Beautiful Garbage: A Novel

by Jill Di Donato

If Holly Golightly lived in the '80s, how far would she go to make a name for herself as Manhattan's artist du jour? We know all about Warhol, Basquiat, Keith Haring, and their fictional counterparts, but what about the edgy women artists of this time? Jodi smart, talented, ambitious, troubled. Fresh out of her teens, she leaves suburbia for Manhattan's glam and gritty art scene, and almost immediately falls into the clutches of Monika, a beautiful photographer. With the help of her new mentor, Jodi quickly becomes a rising star - but when a skeleton from her past surfaces, her dream life crashes to a halt, and she slips into a world of parties, drugs, and high-class prostitution.   Set in the crime-plagued New York City of the 1980s, Beautiful Garbage parallels an artist's journey with her sexual epiphanies, exploring the notorious milieu of the decade's downtown art scene from the point of view of a young female artist - and offering a satirical and irreverent look at post-'70s sexual politics and the world of elite call girls.   

 Reviews & Endorsements
"In this novel, Di Donato focuses on the female perspective, as well as the inextricable link between art, business, and sexuality. The author has ably captured a moment in time." - Publishers Weekly  

"From art whore to call girl and beyond, Jodi Plum is either a feminist's nightmare or a true artist. She may drive you crazy (or break your heart), but you won't forget the novel in which she stars. In the end, novel and protagonist - think Becky Sharpe with a Vassar degree, or Sister Carrie in 1980s Soho - transcend their limits to celebrate what endures." - Beth Bosworth, author of The Source of Life and Other Stories 

"Beautiful, yes. Garbage, no. Just a captivating story of art, women, friendship, drugs,and self-destruction set against the glittery backdrop of a vanished Manhattan." - Elisa Albert, author of The Book of Dahlia

"Equal parts Patti Smith's Just Kids and The Diary of Anaïs Nin , Jill Di Donato's Beautiful Garbage is a voyeuristic panorama of the vice and vanity of the downtown art scene in the 1980s. Di Donato has given the world a new story, both titillating and touching, to add to the New York canon." - Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street  

"An alluring tale of New York nightlife and its seedy characters." - Cat Marnell, VICE columnist

302 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2013

Reviews

[Caroline Hagood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful Garbage is an elegantly and vividly crafted exploration of the 1980s art scene and of one woman's personal evolution as she makes her way through it. It's a sexy novel that actually makes you think; what exactly is the connection between sex, creativity and consumerism?

[Jill Waldman · Rating 1 out of 5]

So bad. So so bad. I bought this because I was going on vacation and I wanted some trash. It delivers in the sense that it's salacious and trashy and ridiculously fast moving - the chapters are literally 3 pages long and have a blank page in between each of them so it's very quick read. The chapter follow a pattern of insufferable dialogue, then graphic sex scene and/or teenage literary magazine plot twist "no one will ever know what we did to that boy that day!" "my Stepfather got me pregnant!" then blank page. Really you can read it in a day or two. But the problem is it's a book about the art scene in the 80's so a lot of it is like being at a cocktail party with art-scene people which is insufferably boring and vapid. So she starts out as an artist, then that crashes so she becomes a high-class prostitute and then SHE USES HER SEXUALITY TO FILM AN ARTISTIC PORN TO SHOW THAT REALLY BEING AN ARTIST IS LIKE BEING A WHORE! I TOTALLY NEVER SAW THAT ONE COMING EVER EVER EVER. Oh good lord and it pretends to have a feminist twist. It's honestly a feminist novel in the way the Avril Levine is a punk rocker. Read it if you're on a plane or something.

[Christopher White · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York was a much different place in the mid 80s, and this novel captures the angst of the unknown at the time. Reminds me of 'A Paris Apartment'. Very enjoyable.

[cait · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was both shocking and boring but a nice 2.5 stars because i did love Monika as the chaotic older sister archetype

[Meredith Zeitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes you on one hell of a ride! Di Donato's evocative prose is fast-paced, raw and, at times, profoundly emotional. The exploration and evolution of the 80s downtown art scene is meticulously detailed, providing a perfect backdrop for main character Jodi Plum's many-tiered journey through New York City and her own psyche. Jodi and her glamorous roommate, Monika, have a relationship that reminded me so much of the one Amor Towles' leading ladies share in Rules of Civility (albeit in a very different - tho no less excitingly mercurial - era). Jodi is alternately creative, critical, naive, spiteful, kind, helpless, dirty, destructive... but always clever; I loved tracking her journey to self-discovery.

So impressed by this debut, and can't wait for a follow-up.