Eidsvig's Drowning Girl is an immersive and deeply evocative journey through art, addiction, obsession, and the enduring power of fleeting connection amidst the relentless tide of entropy. Cutting, profound, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, Drowning Girl is both a celebration of art and a testament to the unlikely convergence of grief and grace through which it is made manifest. It's a wonderful book. -Aryn Kyle, author of Boys and Girls Like You and Me
DROWNING GIRL by Kurt Cole Eidsvig is a captivating exploration of art, personal connection, and storytelling, inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's iconic painting of the same name. Eidsvig, an accomplished arts writer, poet, and fiction author, crafts a unique meditation on the intimate process of engaging with art. The book employs a diverse array of creative mediums, including text messages, footnotes, song lyrics, Morse code, movie quotes, emails, and memory, to weave a multi-layered narrative. This narrative delves into the history and significance of each dot in Lichtenstein's masterpiece, while simultaneously challenging the conventional boundaries of poetry.
In his process, Eidsvig paid participants to stand before the painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and count the dots, incorporating their survey responses as one of many expressive elements in the book.
What truly sets DROWNING GIRL apart is its rich, immersive storytelling set against the looming threat of an approaching hurricane. Readers follow the narrator on a journey along the East Coast, where the book transcends a mere exploration of art to become a multifaceted adventure of self-discovery. Destinations and arrivals serve as metaphors for the unfolding of personal and artistic journeys. Through inventive narrative techniques and the backdrop of impending danger, DROWNING GIRL offers a thought-provoking and engaging exploration of the profound connections that can be forged between art, the self, and the world around us.
