming was also a Book of the Month selection, guides readers through the complex world of fine art with ease.

Our window into the art world is Raquel—an Art History student who is an outsider herself. A student of color at an Ivy League school in 1998, she’s surrounded by the privileged (read: the wealthy and white) and works twice as hard to get half as far as the well-connected student body around her. After she starts a relationship with one of these very students, though, she finds herself presented with previously unimaginable opportunities. While rising through the ranks, Raquel discovers Anita de Monte, a fresh new talent in the art world until her untimely death in 1985. As Raquel learns more about Anita and the context of her death, she realizes that in many ways their stories mirror each other.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a layered story about the power of legacy and culture and keeps you turning pages with its sharp and emotional writing. I fell in love with Raquel and Anita, strong female characters who relentlessly fight for themselves and what they love. This is a story that will leave you haunted.

1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten—certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student, is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist.

Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.