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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
nightlungs's review against another edition
3.0
Stream of consciousness novel unfortunately read waaaay too close to Patricia lockwood's. Suffered from comparison. Kinda book that might be studied, a record of the time, but as a whole, read less than a decade from 2016, felt quite tautological. That said I really really enjoyed the study of love
arnovanvlierberghe's review against another edition
4.0
"Writing, she can be anyone. On the page I dissolves, becomes amorphous, proliferates wildly. Kathy takes on increasingly preposterous guises, slips the knot of her own contemptible identity. I gave the old guy a dirty look. I'm not fucking you, I'm your enemy. I know my grandmother hates my father. I love mommy. I know she's on Dex. I didn't feel frightened yet. I myself never commit murder, I'm constantly drunk, I never despair. I'm as normal as any moral person."
peilityyni's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
3.75
I liked Crudo but it felt a bit pale compared to Laing's non-fiction which has so many layers and stories intertwined. It took me a while to get Laing's use of this narrative persona which made the experience a little bit confusing at first. (Also despite being on my reading list forever I haven't read a single Kathy Acker book which maybe also wasn't the best place to read this from.) Still good, just not as great as I was expecting it to be!
jillrisberg's review against another edition
3.0
captured the moment well but i was not particularly struck