Reviews
" Creep is quite simply one of the best books of the decade. A truly distinctive, authentic, and dynamic literary voice. . . Without a doubt, Creep confirms that Myriam Gurba is one of our great American intellectuals, one who expertly utilizes a rapier wit to slice away the façade of hypocrisy, bigotry, bullying, and crime that marks our contemporary moment. She speaks truth to power with panache and lawyer-like logic, producing eloquent and vital essays that simultaneously provoke and entertain." --Los Angeles Review of Books "Gurba writes the personal and political with invigorating conviction. . . She assembles chains of seemingly unrelated memories and events whose resonances grow with each new link. She marshals myriad sources with ease, and addresses difficult subjects with blunt wit. . . To read Gurba at her best is to feel both the triumph of defiant self-regard as well as the soft contours of the striving it takes to acquire, preserve and restore." --The New York Times "[Myriam Gurba] is the mother of intersectional Latinx identity." --Cosmopolitan "Absorbing. . . [Gurba''s] essays can be so darkly funny and artfully constructed and she has a voice that defies how women--especially Latinx women--are expected to write/sound." --Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times "Witty, confident, and effortlessly provocative, Gurba writes about the things that piss her off with poison and precision, sometimes daring readers to look for themselves in the tangled complicity flowchart. . . Creep goes to some dark places, but there''s something joyous about Gurba''s righteous and ravenous worldview." --The Philadelphia Inquirer "[ Creep ] is governed by an indomitable spirit. . . Gurba catches us off guard with her unusual twinning of compassion and lacerating observation. . . While these essays are full of rigorous critical thought, there''s an intoxicating, lived quality to Gurba''s style of analysis, her willingness to expose the funny and the cruel and the grotesque in a single breath. Gurba doesn''t so much dissect her life or California history as she holds an elaborate wake, reframing our understanding of humor as a means of survival. She is an indelible contemporary voice, and we are the better for it." --Alta Online "Challenging and cathartic, Creep is a collection of power and place, kinship and kindness, violence and atrophy. It may hurt, but this one will heal you." --Ms. "Brilliant. . . [Gurba] skins the myth of California as a progressive playground. In its place, she offers a blistering portrait of life in the golden state. . . Despite the degradations and horrors Creep chronicles, it''s a hopeful book. A hopefulness shot through with anger, awareness, and unrest. A hope rooted in the steadfast belief other worlds are possible." --The New York Observer "Haunting and otherwordly, like reading Goosebumps under a flashlight. . . With an imaginative combination of rigorous archival resources, magical realism, and wit, Gurba gives us no choice but to read on in spite of feeling spooked." --Interview "Sharp, conversational cultural criticism. . . Gurba goes for the jugular." --Bustle''s "Best New Books for Fall" ? "Gurba is mighty. Brilliant, Mexican, wry; an ethnographer of our inheritances, she trains our eyes on the ugliness of racism, imperialism, and misogyny. A curate of liberation, Gurba pays homage to the survivors and the victims. This book is ceremony: beautiful, difficult and important." -- Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America "Boom! Myriam Gurba''s writing is a nuclear explosion." -- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, "Sharp, conversational cultural criticism. . . Gurba goes for the jugular." --Bustle''s "Best New Books for Fall" "Powerful. . . Full of lean prose and biting commentary, [ Creep ] is as emotionally heavy as it is hard to put down." -- Publisher''s Weekly "As insightful as it is poetic, [ Creep ] explores the knife''s edge between sanity and madness." --Bay Area Reporter "[A] ruthless and razor-sharp essay collection." -- The Millions "Truly exceptional. . . Gurba''s lyrical prose forces us to face the sexism, racism, homophobia, and other systems of oppression that allow some Americans to get away with murder while the rest of us live in constant fear. Every piece is rife with well-timed humor and surprising conclusions, many of which come from the author''s staggering command of history. Profoundly insightful, thoroughly researched, incredibly inventive, and laugh-out-loud funny, this book is a masterpiece of wit and vulnerability." --Kirkus *starred review* "Fierce and engaging cultural criticism." -- Library Journal "[A] wide-ranging collection of memories. . . Gurba [. . .] vividly dissects the insidious toll of sexual violence and racism through firsthand experience [and] unsparingly challenges us to confront the many ways those who prey on others are obscured and even protected by our society." --Booklist "With personal essays that transform into astute pieces of cultural criticism, Gurba explores the way creeps haunt our books, our schools, and our homes--and how we can work to challenge them." --Lit Hub''s "Most Anticipated Books of 2023" "Myriam Gurba is the most fearless writer in America. And is most generous and kind to those who have no champion, while setting fire to the towers of the villainous. Creep is another beautifully daring book. Long may she reign." -- Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Good Night, Irene "Gurba is mighty. Brilliant, Mexican, wry; an ethnographer of our inheritances, she trains our eyes on the ugliness of racism, imperialism, and misogyny. A curate of liberation, Gurba pays homage to the survivors and the victims. This book is ceremony: beautiful, difficult and important." -- Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America "I loved Creep and already consider it essential reading, a California classic. It is full of verve, hilarity, and excitement. Gurba is tender but tough, and her book gleams with voluptuous horror, historical rigor, and astonishing psychological depth." -- Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers "In Creep , Gurba stitches together a no-holds-barred analysis of violence in and out of national borders, interpersonal relationships, and literature. It is a testament to Gurba''s dexterity as a writer but also her courage to embark upon the expedition of her own memories." -- Morgan Jerkins, New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing "Boom! Myriam Gurba''s writing is a nuclear explosion." -- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, bestselling author of Mexican Gothic "Myriam Gurba is not someone you want to make mad. Her writing makes me feel like I have a far cooler, smarter big sister standing up to familiar monsters: bad men, our deepest fears, Joan Didion, our stolen girlhoods. Myriam makes me think and feel but, most importantly, Myriam''s writing makes me feel like writing because her fire is contagious." --Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, author of The Undocumented Americans "With its powerful voice and truth-telling, Creep will help cement Myriam Gurba''s reputation as a singular and essential voice in American literature. Again and again, the tales in this book reveal the strength of a woman joyfully and relentlessly defending her dignity against those who would demean her." -- Héctor Tobar, author of National Book Critics Circle award finalist Deep Down Dark, "Gurba is mighty. Brilliant, Mexican, wry; an ethnographer of our inheritances, she trains our eyes on the ugliness of racism, imperialism, and misogyny. A curate of liberation, Gurba pays homage to the survivors and the victims. This book is ceremony: beautiful, difficult and important." -- Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America "Boom! Myriam Gurba's writing is a nuclear explosion." -- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, bestselling author of Mexican Gothic "With its powerful voice and truth-telling, Creep will help cement Myriam Gurba's reputation as a singular and essential voice in American literature. Again and again, the tales in this book reveal the strength of a woman joyfully and relentlessly defending her dignity against those who would demean her." -- Héctor Tobar, author of National Book Critics Circle award finalist Deep Down Dark "The poetic wit, humor, and brutal brilliance of Myriam Gurba's Creep make for unforgettable reading." -- Lisa Teasley, author of award-winning Glow in the Dark and Fluid "With deadpan humor and devastating wit, Myriam Gurba creeps through the hypocrisies of rape culture, patriarchal violence, anti-Mexican racism, and familial trauma to expose the brutality in everyday life. Who else could take on Joan Didion's racial grammar while demolishing Barbies and extolling the integrity of sluts? 'Humor can only go so far,' Gurba writes, and when she drops the mic on her own survival the text shimmers. Meticulously researched and boldly articulated, Creep dares us all to stop pretending." --Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author of The Freezer Door SELECT PRAISE FOR MEAN "Like most truly great books, Mean made me laugh, cry and think. Myriam Gurba's a scorchingly good writer." -- Cheryl Strayed, The New York Times "Myriam Gurba's voice is a refreshing burst of honesty, poetry, and spectacularly dark humor.... Through her unpredictable style, Gurba offers a welcomed antidote to the formula of the contemporary novel." -- W Magazine "Gurba's 'queer art of being mean' is a triumph of deadpan humor in a timely and thrilling voice. Stop everything and read this brave and tender book." --O, The Oprah Magazine "With its icy wit, edgy wedding of lyricism and prose, and unflinching look at personal and public demons, Gurba's introspective memoir is brave and significant." --Kirkus "Honest and darkly funny, the book is riddled with moments that will have you nodding, cringing, and crying right along with the author." --Harper's Bazaar "Throughout the book, [Gurba] handles the telling of one tragedy after another with great care and sharp humor, so there is redemption and levity even in dark moments." -- Buzzfeed "To say this book exudes confidence is an understatement." --ELLE "I am such a gigantic fan of Myriam Gurba. Her voice is an alchemy of queer magic, feminist wildness, and intersectional explosion. She's a gigantic inspiration to my work and the sexiest, smartest literary discovery in Los Angeles. She's totally ready to wake up the world." --Joey Soloway
Synopsis
A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE FINALIST A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST "Quite simply one of the best books of the decade." --Los Angeles Review of Books * "The mother of intersectional Latinx identity." --Cosmopolitan * "Brilliant...a hopeful book...rooted in the steadfast belief other worlds are possible." -- The New York Observer * "Witty, confident, and effortlessly provocative." --The Philadelphia Inquirer * "The most fearless writer in America." -- Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Good Night, Irene A ruthless and razor-sharp essay collection that tackles the pervasive, creeping oppression and toxicity that has wormed its way into society--in our books, schools, and homes, as well as the systems that perpetuate them--from one of our fiercest, foremost explorers of intersectional Latinx identity. A creep can be a single figure, a villain who makes things go bump in the night. Yet creep is also what the fog does--it lurks into place to do its dirty work, muffling screams, obscuring the truth, and providing cover for those prowling within it. Creep is "sharp, conversational cultural criticism" ( Bustle ), a blistering and slyly informal sociology of creeps (the individuals who deceive, exploit, and oppress) and creep culture (the systems, tacit rules, and institutions that feed them and allow them to grow and thrive). In eleven bold, electrifying pieces, Gurba mines her own life and the lives of others--some famous, some infamous, some you've never heard of but will likely never forget--to unearth the toxic traditions that have long plagued our culture and enabled the abusers who haunt our books, schools, and homes. With her ruthless mind, wry humor, and adventurous style, Gurba implicates everyone from William Burroughs to her grandfather, from Joan Didion to her own abusive ex-partner; she takes aim at everything from public school administrations to the mainstream media, from Mexican stereotypes to the carceral state. Weaving her own history and identity throughout, she argues for a new way of conceptualizing oppression, and she does it with her signature blend of bravado and humility.
