To prepare for the LA Times Festival of Books, I have been steadily reading books from authors who will attend. Anna Dorn’s Exalted is a finalist for the LA Times Festival of Books Book Prize in Fiction, and for a good reason. Exalted highlights the vices we cling to and the lengths we will go to belong, all with an electrifying twist.
Summary
Emily spends her time in Los Angeles running an astrology meme account, Exalted, and deciphering birth charts for clients at a fee of over $200. Yet, her declining passion for astrology is reformed when she reads Beau’s chart: with every planet in alignment, he is exalted. Emily’s interest in befriending Beau morphs into an obsession that quickly consumes her life.
Recently dumped, forced to wait tables at her old job, and with her only son moved away, Dawn is alone and convinced the world is out to get her.
Their lives couldn’t be more different, yet in a fascinating tale of dark and twisted fate, their lives intersect in irreparable ways.
Review
What takes first-person narratives from good to brilliant is the ability to embody a character’s speech patterns, thought processes, and language. An ability that Dorn has mastered in this book. Emily and Dawn’s point of view are so distinct from each other that they felt like flesh and bone, rather than paper and ink. Dorn’s prose is so sharp and punchy that I inhaled this book in a matter of days.
The twist in this novel is how Dawn and Emily’s lives intersect. I refuse to spoil the rest of this novel, so the nest part of my review might be a little vague.
It took me an embarrassingly long time before I put two and two together to figure out the twist of events in this novel, but when I did, I was elated for figuring it out…then utterly devastated at the fallout of this twist. I have only audibly gasped at a book a few times in my life. But Exalted was definitely a hand flying to the mouth, jaw on the floor, sitting straight up in bed kind of moment. I marvel at Dorn’s writing and her ability to slip crucial details in front of the reader. Once I figured it out, reading about the fallout of this connection between Dawn and Emily felt like watching a car crash. But I couldn’t look away.
This novel’s theme is reminiscent of my all-time favorite book, White Noise by Don DeLillo. Both works discuss the countless ways we cope with and make sense of the world. Drugs, astrology, alcohol, religion, therapy, money. Emily would constantly cite her obsession with Beau as either being a Virgo or her OCD diagnosis. And this dry, biting humor permeates throughout Dorn’s work. Every character uses something to cope with life, like how Emily and Dawn use astrology as a lens to view life. From validating their feelings to explaining their self-destructive behavior, astrology becomes a tool for complacency.
My only qualm with this book is that it felt like Dawn’s storyline was less developed. While the chapters switched between Emily and Dawn’s point of view, the emphasis seemed to be more on Emily’s narrative.
If you love My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, or what I call “women vs. the void” literature, then you should add this book to your TBR pile.
The Library Mouse's Book Nook 