What You Could Have Won

August 15, 2020
The relationship between a divergently motivated man and woman flares and fades--but these aren't average people. Astrid is a meteor of musical talent, reminiscent of Janis Joplin or Amy Winehouse. Famous on MTV and recognized internationally, she's also drug-dependent, and in Henry Sinclair, she has found the perfect package: a drug-supplying boyfriend. But Henry has his own agenda. An ambitious British psychiatrist, he's hoping, despite conflicts with his boss, to make his reputation with a book and also with a patient he calls BirdBoy. Henry's self-motivated involvement with bright-burning Astrid drives this fractured contemporary tale that switches between the second person for Astrid--"You have waited and Henry has not come"--and Henry's first-person point of view. Scenes cut, cross, and interconnect to compose a cubist portrait of the relationship: the couple's meet-cute at the Eliot Perlman Wellness Center in Manhattan, Astrid's first paid gig; their prickly camping holiday on a Greek island; her road trip; his laboratory; her visit to a bizarre rehab clinic in Paris. Glimpses of satisfying early moments contrast with Astrid's neediness and Henry's chilly limitations: "I am not the kind of man who gets in deep." This caustic tale of toxic co-dependency comes with copious drug-taking, psychological theorizing, and oblique self-scrutiny: "Soon enough there will be no more easy choices at all and that is a phantom tragedy that escapes these two eyes and breathes only into the future." Genn, a neuroscientist and artist, displays strength in her intensity and scene painting, like Astrid's performance at a substance-fueled gig or the blackly comic description of three naked men attempting to revive her after she chokes on a doughnut. But the stylistic density swaddles the relationship in cerebral layers. A playful but challenging cautionary tale.

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September 28, 2020
Genn’s lurid second novel (after The Cure) tracks the buildup and collapse of a destructive relationship. Astrid is a rising rock star with a cocaine addiction worsened by the experimental drugs supplied by her psychiatrist boyfriend, Henry Sinclair. The two share narrative duties, and Henry’s chapters show him to be deeply self-involved, intent on vengeance against perceived slights from colleagues, and incapable of admitting his own failings after losing a research job. Astrid’s sections highlight her difficulties: she is terribly insecure but incredibly talented, and a portrait of self-punishing dependence and addiction. The novel opens with the couple visiting a Greek island so Astrid can recuperate after a particularly public binge that culminated in her catching fire at Burning Man. She’s recognized by the locals, and interactions between Henry and a hypermasculine Greek handyman provide some of the novel’s more entertaining moments. As Astrid’s story spins out in flashback, her character initially seems to hold little more than the standard drug addict archetype, but Genn’s skill lies in eliciting sympathy for Astrid as she tries to overcome Henry’s determination to manipulate her and recover his career. The result makes for a captivating portrait of regret, addiction, and the will to survive.

November 1, 2020
Neuroscientist turned author Genn's (The Cure, 2011) latest novel chronicles a dysfunctional relationship through the lens of fame and its exploitation. Singer Astrid's star is on the rise. Henry, a psychiatrist, believes that he deserves the recognition currently given to his boss. While Astrid and Henry's first meeting is electric and charming, Henry quickly turns Astrid into his project; a way to fuel a book deal and gain the notoriety he craves. Unfortunately, that book is titled How Cocaine Can Break Your Brain, and his research basically means plying Astrid with the drug. Others in Astrid's life do little to change the trajectory since they too are benefiting from her fame. The story alternates between Astrid's and Henry's points of view with flashbacks to their early relationship, a supposedly restorative trip to a nudist camp in Greece, and celebrity rehab in Paris. While Genn can certainly paint a scene and is often slyly funny, some details of Henry's esoteric writings and Astrid's drug fueled meanderings serve as distraction in an otherwise fresh and affecting novel.

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