Scan barcode
A review by aaronj21
Creep: A Love Story by Emma van Straaten
5.0
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title.
And wow, what a title!
From start to finish, compelling, twisted, and utterly captivating; Creep:A Love Story adds something new and refreshing to the genre of twisted / psychopathic protagonist à la You by Caroline Kepnes.
Alice, a London paralegal and part time cleaner, has a deeply complicated, fraught relationship with her family, her body, and well…reality in general. She just knows that Tom, a man who’s flat she cleans once a week, is her soulmate and she is determined to make him understand that by any means necessary. Small incidentals like the fact that she and Tom have never actually met and have no real relationship are just minor inconveniences to be overcome.
It’s a difficult thing, being in the shoes of a character we would consider monstrous. It takes a lot out of the reader and requires a high degree of skill from the storyteller, skill that is readily apparent in this book. This story is told solely from Alice’s perspective so we are placed snugly inside the mind of a deeply unwell person and see the world through her eyes. Time and again you’re lulled into forgetting who you’re dealing with, only to discover some fresh new depravity as you turn the page. But more surprisingly, the author managed to create small (minute, miniscule, infinitesimal) footholds of common ground and (shudder) relatability within the maelstrom of extremely upsetting thoughts and shocking behavior that make up this character’s world. While reading I found myself being alternately horrified by what Alice was doing and also desperately wanting her to make better, healthier, less insane choices. This push and pull, back and forth, left me amazed that I could find small things to relate to while also being horrified at the depths of depravity and personal violation people are capable of.
This was an impressive, immersive book. The literary landscape isn’t what it used to be, a book can’t bank on creating a splash simply by telling a story through the lens of a morally bad, mentally compromised narrator any more. We’ve all read American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange by this point. The real success of Creep: A Love Story is that it makes you identify, however briefly, with its outlandishly reprehensible protagonist, even as you’re terrified to see what she’ll do next.
And wow, what a title!
From start to finish, compelling, twisted, and utterly captivating; Creep:A Love Story adds something new and refreshing to the genre of twisted / psychopathic protagonist à la You by Caroline Kepnes.
Alice, a London paralegal and part time cleaner, has a deeply complicated, fraught relationship with her family, her body, and well…reality in general. She just knows that Tom, a man who’s flat she cleans once a week, is her soulmate and she is determined to make him understand that by any means necessary. Small incidentals like the fact that she and Tom have never actually met and have no real relationship are just minor inconveniences to be overcome.
It’s a difficult thing, being in the shoes of a character we would consider monstrous. It takes a lot out of the reader and requires a high degree of skill from the storyteller, skill that is readily apparent in this book. This story is told solely from Alice’s perspective so we are placed snugly inside the mind of a deeply unwell person and see the world through her eyes. Time and again you’re lulled into forgetting who you’re dealing with, only to discover some fresh new depravity as you turn the page. But more surprisingly, the author managed to create small (minute, miniscule, infinitesimal) footholds of common ground and (shudder) relatability within the maelstrom of extremely upsetting thoughts and shocking behavior that make up this character’s world. While reading I found myself being alternately horrified by what Alice was doing and also desperately wanting her to make better, healthier, less insane choices. This push and pull, back and forth, left me amazed that I could find small things to relate to while also being horrified at the depths of depravity and personal violation people are capable of.
This was an impressive, immersive book. The literary landscape isn’t what it used to be, a book can’t bank on creating a splash simply by telling a story through the lens of a morally bad, mentally compromised narrator any more. We’ve all read American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange by this point. The real success of Creep: A Love Story is that it makes you identify, however briefly, with its outlandishly reprehensible protagonist, even as you’re terrified to see what she’ll do next.