We loved this review of Kat Hausler’s WHAT I KNOW ABOUT JULY in the California Review of Books! Walter Cummins hits the nail on the head with this insightful examination.
While the mystery of July and the steps to know her reality make an exciting story, Kat Hausler’s more essential achievement is the creation of a character with the complexity of Simon Kemper.
CALIFORNIA REVIEW OF BOOKS | Walter Cummins
What I Know about July by Kat Hausler – California Review of Books (calirb.com)
What I know About July
Simon Kemper is on the up and up–he’s out of rehab, and his band is gaining moderate success around Berlin. But out of the corner of his eye and over his shoulder, he’s always aware of her. The stalker. She’s at every show, no matter what city. She sends hundreds of postcards to his label. Worst of all, she acts like she knows him. Like she owns him.
When the stalker disappears at one of his shows, Simon is the prime suspect. Initially an effort to clear his name, his search for July quickly becomes a deeper psychological quest: to prove that his fears were warranted? That she couldn’t have given up her obsession that easily?
The threads of July’s disappearance turn out to be tangled into every corner of Simon’s life: a trusted band member, a tenuous new love interest, a resentful ex, and the self he’s supposedly left behind. Narcissistic, insecure, and consummately relatable, Simon is the anti-hero of his own life—trying to want to be better; hoping that’s enough.
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