lynda barry most known for her comix i believe - tho i’m not that familiar with them myself - but this is a novel - any book described as “a bad acid trip” immediately triggers my interest (in much the same way as the word “apocalyptic”) - often they’re a let-down (all that “bizarro” stuff fails to grab me) but this looks quite promising - also, a 70’s “coming of age” novel is appealing on a personal level…
and, joy, the “fat freddy’s cat omnibus” - more hippy shit - a fat companion volume to this
I read “Cruddy” a few years ago. It’s quite amusing in parts; Barry is quite twisted, but it’s also over-the-top victimology. On the other hand, she does better with a 16-year-old voice than a lot of writers. (Cf. D.B.C. Pierre’s “Vernon God Little,” which is often hilarious but is definitely NOT the voice of a teenage boy.) Barry’s protagonist is repeatedly mistaken for a boy, so pederasts are always hitting on her for sex, but she carries a serious knife (she call it Little Debbie) and isn’t afraid to slice a few people up with it.
I love Cruddy, it’s one of my favorite novels… a blue-collar coming of age book, I read back around the time it was first released. Really humane and disturbing story, Barry is a gifted, excellent storyteller.
Not a fan of Gilbert Shelton, that stuff is forever dated to me