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Cruddy

by Lynda Barry

4.15 · rating details · 2,580 ratings · 421 reviews

On a September night in 1971, a few days after getting busted for dropping acid, a sixteen-year-old curls up in the corner of her ratty bedroom and begins to write.

"Now the truth can finally be revealed about the mysterious day long ago when the authorities found a child, calmly walking in the boiling desert, covered with blood."

The girl is Roberta Rohbeson, an

...more

Paperback, 305 pages

Published February 21st 2001 by Simon & Schuster (first published 1999)

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Jun 05, 2007

Donkeyballs rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

I'll never understand why drippy guys like Eggers and Franzen get such Oproid levels of attention for their emotion stuff, creeps like Klosterman and Self get fanboy appreciation for their dark violence, and most women writers get shunted (albeit loudly) into the chick lit ghetto, and yet Lynda Barry is still under our radar.

This book is powerful, stunning in its emotional depth, redolent of the dark corners of youth, violent and scary. Definitely not chick lit. Lynda Barry is proba...more

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Oct 21, 2007

James rated it

Recommends it for: Anyone with a strong stomach

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

I loved this book!! I've been meaning to read Barry for awhile and came across a copy of Cruddy and went for it. I don't know where to place this book. It's the story of a girl named Roberta who may very well of had the most miserable existence anyone could conjur up, and it unveils itself in a stream of off the wall disaster and heartbreaking realizations. Two narrative rn parallel to each other as Roberta accounts both from her "restricted life;" she's grounded. One narrative i...moreI loved this book!! I've been meaning to read Barry for awhile and came across a copy of Cruddy and went for it. I don't know where to place this book. It's the story of a girl named Roberta who may very well of had the most miserable existence anyone could conjur up, and it unveils itself in a stream of off the wall disaster and heartbreaking realizations. Two narrative rn parallel to each other as Roberta accounts both from her "restricted life;" she's grounded. One narrative is the story of how she got grounded, due to ditching school and partaking in a 24 hour LSD trip that takes her all through her "cruddy" hometown and ends in a fatal disaster. The other takes the form of a viciously horrific tale of five years prior when Roberta, then 11, is kidnapped by her father and brought along on a homocidal road trip in search of a denied fortune and easily the most distubing and terrifying father daughter bonding vacation anyone could conjur up.

The LSD tale strangely follows a Wizard of Oz like structure as she journeys in a psychedelic confusion with her colorful cast of teenage acquaintances: the Turtle, the Stick, the Great Wesley, the Monkey, and Vickie Tallusoj ("The Violent One"), the j is silent. The father story is so much like the Hobbit or Treasure Island but is also one of the most traumatizing and terribly brutal stories I've read (I think ever). You will cringe, you will hate everyone Roberta comes in contact with, save maybe one person, this story will make you despise humanity as this brutal and gruesome account of the murderous grifter father and his enlisting of his 11 year year old daughter as an accomplice unfolds. It is an ungodly tale, but completely impossibe to put down.

Read this book, and though its near certan that the book will ruin your day, its brilliant storytelling, awesome illustrations, and poignant realizations make it more than worth the heartache it will induce. Lynda Barry might be a genius.

"Twinkle twinkle little star. You are nothing. You've been dead for a thousand years..." (less)

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Feb 27, 2007

alyssa carver rated it

Recommends it for: the teenage girl in you*

it's hard to say why i love this book so much. nope--got it. it's because lynda barry captures the combination of anguish and delusional hope that is particular to adolescent girls who hate themselves and everyone else too but nonetheless maintain the powerful and naive belief that someday they will be loved. and in pursuit of that life-saving belief in love, they will scarifice themselves to almost anything.

sad? yes. but she makes it so funny, too, in spite of all the acid-tr...more

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Jan 02, 2008

Eva rated it

What I learned from this book is that my life is not as weird, twisted, or unfortunate as I thought it was. My father may have taken me to bars as a toddler and let the old men play with me, but he never cut off my finger or had me shave my head and pretend to be a mute Mongoloid of the opposite gender. I may not always like my life or chosen profession, but at least I'm not morbidly obese with a blue tooth stuck running a bar that's a front for grinding up the corpses of murdered people. I do n...more

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Aug 25, 2007

Lucía rated it

A relentlessly violent, hippie-era Matilda, where the drugged-out teenage narrator has a knife instead of telekinesis, and the sole sympathetic adult character can't rescue her from the cruelty of the adult world. Also, it's a road story. And really funny. And sad and scary.

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Jul 21, 2008

Julia rated it

This book is some sick shit. I took a break from "We Are Not Afraid" to finish this for Bar Book Club, reading the last pages before stepping out the door to see the new Batman movie. So basically the last few days of my life, I have been mired in a lot of dark, depressing, and "sick shit," at least in terms of reading and viewing material. To transition from a book about the lynching of Civil Rights workers to a bloody, murderful saga of child abuse, outsiderness, and gen...more

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Jan 11, 2008

Megan rated it

Recommended to Megan by: Erin Finnegan, thanks a lot.

This is one of the most disturbing and grotesque books I've ever read, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have gotten more out of it if only I had at some point done a lot of psychotropic drugs. I can't say I enjoyed this book, but I was kind of amazed by it. I think the story and the characters are on a level of screwed up I am nowhere close to - and by the end of the novel I was really very grateful for that. This is a reading experience of shock and awe, maybe, then. I honestly can...moreThis is one of the most disturbing and grotesque books I've ever read, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have gotten more out of it if only I had at some point done a lot of psychotropic drugs. I can't say I enjoyed this book, but I was kind of amazed by it. I think the story and the characters are on a level of screwed up I am nowhere close to - and by the end of the novel I was really very grateful for that. This is a reading experience of shock and awe, maybe, then. I honestly can't say how much of Cruddy was a little over the top, and how much was just something I've never experienced and so seemed to me a little unrealistic. I didn't relate to the characters at all, nor did I like them, and I had trouble even feeling sympathy for them most of the time. Sometimes a really interesting or original thought from one of them would shine through, but it never really redeemed the book for me.

All that being said, I think this is an excellent book, just maybe not for me. It's amazingly gutsy and I've never read anything more emotionally raw and brutal. Cruddy is certainly more worthwhile and original than many of the more critically acclaimed, self-important, "dark" contemporary works.

I loved that the main character wasn't ugly-but-not-really-ugly, or sexy-ugly, or ugly-until-the-makeover or whatever; no, she was described several times as being really, really truly messed up looking. A couple of times in the novel other characters recoil from her countenance in revulsion or horror. There just aren't enough really unattractive protagonists in literature. I kind of think Lynda Barry took all the painfully awkward and horrible feelings of adolescence, intensified them to a radioactive level, and then put them in a literal context, all onto one character. Imagine if things really were as bad as they felt when you were 13? If your insides really were your outsides, every secret fear a boil on your face? If it sounds like it might be intense and a little difficult to read, it is. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no matter what kind of problems you might have... this book will give you a little perspective on how it could be worse.

I'm glad that I read this book, but I can't see myself reading it again for quite a while, and I can't possibly imagine who I would recommend it to. I think if I knew someone that I thought should be reading this book, what I would recommend to them instead would be about ten different kinds of intensive therapy. (less)

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Sep 23, 2011

BarkLessWagMore rated it

Shelves: disturbing

I've read a lot of ugly things in my life but this book touches on a deeper level because of this young child's age and the horrors she endures daily in her truly "cruddy" life. If it weren't so darned sad it'd be almost funny. Wish this book had been around when I was 14 or so and my own life may not have looked quite so bleak to me after having read it. The author has a knack for digging into an adolescent's mind and really brings that painful period of time of young adulthood (those...more

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Nov 09, 2011

Jocelyn rated it

Shelves: read-in-2011, fiction

This novel is by no means a life changing book, but it is a good (and quick) read.

Lynda Barry takes the reader on an emotional journey through the eyes of a scarred 16-year-old girl with a dark childhood of abuse. This pseudo-diary weaves between flashbacks and stream-of-consciousness narrative to describe our narrator's cruddy life. This book is equal parts writing and plot. In fact, Barry proves herself as a very, very talented writer with creative writing and an explicit storyline...more

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Jul 04, 2008

Meg rated it

I was captivated and disturbed by this story, written by one of my favorite cartoonists. I heard Lynda Barry speak on MPR in the Talking Volumes series and fell in love with her humor and passion for art and story-telling. She completely occupies her protagonist and had me convinced that she'd been a teenage murderer. The desolation of the landscapes she describes and the desperation of the characters who occupy them combined into one really gut-wrenching read. This from a cartoonist! Grant...more

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Aug 08, 2011

Christine Kuchinsky added it

I find it hard to explain why I liked this book. The characters are horrible, horrible people. The narrator is incredibly damaged and a product of her horrible disturbed, and often psychotic parents, and yet I feel very little sympathy for her. The story is told through a haze of drugs and in the disjointed manner of a girl still trying to process the hell that she has lived through. What I admire about her (and it's funny to admire a ficional character) is that despite everything, she does ...more

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Jul 21, 2011

Jenny Donahue rated it

First off, Lynda Barry is fucking awesome. Watch her speak on youtube. Why is that the people who create the most disturbing shit are the people who seem the most optimistic, happy, and stable? They are onto something.

My art school grad student teacher had us reading quite a few graphic novels with intense material. I judged Cruddy by the cover. I expected it to be bland and depressing like the girl.. thing.. person on the cover. Depressing, it was. But somehow Barry managed to make...more

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Apr 28, 2011

Lisa Dominick rated it

Lynda Barry produces a rare and satisfying novel through Cruddy. The novel is based around the cruddy life Roberta is thrusted into and proceeds through the unpredictable way she handles it. When beginning the novel, it is impossible to predict where Barry plans to take the reader. Roberta Rohebson takes the reader into the darkest corners of her memory, bouncing between the secrets she has kept since she was eleven and continuing through her drug-using teenage years. The rawness of Roberta’s me...moreLynda Barry produces a rare and satisfying novel through Cruddy. The novel is based around the cruddy life Roberta is thrusted into and proceeds through the unpredictable way she handles it. When beginning the novel, it is impossible to predict where Barry plans to take the reader. Roberta Rohebson takes the reader into the darkest corners of her memory, bouncing between the secrets she has kept since she was eleven and continuing through her drug-using teenage years. The rawness of Roberta’s memories engulf the reader from the very beginning of her surprising story. What could have been a far-fetched story turns into real-life directly before the reader’s eyes. Upon beginning the text, I imagined a far off world similar to a Hollywood movie. With a convincing narrative tone and a desperation that is impossible to ignore, Barry slaps the reader in the face with Roberta’s blunt descriptions of her horrifying life. She holds nothing back in explaining the pain that had been inflicted on her from as early as she can remember and pushes her emotions directly onto the reader. Because of this, I found myself rationalizing the character’s actions but never being able to predict what would happen next. By going from present time to Roberta’s memories, the reader finds herself anxiously waiting for the two stories to collide; and when they do, magic happens.
When examining characters, it is hard to begin to describe the different aspects of Roberta. It is safe to say the reader will never stumble across a relatable human being to Roberta or her counterpart Clyde. Her brilliance is rare, as she spits out knowledge the reader is guaranteed to be impressed with. The reader sympathizes with Roberta though the character never asks for pity. The different aspects of Roberta (Clyde) contrast and tell two very different stories. Roberta, the daring, badass, drug-using teen takes control of her life as she tells the story of the crazy friends she meets and the journey of her past that she takes them on. Simultaneously, Roberta is relaying the story of her life as her father’s accomplice Clyde. When under her father’s control, the pair stumbles along an old-western style movie in search of her father’s fortune. Mercilessly the two dominate those that stand in their way. Clyde learns the Navy way of her father, a defining feature and theme that carries throughout the novel and will eventually help her regain control of her life. Her parents, if they can be called that, become the enemies of the novel though Roberta clings tightly to “the father” until she can take action into her own hands. Barry allows the reader to see the transformation Roberta makes through the powerful narration. Roberta fails to hesitate when telling her story, as the trains she often speaks of and obsesses over fail to slow down even for a second.
After bringing the reader through a whirlwind of suspense and tragedy, Barry proceeds into the present with Roberta’s new power over her own life. As a reader, my attention was never lost and each sentence was valuable to read. The descriptive style and creative metaphors could each be works of art on their own, playing off of each other and flowing into the next flawlessly. The graphics at the beginning of each chapter linger in the reader’s mind as she continues on in the chapter, though the words Barry writes successfully create vivid images of their own. Although the events that take place in Cruddy are horrifying and painful to imagine, I found myself easily creating the tale in my head. Although the novel should have been agonizing to read, it was an exciting tale and nothing short of genius. Barry’s talented writing creates a world of pure crud and a novel of beauty.
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Apr 27, 2011

Kelly rated it

Lynda Barry will surprise you over and over in her illustrated novel Cruddy. The twists and turns in the story line and the outrageous content keeps you wanting more throughout the entire book. There is never a predictable moment throughout the book. Barry uses descriptive language that pulls the reader into the story and allows to see the surroundings. Throughout the novel she does an amazing job of putting the reader into a situation that most people have never been in but making it seem rela...more Lynda Barry will surprise you over and over in her illustrated novel Cruddy. The twists and turns in the story line and the outrageous content keeps you wanting more throughout the entire book. There is never a predictable moment throughout the book. Barry uses descriptive language that pulls the reader into the story and allows to see the surroundings. Throughout the novel she does an amazing job of putting the reader into a situation that most people have never been in but making it seem relatable. Her use of language lets the reader feel the same emotions that the characters are feeling. Another interesting thing about this novel is the illustrations. They give the reader a picture without Barry having to give a description. There is about one picture per chapter which works out perfectly. Although the descriptions throughout the book are worded nicely the picture are a good change. I also feel like they tell you something about the author. Even if there is a picture Barry gives a short description, which does not always give the exact same image as the picture. I thought this was very interesting because the two conflicting descriptions made you wonder which one was right and which one was what the author was seeing. By adding the pictures in the novel Barry also allows you to focus more on the happenings of the story rather than focusing on making a visual picture of the characters. The pictures typically followed the introduction of a new character or place. By doing this Barry could focus the story around the actual events rather than descriptions. This was important because the majority of the happenings are things that most people have not experienced, such as murder or extreme drug use. By focusing her attention on describing the events she was able to paint a better picture for the reader of something that was new to them. I have never used drugs or murdered anyone and by the end of the book I found myself reading these parts like they were everyday normal things. The way that Barry tells the story pulls you into the events and makes you feel like you are experiencing them personally. There were a few times throughout the novel that I was slightly confused about what was going on. The chapters tend to alternate between flashbacks to Roberta’s childhood and the present day happenings. Although this was not confusing, at times there would be so much going on in one chapter that when the switch occurred it was hard to remember where the last chapter had left off. Another issue I had with the novel was Roberta’s childhood. I understand that the part of her childhood she is talking about mainly took place in the sixties so times were different, however, I found myself thinking repeatedly that she was just a child. There was talk of her drinking and smoking around age ten and no one really thinking anything of it. Obviously this is a big difference than today. I thought that this aspect of the novel really made me think. There were many places where I found myself thinking that no child would ever experience the things that she did but that is not true even today. I think that this is what I liked best about this novel, it made me think. It made me think about my upbringing and how different it was from Roberta’s and how different it was from other children my own age. I like books that leave me thinking and this book definitely did that. I really enjoyed this book and the outrageous storyline. (less)

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Mar 07, 2011

Leanna rated it

I disliked this book not because it was poorly written (it wasn't). I disliked it because it was so gosh-darn disturbing! This author is clearly very talented--her book creates a consistently weird world, in terms of dialogue, atmosphere, and character. It felt like a real and very terrible place, but by real, I mean it felt authentic--reality itself felt slippery, as some of the events and tropes fell almost into a kind of gothic surrealism. So the book was structured, crafted, yet still felt o...more

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Nov 03, 2010

christa rated it

Words and phrases from my friend Jodi's review of the novel Cruddy by Lynda Barry that made it absolutely mandatory that I read it stat:

"Slaughterhouse."
"... bodies left in their wake."
"Horrifying."
"Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach."
And the ultimate deal sealer:
"There were paragraphs I had to skip over because the descriptions of slaughter and dead bodies were too graphic for me. In fact, my stom...moreWords and phrases from my friend Jodi's review of the novel Cruddy by Lynda Barry that made it absolutely mandatory that I read it stat:

"Slaughterhouse."
"... bodies left in their wake."
"Horrifying."
"Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach."
And the ultimate deal sealer:
"There were paragraphs I had to skip over because the descriptions of slaughter and dead bodies were too graphic for me. In fact, my stomach jumps a little and I shiver just thinking about them. Blech."

"Sold!" I wrote in the comments. Because if there is one thing I like in a novel, it is a clever spin on yuck. When I can read or watch something that makes my knees deflate, my stomach bounce, and my dry heaver heave, I become absolutely giddy. Let us not forget the delicious scene in Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, when our hero extracts a piece of his own leg bone to create a sharp piece of weaponry. Gag (in a good way). Or in the Ryu Murakami novel Audition when the psychopath fiance goes see-saw kitchen tool all over an Achilles Tendon. Curdled (still in a good way). Well done gross is my literary weakness.

Kudos to Barry for writing a book I could actually smell. This illustrated novel reeks of cigarettes, booze, blood, bodies, garbage, piss and breath. It smells like oily hair, cheap hotel rooms, and mounds of animal excrement. There is a severed penis.

This story is written as Roberta Rohbeson's suicide letter, and tells the story of the time she traveled around the country with her old man in search of suitcases filled with money that he believed rightfully belonged to him. It's less of a "how I spent my summer vacation" essay and more of a graphic "how I learned to use a knife I named Little Debbie" essay. And if this wasn't confusing enough for the young Roberta, her father made her go by the name Clyde, a mute and wickedly bruised son. In present time, around the time the gruesome suicide note is being written, Roberta has been grounded for bad behavior with the neighborhood misfits. This isn't any more wholesome than the death spree, as they rut, get whacked out on unknown substances, and otherwise run ragged.

This book is sick, with surprising moments of funny. It's confusing, heavy and sad. And it is more than a gore fest for this gore-hungry gal. It's a gripping and unique story and the writing is a complete sensory overload (still in a good way). It is also a lot terrifying, in that way that Roberta (both as Roberta and as Clyde) is stuck in an unstable lose-lose situation where her mother might bean her with a telephone, until her nose bends like a boxer's nose; Her father might knife her in the gut. It makes her escape, her happy place, seem pretty comfortable: Getting cozy with train tracks.(less)

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Apr 19, 2009

Korynn rated it

Shelves: contemporarylit

A book that made me feel physically ill. Every description of every person, place or thing in this book is purposefully described in the most repulsive and disgusting manner. The narrative is terribly worrisome. We have a teen, Roberta who desires to escape, whether by death or drugs, as she lives in an abusive household in a highly unappealing town. No one is described in a manner that makes them appealing or trustworthy. If this book was purposefully written to be an antithesis of all the tee...more

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Jan 07, 2010

Sophie rated it

BEST RE-READ EVER!

she picked up her purse and stood up. Some clouds behind her were doing that thing of suddenly looking all shadowed with white glowing edges. -21

Do you know that Jesus loves him just as much as he loves you and me? Isn't that cracked? Sit down. I want to give you a transformation. I am so good at transformations. -32

I didn't think a squirrel would eat a man's balls. Rats might. I offered him that comment. -49

I read a story w...more

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Dec 26, 2007

Heather rated it

Recommends it for: People who were raised in trailers

Shelves: first-tier-reads

My brother and I read this book to each other outloud one christmas. If you grew up the same way I did, it will make you feel like you are normal. If you did not, for example, if you had a pool table, a home without wheels, or a kitchen table that was actually used - or if you otherwise had a parent who knew how to use the stove - this book might disturb you. You will think it is science fiction or fiction or otherwise improbable. It is not,

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Apr 22, 2011

Lance rated it

Genre? Not needed. At least not for Lynda Barry. Barry’s illustrated novel, Cruddy, transcends genre. Cruddy visits the lands of abuse narrative, memoir, travelogue, fairy tale, and dairy, but never stays long enough to call it home. By the end of the novel, elements of each of these genres exist within its pages and yet the book resists being defined and classified.

In short, Cruddy is an alluring work of fiction that causes the reader to laugh awkwardly at the stunning reality of ...more Genre? Not needed. At least not for Lynda Barry. Barry’s illustrated novel, Cruddy, transcends genre. Cruddy visits the lands of abuse narrative, memoir, travelogue, fairy tale, and dairy, but never stays long enough to call it home. By the end of the novel, elements of each of these genres exist within its pages and yet the book resists being defined and classified.

In short, Cruddy is an alluring work of fiction that causes the reader to laugh awkwardly at the stunning reality of the message. Roberta, a girl with as many names as genres that pass through the novel, is the axis on which the rest of the novel turns around. Clyde, Hillbilly Woman, and Roberta are the three primary names that Roberta has lived inside. Called Clyde by her father, Hillbilly Woman by her one-time love, and Roberta by herself as she narrates and writes her own story. Each of these names has its own personality which exist within her although she cannot be solely defined by any of them. All of her names work together to create an unnamed character in our minds of which Clyde, Roberta, and Hillbilly Woman are only a fragment.

Roberta, being the narrator and fictional author of the book, has control of the words that the reader sees on the page. However, she cannot control the added meaning which the events of her painful life add to the semantics of each sentence. Every murder and every death in the novel adds another layer to the emotional toll of Roberta’s narration. They show the adventure of seeing new places and people when a child, reveals pre-adolescent flashbacks through her own memories, and relays the pain of a child who is continually being denied love from those closest to her.

Did I mention murder? There is a shocking amount of man slaughter in the book, and a good portion of it is Roberta’s doing. An eleven-year-old killer goes beyond an interesting plot device, and becomes a statement of the condition of the world. Roberta, to avoid sexual molestation on top of the physical and emotional abuse she has already suffered, strikes back at those who would or have caused her harm. Although I find the percentage of perverts in the story unlikely, they help define Roberta as a character. They help show her physical and emotional response to a world which has shown a her nothing but brutality. It shows real problems that cries of “come together” or “we are the world” can’t fix. Idealism is shattered by an eleven-year-old child.

Despite Roberta’s suffering, the reader sees the beauty of Roberta’s acceptance of her fate in middle of her brokenness. From the dark innocence of her childhood to her drug-riddled quest to find acceptance as a teen, Roberta possess a terrible attractiveness. Perhaps this is spawned by the lack of bitterness that such a hard life would warrant or by her lack of rationalization of condemnable acts. Maybe her retention of traits such as honesty and compassion in spite of being the victim of unimaginable hardship makes her so appealing. No matter what the reason, anyone who reads Cruddy will have trouble seeing Roberta in any manner other than an empathetic one.(less)

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Aug 04, 2009

Cindy rated it

Shelves: five-star-fiction

Cruddy is one of the best books ever written in the voice of a teenager. It is a nonstop, frenzied, can't-put-it-down kind of a book. The brilliance of the main character's voice is demonstrated in the very first paragraph of the very first page.

EXCERPT:
"When we first moved here, the mother took the blue-mirror cross that hung over her bed in our old house and nailed a nail for it in the new bedroom of me and my sister. Truthfully it is a cross I have never liked. The Jesu...more

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Jul 18, 2011

Amanda rated it

How do you talk about this? In the backyard? Often times people think that I am the character in my novel. I think that Lynda Barry is part of all of these characters. Isn't this some dark shit.

How do you talk about this? On the hill, half in the sun, half in the shade? What gets me is the mother just bailing and never coming back. When she was in the car, those emotions, of hatred and anger and everything. It seemed kind of hopeful in a way right? She did kind of get to use h...more

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May 12, 2011

Jasmine Joseph-perez rated it

Cruddy is a book I happened upon in my libraries summer reading section a few years back when I was too young, too poor and too depressed to enjoy my summer outdoors as I was meant to. Books were my salvation. My favorites this year were quirky books that focused on disfunctional teens and their psychotic parents. Guys and gals...allow me to recommend Lynda Barry's Cruddy. This book is trippy as hell and actually made me feel better about my own dysfunction in comparison! Where the book rea...more

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Dec 06, 2010

Rachel Ann Brickner rated it

Shelves: novels, illustrated, favorites

I read this a few weeks ago & couldn’t put it down. It was one of the most depressing, heart-wrenching, thrilling, & hilarious reads I’ve experienced in a long time. Part adventure story, part coming of age, & part murder mystery, CRUDDY is the story of teenager Roberta Rohbeson (aka Clyde), a puggy, boyish looking teenager born into an unfortunate family situation.

This novel is split between two narratives. There is the present story line in which Roberta meets new friends & sex int...moreI read this a few weeks ago & couldn’t put it down. It was one of the most depressing, heart-wrenching, thrilling, & hilarious reads I’ve experienced in a long time. Part adventure story, part coming of age, & part murder mystery, CRUDDY is the story of teenager Roberta Rohbeson (aka Clyde), a puggy, boyish looking teenager born into an unfortunate family situation.

This novel is split between two narratives. There is the present story line in which Roberta meets new friends & sex interests & takes too many drugs, & there is the past story line in which Roberta is stuffed into the backseat of her father’s truck by her mother after he says he’s taking a business trip & is going to be gone for a long while. He doesn’t notice Roberta hidden in the back beneath a blanket until he’s pulled over by a cop. From then on, Roberta’s father (called “The father”) calls her Clyde & treats her just like the little boy she resembles.

As the present narrative unfolds, Roberta explains to us how she got to where she is now & we soon realize why the novel begins with a suicide note. I was amazed by how seamlessly Barry interweaves the present & past story lines. There is always something driving the narrative, making you anticipate what might happen next. Connections are always being made between the past & the present.

In the past story line, you want to know if Roberta & her father will find all three suitcases full of money & what trouble they’ll continue to meet along the way. In the present story line, you want to know if Roberta is going to fall in love & you cross your fingers that by the end of the story she’ll be happy, even though you’re almost certain she won’t.

Barry makes each character come alive in this novel through her beautiful black & gray charcoal illustrations & through each character’s own unique way of moving & talking to one another in the world. Each character has their own particular ticks & neuroses that make them loveable & memorable, as much as you may be made to hate some of them.

But what makes this novel most meaningful & enjoyable is Roberta’s particular way of storytelling, her sardonic & insightful voice:

"Where the mother was screaming at me was in the kitchen area. The walls look like gray velour from the layers of grease and dust. There are swaying cobwebs hanging. The refrigerator is very loud and it leaks and it shakes. The final thing to mention is the kitchen table with fake wood patterns which can look very lively when you are tripping on certain substances; you can see moving heads in the patterns, nodding at you, giving you advice. And even though the author was not on any substances while she was just getting screamed at, out of the corner of her eye she could still see the lively heads moving under the plastic surface of the tabletop. It turns out that once your mind gets expanded it is very hard to shrink it back down again…

…The father never treated me like a kid unless there was someone around. When the father looked at me, I do not know what he saw. Maybe a midget. Maybe an elf. I don’t think it ever entered his mind that I was a kid. He knew it, but he never thought it, and it was what a person thought that mattered. That was the stuff you could twist a dream around."

This book is waiting for you to read it again & again.(less)

· see review

Dec 30, 2011

Patrice rated it

Shelves: 2011, artsy-fartsy, important

I don't think anything could have prepared me for this book. I had no idea where the direction of this story would go. This is a scary, deep, twisted, bizarre, and intriguing read.

Lynda Barry is a brilliant writer and Roberta Rohbeson is a character for the ages.

Roberta has many names, and the structure of this novel goes between two narratives. The narratives jump from the world of Roberta as a teenage girl, who spends most of the time high on acid (?), etc. and the li...more

like 1 like

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Jul 28, 2010

Whitney rated it

Shelves: sock-monkey-related

When Penguin was getting ready to publish the book I co-authored, Sock Monkey Dreams, they asked Lynda Barry if she'd blurb for it. She demurred, on account of, she said, that her own sock monkeys would be jealous if she endorsed ours. Fair enough and quite understandable - sock monkeys are a jealous, possessive lot, and any apparent allegiance to another houseful of sock monkeys would have no doubt thrown Barry's own into a state of chaos. I do have to wonder what her sock monkeys thought abou...more

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Dec 16, 2009

Arlene Allen rated it

I would give this no stars if I could. This is the ONLY book I ever hated. We had it in the young adult section of our library and I insisted it be moved. I have heard people say that this reflects teens' real life and feelings, but I have worked with kids for 20 years now (and have a teen myself at home) and I never met any kid whose dad was a murderer, who watched people put through a meat grinder or see human eyeballs hanging from a ceiling fan. The book is gruesome, violent, and pointles...more

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Nov 20, 2010

Lilly G rated it

I would give this a 3.75, just to be technical.

I agree with Susie's review that this book is written SO precisely. The language and the character nuances are unforgettable. But that was my problem with it- it took me so deeply into the most disturbing world a novel has offered me in recent years. And every so often I had to remind myself that it was a female telling the story (read and you'll see what it means). So while I loved the writing, the darkness of the book was troublesom...more

like 1 like

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May 12, 2011

Jackson rated it

Shelves: teen

I think I need to read this book again, because I was just trying to think of what the book where xyz happens (not going to spoil anything) and did a search for it and it was this book. The description mentioned all these things I didn't fully remember and I remembered loving it.

It's much less funny and much more gritty than a lot of Lynda Barry's other work, but it still has her great tone that gets in the mind of young adults in such a fun and real way. I once saw her speak about wr...more

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Oct 03, 2011

Salvatore Rametta added it

This book was unlike any other I have read. It was very stream-of-consciousness in style, but through the eyes of a person in near-constant distress and under the influence of numerous substances. The story got off to a slow start, mainly due to the confusion over the setting, character, and writing style, but halfway through the plot really establishes itself and you are able to root yourself into the actual timeline of events. This added level of clarity, along with unique and interesting char...more

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About Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry is an American cartoonist and author, perhaps best known for her weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek.

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“No matter what, expect the unexpected. And whenever possible BE the unexpected.” — 23 people liked it

“Dear Anyone Who Finds This, Do not blame the drugs.” — 5 people liked it

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