Chicken

by Lynn Crosbie

Set in disparate parts of Los Angeles, Chicken uproariously, grievously, relates the collision and inevitably ruinous paths of two incendiary figures. One is the once beautiful and famous Parnell Wilde, a maverick actor arrogant in his disastrous fall. The other is Annabel Wrath, a much younger, idiosyncratic cult filmmaker with contradictory motives for seeking the older man out.


The two are profoundly altered by their meeting and its harrowing denouement and manage to save each other from their paths of torment and dizzying spirals of decline. But when Parnell is offered the chance to perform in the sequel to Ultraviolence, the feature film that made him famous — and to work again with its brilliant but merciless director — he and Annabel are forced to confront their demons as the extreme, fleeting, and dangerous world of fame threatens to divide them.

Genres: Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2018

About the author

Lynn Crosbie is a Canadian poet and novelist. She teaches at the University of Toronto.

She received her Ph.D in English from the University of Toronto, writing her thesis on the work of the American poet Anne Sexton.

Crosbie has lectured on and written about visual art at the AGO, the Power Plant, and OCAD University (where she taught for six years.) She is an award-winning journalist and regular contributor to Fashion magazine and Hazlitt. She has had columns in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Star, Flare and Eye magazine.

Reviews

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Profane, over-the-top, operatic, poetic, this book goes all the way into obsession, jealousy and sexual need. Crosbie's writing (my first of hers, won't be the last) is amazing. There's nothing she or her protagonists don't go for, no moment that can't be a poetic over-statement of unreality full of very real feeling. It's joyous in its extremity of expression even when its dark. And many of those moments of darkness had me laughing out loud. Definitely not for everyone but fans of Despentes will likely love it.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was gritty, jarring, and grotesque in the most amazing way. Crosbie's writing really has a way of continuing to draw you in to the sick and twisted worlds of the main characters personalities and lives. Would highly recommend if you enjoy a novel filled with sex, drugs, violence, and oddities.

[Steph VanderMeulen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still without sufficient words to express the magnitude of the effects this novel had on me. The writing is raw yet refined. Like all of Lynn's work, it is beautiful and a tragicomic study of what it means to love and be happy but also be destroyed by it all.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. A once-in-a-lifetime book.

[jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Gut wrenching, beautiful, sickening, sexy, everything.

[Sophie J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A work of art.

[Laura-Michelle Horgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crosbie’s writing is profoundly original. This book took me twice as long to read because I would often stop and marvel at her sentences. That said, the constant sex scenes became tedious and it often felt like every chapter was the same: some crazy trip, or obscure “art” project, or animal adoption that devolves into wild sex that seems likely to end with one or both of them in the ER. I did, however, find their intense obsessive love fascinating. Not something to aspire to but interesting nonetheless. I’m looking forward to reading “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”.

[Hazel Bright · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book about an aging male actor living in Los Angeles written by a fairly young, non-male non-actor who has never spent any real time in Los Angeles, I'm guessing. It all rang hollow and false and full of generalizations and tiresome, all too cute pseudoepiphanies. Sensationalism and sex and paranormal healing can be made tedious. I guess I learned something. Yay.

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Jesus. This was bonkers. This was such a satirical snapshot of Hollywood. This was a spiralling, spastic, freaky exposé. The text was unlike anything I've read before. Where has Lynn Crosbie been all these years? I hope Chicken keeps her around. I have a feeling House of Anansi will be happy it has this book on its shelves. It's explosive and sure to polarize... which isn't out of line with Canadian authors right now, but is unfortunately absent in their writing. And that is why it will stand out.

And I think I need a drink and a breather before I maybe read this again.