Beautiful Garbage

Jodi, a young artist, moves to New York City in the gritty 1980s with the hope of making it big. She makes a few missteps along the way%E2%80%94e.g. sleeping with an art dealer she thinks is interested in her work%E2%80%94but eventually becomes a rising star in the art world. But soon Jodi finds herself unfulfilled, in financial straits, and haunted by memories of childhood. Eventually, she leaves the art world and becomes a prostitute. Now Jodi must struggle to address her childhood issues and resolves to returns to the art scene and become more successful than before. While the art world of 1980s New York City has been exhaustively explored, much of that exploration has been from the male perspective. In this novel, Di Donato focuses on the female perspective, as well as the inextricable link between art, business, and sexuality. While Di Donato's prose is occasionally rocky and some plotlines are not fully resolved, the author has ably captured a vivid moment in time.