It feels unfair to begin a review of Lydi Conklin’s debut novel Songs of No Provenance by saying it won’t be for everyone. But the aspects of the book that may turn off some folks are probably the reasons they should pick it up.

Songs of No Provenance

By Lydi Conklin

Catapult

368 pages, $28

It must be said that there’s a lot of pee in this book. The main character, Joan Vole, is working through many complex parts of being an underground musician who’s known as much for her antics as her music, and the entire narrative is built around an over-the-top subversive act done onstage (involving pee) that causes her to flee to teach a summer class at a remote college. But it’s the work she does to understand her own behavior that gives readers a reason to stick with the story.

As in Conkli

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