"I Love Dick" by Chris Kraus

"I Love Dick" by Chris Kraus is the Gateway Women book club pick for August (we'll be discussing it at the end of the month).

Yes, I know -- that title!! (lol)  I thanked the gods/goddesses that I'm no longer commuting on public transit (lol again), with my reading choices visible to all the other passengers -- but even so, I opted for an e-book version. ;) That said, it's not as pornographic as the title sounds ;)  -- although I'm sure the sexual connotations are one reason why the author chose to use the name (& use the name in the title ;)  ) and there is sex in the story.

The story focuses on Chris, a failing filmmaker from New Zealand who is turning 40 and bored with her sexless marriage to Sylvere, an  older (56) college professor. Visiting California in December 1994, the couple have dinner with Sylvere's old friend -- the Dick of the title -- and Chris falls instantly, inexplicably and obsessively in love with him. Sylvere also becomes obsessed with her obsession. Over the next few years, Chris (≈, to  some extent, Sylvere too) pursues/stalks Dick through phone calls, answering machine messages, meetings and rambling letters, which make up the bulk of the book, and which they view as a kind of art project (!). Along the way, she gains a new sense of herself -- which is, I suppose, why some call this a "feminist cult classic." (Also, the whole role-reversal thing, in which the woman pursues the man and the man plays hard to get.)  Perhaps the most famous line of the book, which I think I had heard/read elsewhere before, is "“Who gets to speak and why?...is the only question.”

This is one of those books I would probably not have picked up myself if it weren't for the book club -- and I'll be honest, it was a slog to make it to the end. If it weren't for the book club, I probably would have abandoned it. Chris's observations on men, women, love, art and self were sometimes interesting and thought-provoking (there were long tangents dealing with certain artists, the theory of cultural criticism, schizophrenia & other topics)... but there wasn't enough to maintain my interest the whole way through.

It currently has an average rating of 3.57 stars on Goodreads, and some rave reviews. (See this ecstatic 2015 article from the Guardian, which does make some good points about why the book might appeal to readers, and women in particular.) As for me... meh. I gave it 2 stars, which is about the lowest rating I've given yet on Goodreads. YMMV.  I will be interested to learn what the others thought of it!

Note: There's an afterword in which I was stunned to realize that most (if not all) of this book is true, and actually happened!!  I kind of figured Kraus had made herself the main character (since the main character/narrator's name is "Chris Kraus"), and I recognized some real-life names that she drops along the way -- but Sylvere is real, Dick is real (& apparently threatened legal action over the publication of this book).  Some of the content has been fictionalized, but still...!

I understand this book was recently adapted for television/video viewing by Amazon, with Kevin Bacon as Dick (!), Griffin Dunne as Sylvere and Kathryn Hahn as Chris.  Has anyone seen it?

This is book #29 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 121% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently five (5) books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 2 books.  :)