Suicide Blonde

by Darcey Steinke

Grove Press, 191 pp., $12 (paper)

Suicide Blonde follows pretty, sexy, San Francisco subcultured Jesse through a major change. Jesse narrates the novel as she leaves her lover and finds herself doing things she knows are “wrong” but longs to do, as if perversion is a form of transformation. The novel, then, shares the intimate details of all of her transgressions and, perhaps, her redemption. At times, this technique seems more voyeuristic than erotic, yet it’s in keeping with Jesse’s own perspective of what she is doing: “I was suspicious that … I was intentionally trying to devastate myself, encourage confusion and misery, so that I would have no impulse to pose or lie.” Ultimately, she recognizes that love is too often a substitute for strength, that sex is too often a substitute for love, that violence can also be a substitute for love, and that flirting with death can bring tragic results.

This article appears in March 31 • 2000.

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