Book Review: Anita de Monte Laughs Last

Xochitl Gonzalez’s new novel, Anita de Monte Laughs Last has been making a splash all across the literary scene. Chosen as a Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club pick as well as an Indie Next award, this book brings not only a brightly colored, eye-catching cover, but also a sharp novel exploring racism, sexism, and classism plaguing the art world.

Its 1985 and Anita de Monte is a rising star in the art world, making waves across the traditional male-dominated New York art scene. She’s often treated as a token woman and minority, devaluing her work. Anita is also knowns for being the wife of esteemed artist Jack Martin. As Anita’s star rises, things become strained in her relationship. Until she is found dead under suspicious circumstances. Though at first de Monte’s tragic death is the talk of the town, merely a decade later her name has been all but forgotten in the media and art world.

It’s 1998 when a working-class Puerto Rican woman, Raquel Toro, is a first-generation college student at Brown University. Though Brown is known as the most liberal of the Ivies, that’s not exactly a high bar. Raquel often feels like an outsider, surrounded by the privileged students at Brown. But when Raquel becomes involved with a well-connected, older, white art student named Nick Fitzsimmons, she finds herself suddenly rising in status among the other students.

Raquel was planning to focus her thesis on a sculptor who has been rumored to inspire brutalist architecture. A man named Jack Martin. Her research leads her to discover a brilliant but forgotten Cuban-American artist, Anita de Monte. As Raquel learns more about the vibrant and tragic story of Anita de Monte, she sets out to give her the recognition in death that she deserved in life.

The story of Raquel and her privileged, white male partners mirrors the same issues that Anita experienced over a decade earlier. The two timelines weave together with elegance and careful plotting. Anita’s voice narrates from the grave in first person format, while Jack and Raquel’s stories are told in third person. It adds an air of power to Anita—she will not be silenced in life nor in death.

Despite similarities in the challenges they faced in the art world surrounding race, gender, and classism, Raquel and Anita have unique personalities. Anita is loud, passionate, and brazen, while Raquel’s voice is much quieter. I found it so satisfying that Anita’s voice was never going to be silenced, she was just waiting for someone to find her.

The reader can’t miss the sad reality of Jack’s star power continuing to rise in the wake of Anita’s death. Gonzalez makes a strong point about who gets remembered and who gets forgotten in a white and male-dominated art world. Anita’s death looms over the novel, not only because of her story but also because of the mystery of whether her husband was responsible. Did their clashes of ego finally become too much?

It felt like Anita was predicting her own death at times. She is no shrinking violet, and she stands up to Jack in a battle of talent and ego. But the more she attends to her husband, the more her work suffers. Anita was attracted to Jack because his fame and talent seemed to validate her. But this doesn’t last forever. What was once validating becomes the Sword of Damocles hanging over her career and life. She seems to predict the way her relationship will eventually mean the end of her.

“I would also have to consider that, actually the beginning of the end was the very first time I ever chose Jack Martin over myself.”

Though Anita’s voice made it impossible to not see her as the center of the story, I don’t want to forget to talk about Raquel. Not only does her story seem destined to follow the same tragic path as Anitas, but Raquel also seems to be drawn to the white, privileged men that are seen as inherently better in the art scene, and not totally because of talent. Raquel’s economic disparity from her classmates is also difficult to ignore—it greatly impacts both her life and how her work is seen.

That Raquel is able to rise quickly when linked to a white man of status is uncomfortable to read, as it glaringly points out that her talent didn’t change, but the way others viewed her worth did. Even at the liberal ivy-league college where Raquel is attending school, she is not considered worthy until she’s approved of by someone of the right demographics and status.

Elegantly-written, bold, and memorable—Anita de Monte Laughs Last should be on everyone’s reading list.

If you liked Anita de Monte Laughs Last, what should you read next?

About the Author

Xochitl Gonzalez is a cultural critic, producer, screenwriter, and the New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming. Named a Best of 2022 by The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus, Washington Post, and NPR, Olga Dies Dreaming was the winner of the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize in Fiction and the New York City Book Awards. A Reese’s Book Club Pick, her new novel, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, was published on March 2024 with Flatiron Books. Gonzalez is a 2021 M.F.A. graduate from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her non-fiction work has been published in Elle Decor, Allure, Vogue, Real Simple, and The Cut. As a staff writer for The Atlantic, she was recognized as a 2023 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary.

Prior to writing, Gonzalez was an entrepreneur, fundraiser, and all-around hustler for nearly 20 years. She is a board member of the Lower East Side Girls Club and the Brooklyn Public Library, and a trustee of the corporation of Brown University, where she received her B.A. in Visual Art. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, she lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hectah Lavoe.