Crazy Love You is the latest book from Lisa Unger.I've read and enjoyed many other books by Unger, so I just picked this one up with no idea what it was about. Crazy Love You is a bit of a departure from Unger's previous works.
I was intrigued by the premise...
Ian was the kid picked on in his small town - fat boy was a favorite slur thrown at him. His only friend was another outsider - the troubled Priss.
Ian and Priss grew up and made their way to New York City. Ian has found success as a graphic novelist. His Fatboy and Priss series is a phenomenal success. But when Ian meets Meghan, Priss feels pushed aside - and angry. After all she's stood by Ian from the beginning, hasn't she?
As Ian continues to draw and write his series, time lines become blurred. Are events drawn in the panels happening in real life? Is he imagining things - or truly making them happen? Or is it Priss manipulating his life?
Unger keeps the reader off kilter - we're never really sure what's real and what's imagined. Is Ian crazy? Priss is elusive - we're never really sure about her and what her intentions are.
Unger's writing flows easily and I became completely engrossed in following Ian down the rabbit hole. (He was still a difficult character to like though) But, where the book fell down for me was the ending. It was just a bit too 'been there, done that' for me. And it seemed to go on for too long with much of Ian's feelings and experiences recapped over and over again.
I think Unger is a great writer and will be absolutely picking up her next book. For me though, Crazy Love You just wasn't a stand out.
Read an excerpt of Crazy Love You. You can connect with Lisa Unger on Twitter.
I really like her work so I'm sorry to see this wasn't great for you.
ReplyDeleteI've loved several of this author's books. And have heard mostly good things about this one, but I also think I might have read things that were almost spoilers. Not yours. I'm going to try it at some point, but I know I'm not rushing to get to it. Someone said that reading those 3 short stories or novellas or whatever that were published just before this book would be helpful. Have you read those? Can't think of the names right now.
ReplyDeleteHi Bermudaonion - if you read I would be curious to see what you think.
ReplyDeleteKay - the novella was called The Whispers - a character has psychic abilities. She does seem to be headed in this direction lately. If you read it let me know what you think.