July 27, 2026
Great, Gaudy Artifice
I loved Gibbons’ stiff sentences and strange tone—at once kitschy, pervy, ridiculous, and tragic.
No awkward fumbling in the dark, no failed maneuvers, no humiliating slurp sounds slipped out in the throes of passion—even a middle-aged beauty crowns the novice to be a carnal “king”! Have you ever heard of a more seamless first time? Then you remember this is a book written by a teenage girl who’s never been kissed, let alone had sex.
