“Eat Your Mind” provides a comprehensive yet engaging insight into the life and work of writer Kathy Acker. Through extensive interviews and meticulous research, McBride paints an empathetic picture of a complex artist.
He describes Acker’s avant-garde literary oeuvre which broke genre boundaries and taboos using collage, appropriation and experimental narrative techniques to create provocative texts that attacked patriarchy and convention.
Furthermore, McBride illuminates Acker’s turbulent biography, her quest for identity and her immersion in the punk and queer culture of 1970s/80s New York. McBride succeeds in crafting a respectful, sympathetic portrait that doesn’t gloss over Acker’s contradictions.
Overall, “Eat Your Mind” offers both literature enthusiasts and a wider audience a fascinating glimpse into a pioneering author. Fluidly written, thoroughly researched and with a delicate feel for the intricate protagonist - an all-around accomplished biography.
