01/27/2020
Comstock-Gay, who writes as Madame Clairevoyant for New York magazine’s The Cut website, draws on her personal life and pop culture in this delightful exploration of ways to use astrology in day-to-day life. Once an astrology disbeliever, Comstock-Gay embraced it after learning that her rising sign of Cancer belied what she thought was her set Sagittarius personality—and described her startlingly well. After stating her book is not “a reference...or study guide,” she delves into the 12 zodiac signs, listing common traits and predilections, and offering advice. Using the sun signs of writers (Virgos such as David Wojnarowicz and Leslie Feinberg), film directors (among them Leos Sandi Tan and Richard Linklater), singers (Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus, both Sagittarius), politicians (Gemini Rob Ford), and actors (including a touching section on Pisces Fred Rogers), Comstock-Gay demonstrates how each person’s life can be read through the prism of their sun signs. She also touches on how other zodiac signs play a part in natal astrology, emphasizing that celestial placements at birth and in life can help one think about one’s sense of self. Comstock-Gay’s wide-ranging introduction will please fans of her horoscopes, as well as any amateur astrologist. (Apr.)
Comstock-Gay is a luminous guide through the world of astrology. More so than the mathematically-minded manuals that I've paged through in learning about the heavens, her guide to the stars reads as a fascinating narrative, no matter what your sign. A fine, affirming study of humanity.” — Esmé Weijun Wang, author of The Collected Schizophrenias
“Claire Comstock-Gay has 'wrested abundance from a stingy world,' giving us a book that is about both the fun of astrology and how it can be taken seriously, analyzing public figures as various as Cardi B, the Olsen Twins, Wislawa Szymborska, and Susan Sontag. Comstock-Gay complicates the simple archetypes that undergird our culture and our sense of ourselves and, with revelatory rigor, presents more productive ones.” — Alice Bolin, author of Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession
"Not just a shimmering guide to our personal cosmologies written in precise and lucid prose, this book is also a devastating collection of cultural criticism essays cum meditations on the very nature of being alive." — Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of The Third Rainbow Girl
"A fresh, profound, and fun way to look at all things astro while also making spot-on observations about your pop culture faves." — Cosmopolitan
"Compulsively readable, both a balm and an inspiration. Claire’s own lived experience becomes a lens for the reader that begets an elegant, understated wisdom." — The Believer
“Even before COVID-19 we lived in unpredictable times, and astrology layers an interpretative framework over the chaos of existence. But to its practitioners, astrology is more than just a pop culture phenomenon…. It was only when [Claire] learned about other aspects of her chart that she began to see astrology as capable of nuance and inflection rather than blunt, blanket assertions. Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars takes a more thoughtful approach.” — Los Angeles Times
Comstock-Gay is a luminous guide through the world of astrology. More so than the mathematically-minded manuals that I've paged through in learning about the heavens, her guide to the stars reads as a fascinating narrative, no matter what your sign. A fine, affirming study of humanity.
"Compulsively readable, both a balm and an inspiration. Claire’s own lived experience becomes a lens for the reader that begets an elegant, understated wisdom."
Claire Comstock-Gay has 'wrested abundance from a stingy world,' giving us a book that is about both the fun of astrology and how it can be taken seriously, analyzing public figures as various as Cardi B, the Olsen Twins, Wislawa Szymborska, and Susan Sontag. Comstock-Gay complicates the simple archetypes that undergird our culture and our sense of ourselves and, with revelatory rigor, presents more productive ones.
"Not just a shimmering guide to our personal cosmologies written in precise and lucid prose, this book is also a devastating collection of cultural criticism essays cum meditations on the very nature of being alive."
Even before COVID-19 we lived in unpredictable times, and astrology layers an interpretative framework over the chaos of existence. But to its practitioners, astrology is more than just a pop culture phenomenon…. It was only when [Claire] learned about other aspects of her chart that she began to see astrology as capable of nuance and inflection rather than blunt, blanket assertions. Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars takes a more thoughtful approach.
"A fresh, profound, and fun way to look at all things astro while also making spot-on observations about your pop culture faves."
Even before COVID-19 we lived in unpredictable times, and astrology layers an interpretative framework over the chaos of existence. But to its practitioners, astrology is more than just a pop culture phenomenon…. It was only when [Claire] learned about other aspects of her chart that she began to see astrology as capable of nuance and inflection rather than blunt, blanket assertions. Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars takes a more thoughtful approach.