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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Anita de Monte Laughs Last: Reese's Book Club Pick (a Novel)
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 7 reviews on
Winner:ALA Notable Book -Fiction (2025)
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK - New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death
A Best Book of 2024: Kirkus, TIME, NPR, Goodreads, Electric Lit and more!
"Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez asks some big questions, like who in art or history is remembered, who is left behind or erased and WHY. I have goosebumps just talking about this story." ―Reese Witherspoon 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.
Book Details
- Publisher: Flatiron Books
- Publish Date: Mar 4th, 2025
- Pages: 352
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.20in - 5.55in - 0.95in - 0.66lb
- EAN: 9781250786241
- Categories: • Hispanic & Latino - General• Coming of Age• Multiple Timelines
About the Author
Gonzalez, Xochitl: - Xochitl Gonzalez is the New York Times bestselling author of Anita de Monte Laughs Last, a Reese's Book Club Pick longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the award-winning Olga Dies Dreaming, named a Best of 2022 by The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus, the Washington Post, and NPR. Gonzalez is a staff writer for The Atlantic and was recognized as a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Commentary. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, Gonzalez holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"The novel is the best, most elusive combination: a thought-provoking and a brilliantly entertaining triumph." --NPR
"Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a cry for justice. Writing with urgency and rage, Gonzalez speaks up for those who have been othered and deemed unworthy, robbed of their legacy." --The Washington Post "Admirers of Xochitl Gonzalez's debut, Olga Dies Dreaming, will be pleased to encounter in Gonzalez's follow-up novel, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, not one but two protagonists who echo the titular Olga's best qualities. Like Olga, they are Latina women of vision and will, who emphatically refuse to be put in a corner." --New York Times Book Review"Unflinching and thought-provoking." --People "This rollicking page-turner from the bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming includes of-the-moment commentary about who succeeds and why." --Real Simple "Incandescent." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The writing is absolutely fabulous, the story is gripping, and the characters are memorable. Outstanding." ―Library Journal (starred review) "Gonzalez's sophomore outing deserves a mouse on her doorstep in gratitude... This is a brutal but ultimately heartwarming and certainly thought-provoking novel of Latinx magic, family, and feminine power." --Booklist (starred review) "Part campus novel, part ghost story, Xochitl Gonzalez's second novel fearlessly takes on racism and misogyny in the rarefied world of fine art and art history... Anita de Monte Laughs Last boldly questions the choices behind what we are taught and demands that the complete story be disclosed." --BookPage (starred review) "Gonzalez has that particular penchant for navigating perspectives in a voice that's at once delightfully humorous and sobering." --Elle
"An uncompromising message, delivered via a gripping story with two engaging heroines." --Kirkus (starred review)
"Gonzalez's newest novel is a dynamic exploration of love, art, and power." --LitHub
"A new captivating novel that explores othering, erasure, power, and legacy through the lens of two women of color navigating the art scene years apart." --TODAY.com "Gonzalez crafts excoriating and whip-smart commentary on the art world's Eurocentric conceptions of beauty and the racism faced by first-generation students of color. This is incandescent." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Funny, piercing, and full of moxie, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is unsparing in its assessment of what goes on behind the castle walls, the price people pay to be accepted into those hallowed halls, and what it takes to liberate oneself from the dangers that lurk within. Really, what Xochitl Gonzalez has written is an affirmation for anyone who's ever had to 'work twice as hard to get half as much.' Anita de Monte Laughs Last is rollicking, melodic, tender, and true. And oh so very wise." --Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction "Bravo! A remarkable story about reclaiming what has been erased. Reader, enjoy!" --Ana Castillo, author of So Far From God