-Eric Hoffer Award Finalist, 2018The summer after graduating from college, 22-year-old Danny Wolinski takes a cross-country US road trip with his friend, Ian Perez, hoping to find the inspiration to reach his songwriting potential, start a band, and avoid student teaching in the fall.Danny is tormented by intense physical and psychological pain and sees music as his only relief, but the more he … relief, but the more he searches for this inspiration in an America filled with endless parties, heavy drugs, and lost souls, the more he questions whether it exists.
A deeply disturbing and psychological coming-of-age novel, THE SUMMER OF CRUD explores the complexities of friendships, masculinity, sex, mental illness, and addiction, and shows how the quest to unlock one’s creativity can both inspire and destroy a person.
*THE SUMMER OF CRUD is the first book in a loosely linked trilogy with UNDERSTANDING THE ALACRÁN as book two, and DEVELOPING MINDS: AN AMERICAN GHOST STORY as book three.
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“Ronnie handed us more shots, and I took another down. It started to come back up, but I took some deep breaths and held it in. For dinner we went to a fish place near the bay, and Ian and I shared the cheapest dish they had. We squeezed into Sam’s truck and drove back into the guts of San Fran. He parked a few blocks from his place, and we walked the rest of the way, passing a street littered with homeless kids. They played bongos and sang off-key and mouthed off to passersby. One kid about my age played a guitar with the words “My other guitar is a syringe” written on it in black marker. That one got to me.
They reached out for us and begged us for change and told us we were bitches and all that crap, and I did everything I could not to let them touch me. Not to be swayed by their siren song, and as Sam unlocked and opened the door, all I could picture was Jerry Garcia’s dead body lying in Buena Vista Park surrounded by yuppies taking pictures – close-ups of the syringe hanging out of his arm – and selling them as “art.” This wasn’t the Summer of Love. The Summer of Love was dead. No, this was the Summer of Crud, and it was layered so heavily all over me no amount of scrubbing would ever wash it off.”
Raw and skin-crawlingly gritty, The Summer of Crud is a tale of late-/post-college ennui, mental and physical illness, drug and alcohol abuse, and acute self-loathing, with a strong dose of “with friends like these, who needs enemies.” While the story itself was tough to take in and the characters were generally terrible people, the writing was well-done and the story had a steady pace, never staying in one place for long and pulling the reader along on Danny and Ian’s journey. It was a quick read, too – just a couple of hours.
*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I pick this book up off of NetGalley read now section, These are the books you don’t have to wait to hear back from the publisher on. I already have enough I’m waiting to hear back on but also wanted to have a read now. I browsed and the cover was what jumped out me. The total artistic vibe so matches the inner workings of this book. As I read the synopsis I was drawn more into reading the piece. Very rarely do I come across books that solely focus on a male lead, with the exception of books following an already release female POV. So I was intrigued. The cover. The synopsis. All pointed to being and an exciting rollercoaster of a ride with Danny and Ian on a cross-country trip. Unfortunately for me, that’s where it stops.
I found Danny to be way too chaotic and damaged. I really don’t recall any good point being made about him except that he is a teacher. Ian was no better though, he was loud, crude, obnoxious and mindless. While the development of the characters was barely there with the exception of Danny, backstories were minimal.
Essentially this book came down to being just about smoking, drinking and a guy who has some serious bathroom issues. Yes. Bathroom issue. It wasn’t often that I came to a scene that held substance, but there were a few thrown in there.
But I will say this, I believe if I was a freshman male in college I would probably find this book to be comical, likable and relatable. I’m not, I’m so far from that spectrum so I do believe that is why I just found the book to be okay.
What I did enjoy was the musical soundtrack you get to take with these guys. LaPoma often through in some great tunes that the guys traveled to or partied with. In fact, I think every spot they stopped along the way has a song or two to go along with it. Most I knew others I’ve just discovered.
Would I read this again? No. Would I read again by Jonathan LaPoma? Yes, I probably would.