An Arbitrary Formation of Unspecified Value

by Jennifer Quartararo

In An Arbitrary Formation of Unspecified Value we see the city of Detroit through two distinct seasons; the sweltering summer Quartararo worked with a letterpress artist in a former veal locker, and the winter she lived on a dead end street slated for possible removal next to a defunct highway overpass. We see the city from the seat of her bicycle, from the #42 bus, and for miles on foot as she meditates on the erasure of memories, the impermanence of bodies, and the disintegration of structures. Quartararo's Detroit teems with life as she explores the ways people are both shaped by, and take shape of landscapes.

Genres: Nonfiction

140 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting, poetic, and soul-searching meditation on a the author's life as it changes in a city (Detroit) that is also changing and trying to find its way back to some kind of hope and normalcy after a long period of blight and decay. The occasional details about the narrator's precarious relationship added a nice thrust to the arc of the book and I'll be excited to read more from Quartararo.

[Mike Nagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rips so hard. Little firecrackers on every page.