Crazy People: The Crazy for You Stories

by Jennifer Crusie

For fans of Jenny Crusie, of witty and warm writing, and of contemporary fiction, this collection of short stories was the genesis for one of Crusie's most beloved novels, Crazy for You. The stories focus on three women, Quinn, Darla, and Stephanie, and their mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends. Originally written for Crusie's MFA in Fiction, they've been updated, edited, and packaged as a special collection for any reader who loves to laugh out loud.
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Genres: Romance, Short Stories, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, Humor, Writing

147 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 2012

About the author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies.

She was born in Wapakoneta, a small town in Ohio, and then went on to live in a succession of other small towns in Ohio and New Jersey until her last move to a small town in Pennsylvania.  This may have had an impact on her work. 

She has a BS in Art Education, an MA in literature, an MFA in fiction, and was ABD on her PhD when she started reading romances as part of her research into the differences between the ways men and women tell stories.  Writing a romance sounded like more fun than writing a dissertation, so she switched to fiction and never looked back.  Her collaborations with Bob Mayer have pretty much proved everything she was going to say in her dissertation anyway, so really, no need to finish that.

For more information, see JenniferCrusie.com and her blog, Argh Ink.

Reviews

[Nath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 (B)


Crazy People is a compilation of short stories - not kidding, short stories - that Ms Crusie has written in the Creative Art Program while making her way through her PhD in feminist literature and which are connected to one of my favorite book of hers, Crazy for You.

In total, there are six stories as followed:

The Day My Sister Shot the Mailman and Got Away With It, Of Course - Ms Crusie wrote this short story as a writing exercise. Basically, she had to write a story consisting of 26 sentences, each sentence starting by the corresponding alphabetical letter, i.e. 1st sentence starts with A, 2nd with B, ...., 26th with Z. This was the start of Crazy for You because that's how Quinn and her sister Zoë got their names :P Clever of Ms Crusie to fill the two hardest letters with names right? LOL. For this publication, Ms Crusie has re-visit the story and expanded it :)

Sleep Cure - This story is about Quinn's mother when she was a young teen and how she got her stepfather to stop putting her down.

Meeting Harold's Father - This is the first meeting between Zoë and her husband, Ben. Very cute story and my favorite of the compilation.

Necessary Skills - It's been a couple of years since I've re-read Crazy for You, so when I read Necessary Skills, I could not remember the protagonist, Barbara. However, a quick skim through Crazy for You and it came back to me LOL. Barbara is also known as the Bank Slut. She works at the bank and seems to have something for married men, "stealing" other women's husbands. Turns out, all she's looking for in a man who can take care of her and in her mind, it means being able to work with their hands. She can help it that they are all married men and are having marital problems!

Just Wanted You to Know - This short story is actually one long letter from Debbie, Darla's sister, to her husband who had just left her for Barbara. It starts out with how she'll be there when he comes back, but as she adds the post-scriptums, you can see Debbie is starting to get back on her feet and finding herself again :)

I Am At My Sister's Wedding - This one is interesting because we've never actually been introduced to the characters as they were cut from the final version of Crazy for You. Basically, Quinn was supposed to have two best friends: Darla and Stephanie, but in the end, Stephanie got the ax. I Am At My Sister's Wedding is actually told from Caroline, Stephanie's younger sister, as she attends Stephanie's five weddings. Yes, five :P

In addition to these short stories, Ms Crusie has added some thoughts and how these stories came to be which I thought was all very interesting :) Crazy People also includes the first chapter of Dog Days, what would later become Crazy for You.

My Opinion: Overall, I quite enjoyed Crazy People :) Yes, the stories were short, but they were entertaining and funny - hey, it's Jennifer Crusie after all LOL - and I loved the "behind-the-scenes." It was really interesting to know how these stories connected to Crazy for You and how they helped Ms Crusie writing the book :)

My favorite story was definitively Meeting Harold's Father, just because it was fun and random and yes, for the touch of romance :) Guess you can't take out the romance reader in me :) Another one that I really enjoyed was Just Wanted You to Know, I could just see Debbie getting back on her feet and becoming more and more confident after each passing day, realizing she didn't need her husband! The only short story I wasn't very invested in was Sleep Cure, part of it has to do with the story itself and another part is I was never really a big fan of Quinn's mother and seeing her as a teen? Just not interested.

Overall, Crazy People was fun and I'm really glad I got it :) I definitively recommend it to fans of Ms Crusie and readers who read and loved Crazy for You. Yes, I know, that was the targeted audience anyway LOL, but I'm telling people who falls into that category and had doubts, well doubt no more and get it! :)

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of short stories starring characters that were later in Crusie's novel Crazy for You (supporting and minor and even those that were eventually cut). It was fascinating to see the evolution of one of my favorite Crusie novels and to finally read Zoe and Ben's story.

[Bravegirl01 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book serves two purposes: it gives us more Crazy Crusie People -- always a good thing -- and it lets us inside the author's creative process. The original Crazy for You-- a separate Crusie work -- was part of her MFA thesis for Ohio State. These stories were written as exercises for Jenny Crusie to get at the main and supporting characters in order to develop her novel. She provides the original stories with annotation, and she shows us a bit of the editing process by including the original first chapter of Crazy for You she submitted to St Martins Press, and the same first chapter as published after editing. Thus reiterating that Jenny Crusie is one of the finest writers of women's fiction today and at the same time, still a teacher at heart. And damn generous, too. Buy both books.

[Tabs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story collection is pretty much a bonus for Jennifer Crusie superfans (of which I am a card carrying member) and for people very interested in the creative writing process (which I am not). I tend to not care very much for short stories but these are all filled to the brim with characteristic Cruise snark and wit. The last two stories, "Just Wanted You To Know" and "I Am At My Sister's Wedding" were easily my favorites and I'm very glad they got to see the light of day.

"I am finally going to have my own goddamned moment. Even if it is at my sister's wedding."

[Annette McLeod · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Crusie and I really enjoyed her. Unlike many short stories by popular (i.e. non-literary, and yes, I'm generalizing) authors, which tend to feel like nothing more than vignettes, I thought these were really great character sketches, conveying a deeper story without either leaving me hanging or droning on. Will try Crusie again.

[Arsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The interesting (to me) thing is that I can't re-read the book Crazy for You because it was so tough a read for me, but I still really enjoyed these stories. (I'll put why CFY is so tough a read behind a spoiler tag here: The female MC breaks up with her current BF to date the male MC and the ex turns into a controlling stalker. If you've ever had an ex turn into a stalker, and I have, it's a tough read, even though it's a good, well-written book.)

So the stories--they're stories that Crusie wrote while studying for her MFA in Creative Writing. They're character studies, but complete stories, not fragments, featuring characters from CFY and giving you insights into them, even though most of what she writes about them doesn't feature in CFY--it just was a way for Crusie to get into her character's heads to write about them in the book. There are some really good stories here and do not miss the appendices where she gives some alternate versions of what she wrote that became actual published pieces. The letter that Debbie Jo writes to her cheating husband is not to be missed. They're good stories but also her introductions give you some notes on her process of writing. Well worth the read, even if you never read CFY.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jennifer Crusie's early books.

And this one was especially interesting. Short stories related to one of her books I'd read. And comments about writing. Funny, interesting-all good!

[Ann Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy is good.

The book was to short but I can read Jennifer’s books all day. She always makes me laugh. So read the book and if you don’t laugh you may need help of a professional kind.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a writer but it was interesting to see how the Crazy People story developed.

[Chiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny :)

[Danyelle La Pookette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for fans of Crazy for You

Holy books! I love, love, love it! How could I not, when it's the author who got me into romantic comedies? This collection of contemporary short stories and essays is amazing. There's some back stories, some new stories, and insights into Jenny Crusie's life before she became one of my favorite writers.

I love seeing how the characters from Crazy for You came into being. Or being deleted! (Sorry, Stephanie!).

This is an eye opener, in that this master of novels wrote a bunch of short stories. One of the things that has stuck with me is when she said that some writers work best with novels and others do best with short stories, and it really is ok to do what feels good to the writer.

Some stories are supposed to be short!! :o

I enjoyed every single episode / story / essay / author's note.

[Bet Lantaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only were these short stories of more of Jennifer Crusie's crazy characters, but it was also a look at how she writes her stories. Some stories were in the book twice, but it is only to show the reader how they evolved over time from when she first set up the characters to when Crazy for You was written and published. I had the urge after I'd finished the book to go back and re-read Crazy For You again.
She has even written of how she came about getting the characters on paper. The book is short and will most likely take the reader only a day or so (much less if you are an avid reader) to finish.
I must say that when I read the first story, The Day My Sister Shot the Mailman and Got Away With It, I didn't think I was going to like this book. However, as I got use to the way Ms Crusie wrote her early stories I actually enjoyed the book. I especially enjoyed Just Wanted You To Know. My Sister's Wedding was also very good. If Ms Crusie wanted to go back a make a novella or full novel on some of these characters I'm sure she would have another great read on her hands.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a newly released collection of short stories that Crusie wrote while in school that culminated in her novel "Crazy for You." the stories were great, vignettes of characters and situations. My favorite was the letter written by Darla's sister, Debbie, to her husband, Ronnie, after he runs off with the Bank Slut.

I was a little confused about the years and the timing, since I assumed "Crazy for You" took place in 1999 when it was written; apparently it originally took place in the 80s? It does drive me nuts when writers take liberty with years and ages and don't explain why or what they've done. Crusie had such great background she provided about the assignments that led to each story that it made me even more frustrated that she never touched on the WHEN the novel took place.

[Mila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an intriguing look into the process of writing, all while enjoying the sharply focused characters that are a part of the community of one book. Having read 'Crazy for You' and many other of Jennifer Crusie's novels, I found it fascinating to see how much effort she puts forth to develop each of the characters in her stories. Some never even make it to the final book, but they all are unique. There's no need to have read 'Crazy for You' prior to this book, but you will likely want to when you finish this one. My all time favorite of Ms. Crusie's novels is 'Faking It.' I'm still on the lookout for a good 'muffin.'

[Tabs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story collection is pretty much a bonus for Jennifer Crusie superfans (of which I am a card carrying member) and for people very interested in the creative writing process (which I am not). I tend to not care very much for short stories but these are all filled to the brim with characteristic Cruise snark and wit. The last two stories, "Just Wanted You To Know" and "I Am At My Sister's Wedding" were easily my favorites and I'm very glad they got to see the light of day.

"I am finally going to have my own goddamned moment. Even if it is at my sister's wedding."

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If it's Jennifer Crusie, I like it! She's never let me down. I enjoyed the introductions to these stories just as much as (or more than) the stories themselves. It was a great look at her process as well as a great collection of short stories about characters we met in Crazy for You.

[Tara Gelsomino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun glimpse into some of the origin stories for the characters in Crusie's bigger books. It was especially interesting to see the first version of what ultimately became the first chapter of Crazy for You.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book! Crazy For You is a book I've read a few times. I love the people in it and the story. It was interesting to read the behind the scenes stories and how the characters were developed. I enjoyed it a lot. Especially the story about Zoe shooting the mailman.

[Ellen Gragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the way a successful author developed her characters. Very readable in itself. I've already read it twice from cover to cover. I've read a few of the short stories more times than that.
(Date I finished book is a guess.)

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love 98% of what Jennifer Crusie writes, so picking this collection was a no-brainer. In the opening statement, she says that some people are novelist and some are short-story writers. Though I found the stories to be funny, Crusie is definitely a novelist and should stick to them.

[Rachel C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are cute and it's interesting insight into Jenny Crusie's writing process, but there's no way a bunch of someone's old English homework is worth $2.99. Should have been a publisher's freebie.

[Pandora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever, right on point

Every so often an author " gets " the female psych right, this has that quality. I had to smile so often that I realize half of my friends were represented. Clever book, but then, I am speaking about Jennifer.

[Chris Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this in iBooks and was delighted. I have loved every word Jennifer Crusie ever wrote and have so missed her books. This is a collection of stories that eventually led to Crazy For You, one of her best.

[Shari Schawo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really neat to see the evolution of a story. I love Crazy for You so this was a great insight into the characters.

[Merideth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to get a inside look at some of the Characters from one of my favorite books by
Jennifer Crusie.

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting look at the process behind a book. I enjoyed the short stories and felt like I had a better understanding of "crazy for you" and the characters.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun quick read if you are a Crusie lover like me!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a good read for those who liked Crazy For You.

[Heather Adkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

trademark jenny! <3

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved seeing another side of the characters from Crazy for You. Especially loved Caroline's story.