Creep: Accusations and Confessions

A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE FINALIST IN CRITICISM

"Quite simply one of the best books of the decade." --Los Angeles Review of Books * "The mother of intersectional Latinx identity." --Cosmopolitan * "Essential reading, a California classic." --Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers * "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 the acclaimed author of Mean, and one of our fiercest, foremost explorers of intersectional Latinx identity.

A creep can be a singular 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 Myriam Gurba's informal sociology of creeps, a deep dive into the dark recesses of the toxic traditions that plague the United States and create the abusers who haunt our books, schools, and homes. Through cultural criticism disguised as personal essay, Gurba studies the ways in which oppression is collectively enacted, sustaining ecosystems that unfairly distribute suffering and premature death to our most vulnerable. Yet identifying individual creeps, creepy social groups, and creepy cultures is only half of this book's project--the other half is examining how we as individuals, communities, and institutions can challenge creeps and rid ourselves of the fog that seeks to blind us.

With her ruthless mind, wry humor, and adventurous style, Gurba implicates everyone from Joan Didion to her former abuser, everything from Mexican stereotypes to the carceral state. Braiding 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.

Author: Myriam Gurba
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 09/05/2023
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.06h x 5.83w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9781982186470

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/01/2023 pg. 12
Publishers Weekly 07/31/2023
Booklist 08/01/2023 pg. 14

About the Author
Myriam Gurba is a writer and artist. She is the author of the true crime memoir Mean, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice, a Lambda Literary award finalist, and was named one of the "Best LGBTQ Books of All Time" by O, the Oprah Magazine. Her essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Time, Los Angeles Times, and in other publications. She lives in Pasadena, California.