Nonbinary is the intimate story of Genesis P-Orridge's life, weaving the narrative of their history in COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, and Psychic TV. It also covers growing up in World War II's fallout in Britain, contributing to the explosion of new music and radical art in the 1960s, and destroying visual and artistic norms throughout their entire life.
This posthumous memoir tells readers, with unsparing candor, about [P-Orridge's] mutable, ever-changing life ... Part narrative, part philosophy, this outré memoir is a remarkable experience.
Shifting between 'we' and 'I' throughout the text, P-Orridge’s first-person voice is theatrical yet accessible—one moment they’re calmly relaying the pleasures of eating unleavened bread with honey, the next they’re describing Edwardian ghosts walking out of their squat with flashlight-under-the-chin relish. The memoir clocks in at 350 pages, which doesn’t seem like nearly enough space to cover P-Orridge’s life and career ... For someone who has written moving passages about collective effort and the need to question convention, P-Orridge was awfully fond of the 'great man' theory when it came to making art. While P-Orridge is right to feel proud of themself, considering the depth and breadth of their accomplishments, the self-aggrandizement gets wearying and at times absurd ... Forget sympathy—this devil could use a little humility.
