A literary provocateur by design, Eric LaRocca has rapidly built a reputation for guiding readers through the emotional undergrowth with a poet’s scalpel; and, in doing so, a devoted readership that craves fiction which challenges, disturbs, and resonates on a deeply personal level.
His latest novel, Wretch, or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw, is set to be published this March 24. The story follows Simeon Link, who, after the death of his husband, finds himself drawn into an unusual support group called The Wretches, offering addictive and dangerous solace. In this world, Simeon comes across the enigmatic Porcelain Khaw, a figure capable of granting mourners one final intimate encounter with their lost loved ones – but at an excruciating price.
Having read the book, LaRocca has once again destroyed me in the most beautiful way possible, delivering a painstakingly intimate and profoundly poignant novel, every word a wound and a wonder. It’s unflinching in its exploration of grief and solitude, offering a perspective on a soul at odds with an intolerant world, and it left me reckoning with the rawness of loss, the strange comfort that comes from sitting with discomfort, and the tethering force of curiosity.
To mark the book’s release, CinemaChords spoke to LaRocca about its deeply personal and provocative themes, the raw and often “dirty” nature of grief, the tension between curiosity and despair that drives its central character, and how questions of sexuality, desire and social norms intersect with self-exploration and emotional reckoning.
