Last Woman standing by Amy Gentry review: a #MeToo revenge fantasy


A few chapters in and I already wanted to interview Amy Gentry. Let me set the stage. Quite literally...Dana Diaz, a standup comedian, is doing a set. It all flows, but to her, it feels stale. Maybe it's that her life is going nowhere since she moved to Austin. She had to get away from LA; the guy she loved, didn't like her back. And after she ended up in a limo with a famous comedian, who proceeded to assault her sexually, she knew it was time to get out.
When my life feels stale, I grab an extra piece of chocolate and watch one more episode of whatever show I'm obsessed with. Maybe I plan a trip...In fiction, the moment you think can use some pizzaz; you know you are in trouble. Enter the person that will rip your life apart. This is Amanda Dorn, a computer programmer, who with femme fatale precision inserts herself into Dana's life, seemingly intuiting what Dana needs to kick her future into high gear. Win the funniest person in Austin? Why not? Get revenge on that famous comedian? Hell yes!
And here we come the reason I can't wait to read the interviews; there is no doubt that the comedian mentioned is based on Louie C.K.; Dana was in awe of him, but he used it to rub one out while she had to sit there aghast.
Now Amanda had her own sets of troubled encounters, and she suggests a Strangers on the Train scenario where they will take care of each other assaulters. At first, the revenge is measured, but soon it escalates, and Dana is trapped, much to her own doing.
I read this book almost in one go, the first chapters were excellent, contemporary, fresh, and shall I say it...woke. But, once it gets the ball rolling, the similarities to current events brought me a bit ot of the narrative. It's tricky basing a revenge story gone bad on such a sensitive subject. It makes the lengths to where is willing to seem a bit outlandish. It can be uncomfortable to have #MeToo experiences used for the purpose of entertainment.
But all in all, Dana is highly relatable, comes alive, and Amy Gentry's style is gripping and lets the story flow smoothly towards its untimely end.


Last Woman standing will come out January 2019, Preorder it here