Creepy and Maud by Dianne Touchell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was confronting for me. I can’t go into details here, but it was heartbreaking, insightful and very close to home. I loved Creepy, and the object of his obsession, Maud, but at the same time I ached for them. For their youth, for their hearts, for their minds. Dianne Touchell really lives inside the heads of her characters, which is amazing and disturbing. There are not a lot of players in this story – there is mainly just Creepy and Maud – and their parents. No-one, except Creepy and Maud (who are in separate houses), is communicating with anyone in this book – I found that unnerving. That both sets of parents could talk so much without SAYING anything real to one another, or to their children was a tragedy to me. Even Nancy, the psychiatrist that Maud sees, cannot adequately communicate to Maud’s parents the depth of Maud’s problems. Until the very end….the tiny note of hope at the end of the book was something I will cling to for a while.
Creepy and Maud certainly captures the obsessiveness of teenage love, how sometimes it can eclipse everything else in your life and consume you. It should be noted that there are elements of self-harm in this book that some readers may find hard to take.
Recommended for ages 14 and up.
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It sounds like a compelling read. Thanks for reviewing it.
Reblogged this on Miffy reviews… and commented:
I agree 100% with this review – except that I would give it 5 stars. Touchell has a firm grasp on the unformed mind of a young adult – how they think, and how sometimes that thinking can be perverse and unusual.
I hear you. I think it is too close to other facets of my life for me to give it 5 stars. It was not an enjoyable experience for me – worthwhile, but not enjoyable!
I can absolutely understand where you are coming from, Sue. A very confronting read for anyone, actually. Teenagers are weird – I remember it well! 😉