Publisher Social Media - Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader/Frenzy
My Rating - 3.5/5
A modern tale of American striving, social media stardom, a fatal love triangle, and a young woman on trial for murder—a mesmerizing reimagining of Theodore Dreiser's classic novel of crime and punishment, An American Tragedy.Claire Griffith seems to have it all, a thriving career, a gorgeous, successful boyfriend, a glamorous circle of friends. She always knew she was destined for more than the life her deeply conservative parents preached to her. Arriving in Los Angeles as a flat broke teenager, she has risen to become a popular fitness coach and social media influencer. Having rebranded herself as Cleo Ray, she stands on the threshold of achieving her most cherished dreams.One summer day, Cleo and a young woman named Beck Alden set off in a canoe on a quiet, picture-perfect mountain lake. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water, her face cut and bruised, and Cleo is missing. Authorities suspect foul play and news about Cleo’s involvement goes viral. Who was Beck and what was the nature of her and Cleo’s relationship? Was Beck an infatuated follower who took things too far? If Cleo is innocent, why did she run? Was it an accident? Or was it murder?As evidence of Cleo’s secret life surfaces, the world begins to see just how hard she strived to get to the top— and how fast and far the fall is from celebrity to infamy.L. R. Dorn’s reimagining of Theodore Dreiser’s novel, told in the form of a true crime docuseries a la Serial and The Jinx—with characters speaking through the “transcripts” of recorded interviews—The Anatomy of Desire exposes the ambition, sexual passion, and dark side of success that readers will find as achingly poignant as they did a century ago.
The Anatomy of Desire is a reimagining of Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. It's a modern take on the novel that was itself inspired by the real life murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette.
The book is written like a transcript for a podcast or documentary. This format works incredibly well for this true crime style plot. It is even split into episodes instead of chapters and progresses in a similar manner. It may take a bit of getting used to but once the reader catches their rhythm It becomes a very fast paced read.
The biggest surprise for me was how easily this story was adapted in to a modernized setting. It was updated for current times while still keeping the main elements intact. I wasn't sure it was going to work when viewed through that modern lens but it just shows that murder and the reasons people commit it have remained pretty consistent.
It is hard to discuss the characters in this because I feel like we only get to know the surface level details about them. This is, of course, deliberate because it matches what we would learn in a documentary or podcast. We only learn what the people involved reveal in sound bites given in an interview, or testimony given during trial for example. We are not privy to the inner workings of these characters. It makes the narrative style work even better but it does keep the reader at arms length.
The other element of characterization that I had an issue with is that we never really got to know Beck. The events of the novel take place after her death and she is only seen through the perspective of others. Her voice is not present. This is something other adaptations (such as the movie A Place in the Sun) avoided by giving the victim more of a voice. It is a very focused perspective on the aftermath and therfore, like most true crime, the victim gets lost in the narrative.
If you enjoyed either An American Tragedy or A Place in the Sun I definitely encourage you to pick this one up. It has insightful things to say the themes handled in both of those works through an updated perspective.
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