Reviews

Cruddy by Lynda Barry

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stareorwashawaytheblood's review

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dark funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

tacomike's review

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dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Trigger Warnings: Murder/Homicides, Drug Use, Drinking

I don't know what I feel about Cruddy. I mean, the whole book was indeed, Cruddy - nobody has a happy ending, nothing positive happens to anyone, there's death around every corner, and nobody is nice to anyone really. I'm not saying it's not a good book... I just honestly don't know what audience it is for, or how to describe it.

There were parts of the book where Roberta is writing about someone who is either super high, super drunk, or just being noncoherent, and it's written in such a way that I couldn't read it regardless and had just wished that conversation had been summarized and not written out like that. I thought if maybe I had read the words out loud I might make a bit of sense of it, but I never read this book without someone else around, so I never did that.

I could not stand Vicky. At all. Anytime she talked I just wanted to slap her. One of the most annoying characters I've ever read, and Lynda Barry did a good job at making her that way. And don't get me started on "the father" - just how?? How was he able to do everything that he did and yet nothing happened or no one ended up making connections? I know the before was set in 1967 and the killings tended to be people who didn't have anyone who really cared if they lived or died, but still...

I think that's all I've got to say about it. At least for right now. Here's the one quote Roberta wrote about the father that I thought was interesting:

"After all the things that happened, described and undescribed, if I told you I still loved the father would you understand it? How there was a wire of love running inside of me that I just could not find to pull? It was the side effect of being someone's child, anyone's child, whoever God tossed you to."