Utopia

August 15, 2022
Sopinka’s mesmerizing latest (after The Dictionary of Animal Languages) stages a story of obsession in the 1970s Los Angeles art world. Paz, a recent art school grad, has long admired the scene’s power couple: artists Romy, whom Sopinka reveres for navigating the sexist industry, and Billy, Romy’s critically successful husband. So Paz is shattered when Romy dies mysteriously from a fall, prompting others to wonder if she was killed, perhaps by Billy, or if the whole thing was an elaborate performance piece and she’s still alive. Less than a year later, Paz finds herself hastily married to Billy (they’d met when she was a student, though the circumstances behind their union don’t come out till later) and raising his and Romy’s infant, Flea. While Billy is in Italy for an exhibition, Paz grows desperate for answers, especially after Romy’s friend hands her a recently mailed postcard she claims is from Romy. Excerpts of Romy’s journals deliver slashing blows to the men dominating her cohort (one’s work is “too physical... like a jock who’s found another way to get attention”). Though the ending feels a bit sentimental, Paz’s fixation with Romy—which partly explains what drew her to Billy—adds a thrilling hypnotic edge. This page-turner doubles as a love letter to the daring women on the fringes of art history.