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livburness's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bluelilyblue's review against another edition
3.0
No clue what to rate this it could be a 5 but it could just as well be a 1. What if I went through it again and rated it at sentence level? Cover art is so sick though.
madeleinegeorge's review against another edition
4.0
Postmodern love story as it parallels the end of the world-- the self disintegrates at the edge of understanding, linguistic uncoupling foretells the end of days, and so on and so forth. Laing adheres beautifully to the structures of a classic postmodernism while uniting it deftly with the challenges and peculiarities of the digital age.
Why is the self never enough? Why do we love in a dying world? As the unreal becomes manifest, where does the future crack?
Perestroika approaches.
Essentials:
"Kathy was writing everything down in her notebook, and had become abruptly anxious that she might exhaust the present and find herself out at the front, alone on the crest of time."
"He was the cleverest nicest most lovable man she'd met but she was like a feral animal, she had no idea what to do with love, she experienced it as an invasion, as the prelude to loss and pain, she really didn't have a clue. [...] Why couldn't she be calm like water?"
"She'd liked it that way, she'd liked being by herself, kept company by her old pals hankering and craving."
"This was the thing with people, they went at each other and missed, or just as bad collided and stuck. The wreckage was awful."
"This is how it is, then, walking backwards into disaster, braying all the way."
"Grief saturates her words, she can't stop it, she writes about rotten meat and rape, raw sewage, she writes about mothers and fathers and little girls, she writes I'm banging my head my head into a wall."
Why is the self never enough? Why do we love in a dying world? As the unreal becomes manifest, where does the future crack?
Perestroika approaches.
Essentials:
"Kathy was writing everything down in her notebook, and had become abruptly anxious that she might exhaust the present and find herself out at the front, alone on the crest of time."
"He was the cleverest nicest most lovable man she'd met but she was like a feral animal, she had no idea what to do with love, she experienced it as an invasion, as the prelude to loss and pain, she really didn't have a clue. [...] Why couldn't she be calm like water?"
"She'd liked it that way, she'd liked being by herself, kept company by her old pals hankering and craving."
"This was the thing with people, they went at each other and missed, or just as bad collided and stuck. The wreckage was awful."
"This is how it is, then, walking backwards into disaster, braying all the way."
"Grief saturates her words, she can't stop it, she writes about rotten meat and rape, raw sewage, she writes about mothers and fathers and little girls, she writes I'm banging my head my head into a wall."
davethescot's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
marigolds_and_lavander's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
mellkayy's review against another edition
My first read of 2019 was Crudo by Olivia Laing. I had heard rave reviews about this and I was so excited to pick this one up, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me.
Crudo follows feminist and author Kathy Acker, as if she were alive in 2017. Acker is inundated with news from around the globe, and often times found herself overwhelmed by all the terrible things that were happening, most prominently Brexit and Trump’s first year as President of the United States.
What I really enjoyed about this novella was the lyrical, stream of consciousness style writing, and the relevance to important issues impacting the world in 2017.
However, that’s where my enjoyment stops. The book overall didn’t really seem to go anywhere; instead, we were shown Acker acknowledging what was going on in the world, then she moved on. I think if this was explored in more depth it would have been a more intriguing read. Also, there was equal time spent on her focusing on trivial things that added nothing to the story, such as her having gained a few pounds over the summer, then having to exercise more to work it off. In such a short book (this edition is around 180 pages), this seemed unnecessary.
I think personally part of my lack of enjoyment stems from my little of knowledge about politics, therefore some of the content of this book went over my head.
Unfortunately this just didn’t live up to the hype for me.
Crudo follows feminist and author Kathy Acker, as if she were alive in 2017. Acker is inundated with news from around the globe, and often times found herself overwhelmed by all the terrible things that were happening, most prominently Brexit and Trump’s first year as President of the United States.
What I really enjoyed about this novella was the lyrical, stream of consciousness style writing, and the relevance to important issues impacting the world in 2017.
However, that’s where my enjoyment stops. The book overall didn’t really seem to go anywhere; instead, we were shown Acker acknowledging what was going on in the world, then she moved on. I think if this was explored in more depth it would have been a more intriguing read. Also, there was equal time spent on her focusing on trivial things that added nothing to the story, such as her having gained a few pounds over the summer, then having to exercise more to work it off. In such a short book (this edition is around 180 pages), this seemed unnecessary.
I think personally part of my lack of enjoyment stems from my little of knowledge about politics, therefore some of the content of this book went over my head.
Unfortunately this just didn’t live up to the hype for me.
safiya's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
ljutavidra's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
Ovo je bio fever dream u maniru Ali Smit. Na momente mi je imalo smisla, na momente i ne. A sad moram malo da odmorim od egzistencijalnih kriza u pisanom obliku.
Ovo je bio fever dream u maniru Ali Smit. Na momente mi je imalo smisla, na momente i ne. A sad moram malo da odmorim od egzistencijalnih kriza u pisanom obliku.
bridgetsbooksja's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure I know enough about Kathy Acker to get all I could have out of this, but it was a good read. Wonderful, funny, touching moments as well as brutal, biting, summing-up-the-world moments.
lukuisa's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5