The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal

by: Sean Dixon

Published by: Other Press

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

According to author Sean Dixon’s blog, his novel, The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal, is based on the premise of “What happens when your average everyday book club reads the oldest book in the world?” My answer would be: It gets really weird.

The Lacuna Cabal Montreal Young Women’s Book Club is not, and I repeat, not your “everyday average book club.” First they met daily. Second, they are a young women’s group that includes a man-who-wants-to-be-a-woman and a ten-year-old boy, who continually scribbles in a notebook and unwittingly becomes the hero of the story. Third, the club does its best to try to go to the places, or a reasonable facsimile of where the action occurs. Fourth, the story is so convoluted that the narrators must use footnotes.

The story is told from the point of view of two members, Jennifer and Danielle, who cobble the story together from the daily notes that are kept and from a play written by Emily, another member. The girls’ running commentary, along with the aforementioned footnotes, creates an illusion that, as narrators, the girls are unreliable. Did what happen really happen, or did they misread the meeting notes?

When Runner Coghill is fed up with their current selection, she brings in ten cuneiform tablets that her father owned. Only she can read them, but the story is continually interrupted by Runner’s adventures, other book club member’s adventures, and a quest to find the oldest living man in the world.

In my opinion, The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal has some major drawbacks. Dixon never explains what lacuna cabal means. I looked it up and I think I get it; I did learn two new words for Scrabble though. Also, Dixon never reveals (or I missed it) the name of the “single weepy tome (the book club) been stuck on for the last six months.”

Armchair Interviews says: Heed this reviewer’s comments. Not recommended.

Author’s blog: http://LacunaCabal.blogspot.com