Toxicology

A Novel

By: Jessica Hagedorn

Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo, Rona Figueroa, Jessica Hagedorn, Carrington MacDuffie, Robin Miles, Jesse Vilinsky

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

A bold new novel about the intersection of art, love, fame, and money from the acclaimed author of Dogeaters.

Jessica Hagedorn's edgy and entertaining new novel centers on the lives of two women who are neighbors in Manhattan's West Village. Mimi Smith is a filmmaker of low-budget slasher movies in search of new material. Her neighbor Eleanor Delacroix is a legendary writer of erotic fiction, now nearing eighty and addicted to cocaine and gin. Their personal and artistic lives begin to collide in unexpected ways as Eleanor grieves over the recent death of her live-in lover, the renowned painter Yvonne Wilder, and as Mimi deals with the challenges presented by her newly sober brother Carmelo; her drug-dealing boyfriend, who has mysteriously disappeared; and her wayward fourteen-year-old daughter, Violet. Looming over all these characters is the ghost of Agnes—an "illegal" and cousin of Mimi's who might have been murdered by her New Jersey employers. Toxicology is a dark yet playful exploration of money, desire, mortality, and the connection between creativity and self-destruction.

©2011 Jessica Hagedorn (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A razor-sharp, refreshingly unsentimental portrayal of New York artists—selfish, irresponsible, and brilliant—and the evolution of feminism.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Out of jump cuts and close-ups, Hagedorn has composed a jazzy, stingingly smart tragicomedy of toxic substances, hate, and delusions; hustle and creativity; obsession and passion."—Booklist (starred review)

“This is an eclectic mix of differing voices, dream sequences, interviews, and snippets of memoir, as well as straight narrative all overlaid with Hagedorn's darkly humorous perspective... Recommended for readers of edgy, urban fiction.”—Library Journal