Do Everything in the Dark

by Gary Indiana

Book Overview

A dark yet compassionate comedy of art aspirations and friendships come to naught.

First published in 2003, Gary Indiana's turn-of-the-millennium novel traces the lives of a loosely connected group of New York artists and the dissolution of their scene.

During the summer of 2001, the narrator of Do Everything in the Dark, a gallery curator, receives intermittent dispatches from his far-flung friends--many of whom resemble well-known...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1635901863
• ISBN13: 9781635901863
• Release Date: May 2023
• Publisher: Semiotext(e)
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

I Just Finished Reading it for the Fifth Time!

I just finished reading this book for the fifth time (!) since its release in 2003. That's how much I love it. Gary Indiana is one of my favorite contemporary writers. I've read most of his published fiction, and love it. But this is my favorite. In addition to the black humor, art-world gossip, dirty sex, and overall camp tone that characterizes GI's fiction, this book also has real heart, but without sentimentality. Do Everything in the Dark tracks a dozen related characters through the summer preceding 9-11. A presentiment and preoccupation with untimely death via plane crashes, physical disease, mental illness, bodily violence, creative burnout, and drug addiction permeates the narrative. Nevertheless, 9-11 is never mentioned. (The last scene takes place three days before the attacks). In this sense I think this is the best novel "about" 9-11, because it's all about the mindset that preceded it. The last chapter (I won't give it away) is devastating. This is such a cliché, but I have to say it, because in this case it's true for me: I have laughed and cried whilst reading this book. The characters are so real I wonder and worry about them. And for anyone who has experienced (or witnessed someone experiencing) a major depressive episode, the Denise-Caroline storyline is just gut-wrenching and real and true. It's one of those moments in literature where you think, "How could he [the writer] know that?" Because it reads like a roman-a-clef (GI is both the narrator and an eponymous though deliberately underdeveloped character) one recognizes fairly obvious references to Cookie Mueller, Nan Goldin, Ron Vawter, among others, so it's fun to try to guess who the other characters represent, even if you realize that as most writers do, GI has most likely created composites. That being said, I am DYING to know who "Tova Finkelstein" is based on. She can't really be Susan Sontag, can she? Not even GI would dare! Now that is some gooooood gossip.

A look at the past, and the future.

Amazing book! I just finished grad school at CalArts and I felt like this book was a snapshot of me and my colleagues in 20 years time...(of course, we can't afford new york anymore, but you get the idea). I am in awe of Indiana.

Slaves of Gotham

Laid out in the form of "a game of triple solitaire," Gary Indiana's sixth novel is beautifully written, and it skillfully evokes a certain near-great, over-40, Bohemian crowd in New York, allowing the reader to peer into their bedrooms at home and their vacation accommodations in Ibiza, Santa Fe, Provincetown, and Istanbul. Yet they suffer, stricken by dope and booze and fear of failure, and if this makes it possible for certain readers to return gratefully to rather unglamorous lives, it is also perfectly realistic; only the narrator remains something of an enigma. The story ends at about the same moment as Paul Auster's "Brooklyn Follies," but to his credit Gary Indiana builds up to the brink of the cataclysm with more credibility, realizing that a return to self-obsession is only a matter of time. Highly recommended for mature, literate readers.