The Book of Dahlia

It is hard, very hard, to write sarcasm. But Albert is an amazing stylist, and her David Foster Walace-esque prose is a joy to read. How can you make a cancerous brain tumor funny? It's not easy, but she does it, and does it so well that at the end of the novel I was both crying and laughing. The book is touching, honest, in your face, and wonderful. I can't wait to read more by Albert, and am ordering her short stories as we speak.

In this book, we meet the heroine Dahlia, after a brief glimpse of her daily and seemingly wasteful and over-indulgent lifestyle. After the diagnosis of her deadly brain tumor, Dahlia takes us on a journey through her past. Despite being spoiled and over-indulged and lazy, it turns out Dahlia has had nowhere near an ideal life. Her story, starting with her parents' meeting, then the birth of her brother, then her birth and life, is absolutely gut-wrenching. That Dahlia survived as long as she did is a feat in my mind. Although she is extremely angry and resentful, I cannot same I blame her. Too many people are quick to assert that anybody who grows up spoiled and privileged has no right to be angry, but I think the truth is the exact opposite. One of the ultimate questions is whether a life like Dahlia's, one that is on the surface selfish, and unrealized, is of less value than somebody who has achieved great things. After reading this book, I decided that indeed Dahlia's life is just as precious. That she was born to such a dysfunctional and abusive family is no fault of her own, and she still forges ahead in her own life, willing herself to live, despite flirting dangerously with suicide. Perhaps Dahlia can teach all of us that no matter who you are, where you come from, how much money you have, etc., you're still a person with a past and a story, and who contributes in life, not even necessariy in the form of a fancy job or lifestyle. Dahlia's life, in my humble opinion, was not a waste, and even though she is a fictional character, I feel the world has suffered a great loss of such a vibrant, dynamic woman.

I picked up this novel after hearing Elisa read at the most excellent KGB Bar in New York, and deciding--as I'm sure almost anyone else who was there did--that it was one of the funniest, most gripping readings I'd ever been to. I don't regret the purchase for an instant. Elisa Albert has one of the sharpest pens (keyboards?) I've yet encountered, and its a sharpness that cuts both ways: it makes you laugh 'til your sides split while breaking your heart. The ending was so gorgeous and inevitable and sad I read it three times, just to savor its perfection. This is not an easy book, but that's precisely why it's so essential and so brilliant. Kudos!

this is a novel that grabs hold and will not let go. i found myself deeply affected for days after putting it down. Dahlia is such an affecting, honest, original voice, and the book pulls no punches. kind of reminded me of the catcher in the rye that way -- this very real, very open voice. written with wit and soul, two things that can't be faked.

I am sorry to see that the first reviewer completely missed the raw beauty and genius of this novel. The New Yorker (a much more reputable source for book reviews), however, did not. In their March 24, 2008 "Briefly Noted" section the reviewer notes that "Dahlia Finger, the heroine of this début novel, is a sarcastic, self-absorbed Jewish American Princess, twenty-nine years old and living in a desirable bungalow in Venice, California, bought for her by her lawyer father. She's also, thanks to Albert's control of tone and timing, one of the most likable characters in recent fiction, as self-aware about her bad habits (smoking pot, wallowing in hopelessness, refusing to engage with her broken family) as she is incapable of changing them, even when diagnosed with a "level four" tumor in the left temporal lobe of her brain.... Albert writes with the black humor of Lorrie Moore and a pathos that is uniquely her own, all the more blistering for being slyly invoked. The San Francisco Chronicle has also called THE BOOK OF DAHLIA a "darkly brilliant first novel... a book so original in its voice and vision that it's truly thrilling." I feel that the conclusion of the Chronicle's review is perfectly addressed to readers who may not initially "get" this book. Here it is: "The Book of Dahlia will probably find detractors just as passionate as its champions. As Albert writes, "A vile, self-absorbed, depressing, lazy, messy, spoiled, f-up, probably mentally ill loser dies. So what?" Albert answers her own "So what?" with a deeply sympathetic portrait, devoid of sentimentality. Readers looking for a depiction of illness as a crucible for the triumph of the human spirit will be disappointed. But this book keeps its steadfast focus on a more complicated truth, and that is its triumph." It's one of the best books I've read in years.