Life Drawing (Emily Lighezzolo, UQP)

Emily Lighezzolo’s debut novel, Life Drawing, is an intimate literary romance that explores desire, body image, mental health, art and love. The novel switches between the perspectives of artists Charlie and Maisie, who meet at university in Brisbane in 2012. Charlie encounters Maisie while drawing her nude body in an art class, then again when they become housemates. Each is attracted to the other, with Charlie forming an almost sublime aesthetic appreciation of Maisie’s body, which he both reveres and respects. Maisie, though she reciprocates, keeps Charlie at a distance while compulsively seeking physical validation from casual sex with other men. Over 3 acts, we follow Maisie and Charlie through different stages of their lives as they drift apart and come together again. Their sexual chemistry is always electrifying to read, and their love story is genuinely moving. Although Charlie’s perspective dominates, his character is secondary to Maisie’s; both he and the novel seem most interested in unravelling her mystery and in seeing beyond her “lines and angles”. Yet Maisie – self-sabotaging, impulsive, witty and addicted to the male gaze – is harder to grasp as a character in the first two acts. Her internal struggles later in the novel feel more cohesive; her disassociation and feelings of emptiness are palpable and devastating. Ultimately, Life Drawing is a compulsively readable, provocative and thoughtful debut that will appeal to fans of Diana Reid, Allee Richards and Sally Rooney.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer who has worked as a bookseller and museum educator. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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