Tom Lynch

The country's fascination with celebrities in the eighties, as it pretty much is now, was a big fucking mess, filled with dope and dreams of superstardom, and sometimes just the desire to meet the famous. It's 1987 and 18-year-old Lillian was just imprisoned for shooting and killing a soap-opera star she's admired for ages, and she's left in her cell, ready and anxious to narrate her story. Sanders' "With or Without You," a dry but intense look at American obsession with beauty, status and celebrity, would haunt from cover to cover if it wasn't written with a graceful first-person presence that makes even a cold-blooded murderer amiable. Sanders received high praise for her debut, the pulpy, porn-star-infused "Kamikaze Lust," but here she hits every note of a thriller that thrills, saddens and illuminates, all the while ignoring the who, what and how, and wisely asking the most important question--why.

Lauren Sanders discusses "With or Without You" on April 12 at Quimby's, 1854 West North, (773)342-0910, at 7pm. Free.

(2005-04-05)

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