LETI’S DIRTY BOOK CLUB: X BY davey davis
Review: X by Davey Davis
Davey Davis understands sex. Sex sells, sex hurts, sex helps, sex is community, sex is pointless, sex is dangerous, sex is an escape into a beautifully controlled dystopia when actual dystopia is rampaging the world.
Sex in X is versatile; sometimes romantic, sometimes abusive, sometimes a space to connect, sometimes totally disconnecting. But the true difficulties surrounding the protagonist is not as much about sex, as about a fascist state, a broken heart, and a failure to care for the most loved one. Set in the queer S&M scene of New York, X follows the first-person narrator Lee, a sadist going through a break-up, but who finds a new purpose after having had the world-changing experience of being shatteringly topped by a femdom: the mysterious X. If Lee can only find her again, the world might be restored.
Meanwhile, the American state is deporting and disappearing migrants, queers, bipocs, poors, anarchists - anyone whose existence is deviant enough to challenge white, capitalist neo-fascist statehood. Lee’s community is in a constant state of emergency. And love has fallen apart too. Lee’s own misdeeds in the broken relationship is not something they want to confront.
So, in place of purpose, X appears. In sexy, film noir-style, she seems to always be around the corner. Someone knows someone who’s been her servant. Someone has her signature “X” branded on their back. Once, Lee catches a glimpse of her arm before she disappears back-stage of a set.
It is, however, unsure whether X really exits, at least the version of X Lee is chasing. She is constantly just out of reach. This is the problem of an impossible fantasy: if the fantasy is fulfilled, the fantasy is ruined.
In the end, then, the fantasy cannot be sustained. The clues of this detective-like book don’t solve the case of the busted world. Instead, I find myeslf desperatlely clinging to the hope of not getting to end of my own fantasies. One of the last things we got is fantasy. We have to imagine that sex can be good, that love can be good, that, in spite of everything, some place still exists where we can be good together.
This book left me scared of the world, in love with my community, crying about betrayals, aching for my lost lovers, horny for escape. Leather lovers and beyond, please read this masterpiece.