Cruddy

Cruddy

1999 • 305 pages

Ratings4

Average rating4.8

15

DNF, p.99. I found it horrifying. The adults are violent and cruel. Maybe they’re meant to be cartoonishly so? Not to me: I found them repellent, even sickening. Had to put the book down many times; then each time after continuing the violence only got worse. I'm sorry I kept on as long as I did.

The first-person narrator, a twelve-year-old girl alternating between her present self (1971) and herself at nine, comes off as affectless. Mostly just trying to disassociate from her abusive situation. Her numbing strategies are soulcrushing.

March 5, 2024Report this review