WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Clarissa in times of Covid
RON JACOBS relishes a riotous epistolary novel of revenge against sexual harassment and patriarchy
NO PRISONERS TAKEN: Virginie Despentes
[Georges Biard/CC] 
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
Dear Dickhead
Virginie Despentes, MacLehose Press, £14.99
VIRGINIE DESPENTES is a French author. A runaway, sex worker, punk rocker and iconoclast, her newest novel, titled Dear Dickhead, features a protagonist accused of sexual harassment and stalking his assistant.
This protagonist, who is a popular crime novelist, is called out by his victim during the period of the so-called #Metoo movement. The victim conducts her campaign on a personal blog that functions as a journal wherein she describes her experiences, the mental health crisis the harassment caused and her desire to destroy the man who victimised her.
The result, as it is played out in the novel’s pages, is vivid, sometimes humorous, painful and problematic. It is a battle of the sexes played by 2020 rules. The house formerly dominated by the male of the species doesn’t always have the odds in its favour.
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