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Crudo

Love in the Apocalypse

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Crudo

By: Olivia Laing
Narrated by: Olivia Laing
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About this listen

Read by the author, Olivia Laing.

Kathy is a writer. Kathy is getting married. It’s the summer of 2017 and the whole world is falling apart.

Kathy spends the first summer of her forties trying to adjust to making a lifelong commitment – marriage. But it’s not only Kathy who is changing. Political, social and natural landscapes are all in peril. Fascism is on the rise, truth is dead, the planet is hotting up. Is it really worth learning to love when the end of the world is nigh? And how do you make art, let alone a life, when it could all end at any moment?

From a Tuscan hotel for the super-rich to a politically-paralysed UK, Olivia Laing's first novel is a love letter, inspired by the life and work of Kathy Acker. It is a blistering rewire of the form and a brilliant, funny and emphatically raw account of love in the apocalypse.

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction

Shortlisted for the Goldsmith's Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Olivia Laing (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio
Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction Literary Fiction Political Romance Summer
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Critic reviews

Written at a war-mongering time of rising nationalisms, the vitality of Olivia Laing's
questioning love letter to life and to art will blow you away (Deborah Levy)

Laing’s prose shimmers and is selfish then, suddenly, full of love. It’s a high-wire act. This is the novel as a love letter to Acker. She gives her a happier ending than the one she had. She asks us what a novel can do when unreality rules. She asks what it is like to be alive when the old order is dying . . . Crudo is a hot, hot book. The fuse is lit. (Susanne Moore)
Finally, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day I spent reading Olivia Laing’s Crudo. I couldn’t put it down, and then it overwhelmed me so much I had to put it down, and then I had to pick it back up again. A beautiful, strange, intelligent novel. (Sally Rooney, author of Conversations With Friends)

What listeners say about Crudo

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great read, could not put it down

Keep going back to it . Specially over a holiday .
Where you might hear missing chapters which you missed the first time . Painting a picture of privilege or just a reflection of our time. Non fantasy . But fantasy to many . Paints a picture like no other .
An escape in a “ White Lotus “ relevance .

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Took a while to get into it

I loved the Lonely City, so looked forward to this one. But it was hard to start with and confusing. I let it wash over me. I’m beginning to think authors should avoid reading their own books: the narration was distracting. But I’m glad I stuck with it, for it captured events & feelings from 2017 in a powerful way.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Oh! livia, encore

blew me cashmere socks off
touching
lyrical
such a strong voice
opened me

great to listen to an author read their own work

best thing I've heard in a long time

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Highly recommend this work from a brilliant writer

I came to Crudo after reading 'The Lonely City' which I loved and admired. Crudo is a supremely clever, but accessible work of art. I love that Olivia herself reads it.

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4 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Cluedo!

Not for me . I’m not keen on authors reading their own work but I don’t think a different narrator would have made any difference to this story. The character lacked development and whilst isolated observations were amusing they weren’t “ blisteringly funny” as described in one review. It was more a cross between a personal diary and complaints letter. I hope other people find it more enjoyable.

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1 person found this helpful