"Bee Lavender is a fantastic writer. Her work is deep and personal, and
I don't think there are any places she's scared to go." --Michelle Tea,
author of The Chelsea Whistle
"Bee's scrupulous, non-histrionic style is thrilling; it allows for some
devastating emotional moments because the author comes by them
honestly." --Ayun Halliday, author of No Touch Monkey
Diagnosed with cancer at age twelve and perilously pregnant at eighteen,
surviving surgeries and violent accidents: sometimes you can't believe
Bee Lavender is still alive; sometimes you think nothing could kill her.
Lessons in Taxidermy is Lavender's fierce and expressive search for
truth and an elusive sense of safety. This autobiographical tale is
stark and resolved, but strangely euphoric, tying together moments and
memories into a frantic, delicate, and often transcendently funny
account of anguish and confusion, pain and poverty, isolation and
illusion. While staying conscious of the particulars of her
circumstances, Lavender frames her life in the context of history,
traveling, landscape, and freak show culture. Lessons in Taxidermy is
apocryphal, troubling, cathartic, and important.