RaveOn the SeawallWonderful ... On a blank frame, Bell interweaves a marvelous tapestry, including a relatable ribbon of reasoning with her own self-doubt ... Bell’s approach – close readings of history, maps, books, movies and art; meandering but productive strolls; and the employment of esoteric modalities, especially feng shui– offers a fresh, original perspective ... Although this wandering quality sometimes makes the book read like a maze of who’s who and what’s what, the intriguing throughlines are grounding ... I won’t spoil it for you, and I can’t say if Bell’s work will satisfy the history buff more than the memoir lover more than the architecture and city-planning enthusiast; genre-bending is the beauty and the challenge of the hybrid form. While the memoir/confessional aspect of The Undercurrents left me craving a little more dirt on Bell’s ex-husband – late in the book she describes her first time seeing him at a gallery opening, a story-path too quickly rerouted by a description of the building he lived in at the time – but the historical/esoteric aspect offers a more unique and provocative afterthought.
