Wildchilds Review: «But we don´t get a daughter out of our insides that we can call “Lou”

Wildchilds Cover, by Shawn Stüssy Wildchilds Cover, by Shawn Stüssy

En Wildchilds, Iris de Valade is a caring-selfish-strong-ashamed-shy-scared person that finds love and hell in Paris. But you have to get to the end to see who wins and, no, is not predictable. Total shock in the last two pages; ok, that was a spoiler all the way down, admitted. In case you feel tempted… you’ll be sorry.

 yes, she manages to go quite deep, both beautifully and sickening

Wildchilds writing is fast, fluid and, at the times, beautiful. Most of those times are about descriptions of two lover’s secret places in Paris. But also, about the publishing business making -and unmaking- magazines, models, making it to the glory of fame -or getting shipped to somewhere else in Asia, and yes, the love story is between a model and a talented photographer. But, you really think is that easy? Do you? The “thing” about Wildchilds, is that nothing is easy and everything is too real. It feels real and the author says it is “the truth”. So I believe her, she was an agent that made David LaChapelle into fashion, she was the agent to Blanca Li, to Peggy Sirota, to Matthew Herbert, she even produced an album with fuck**g Malcolm McLaren, why should I not believe her? Five years Editor in Chief at Vogue France Magazine, Joan Juliet Buck -The Price of Illusion- endorses her and her book from the back same back cover. 

So, will we believe her?

While Wildchilds fits perfectly into the #metoo campaign, the novel goes deeper than any newspaper or magazine article or a nonfiction book or biography could go. And, because with fiction, you have “permission” to go down into the complexities of the human mind and soul as far and deep as you can manage as a writer. So, in my opinion, yes, she manages to go quite deep, both beautifully and sickening, and Wildchilds is too, about everyone getting loose on moral standards. It seems to me, that in this world of fashion, everybody is playing dangerously. And they know so.

As men, we can too be abused

Yes, sure. As men, we can too be abused. But we don´t get a daughter out of our insides that we can call “Lou”. Iris does, and her name holds all the beauty of the Universe and beyond. And this is above all a terrific love story and we all were, once, in love with the true love.

Read it. Or shame on you.