Crush
A Novel
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
A Today show, New Yorker, Washington Post, New York Times, Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Bustle, Lit Hub, Zibby Owens, Marie Claire, AARP, Bloomberg, The Millions, Seattle Times, and Vulture Most Anticipated Book
“Ada Calhoun writes with absolute clarity about the giddiest and most destabilizing feeling—the crush. This novel made me feel dizzy and I loved every second. Calhoun can seduce me any day of the week.”
—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow
When a husband asks his wife to consider what might be missing from their marriage, what follows surprises them both—sex, heartbreak and heart rekindling, and a rediscovered sense of all that is possible
She’s happy and settled and productive and content in her full life—a child, a career, an admirable marriage, deep friendships, happy parents, and a spouse she still loves. But when her husband urges her to address what the narrow labels of “husband” and “wife” force them to edit out of their lives, the very best kind of hell breaks loose.
Using the author’s personal experiences as a jumping-off point, Crush is about the danger and liberation of chasing desire, the havoc it can wreak, and most of all the clear sense of self one finds when the storm passes. Destined to become a classic novel of marriage, and tackling the big questions being asked about partnership in postpandemic relationships, Crush is a sharp, funny, seductive, and revelatory novel about holding on to everything it’s possible to love—friends, children, parents, passion, lovers, husbands, all of the world’s good books, and most of all one’s own deep sense of purpose.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Calhoun's disappointing debut novel (after the memoir Also a Poet) concerns a married writer's newfound crush on a man she hasn't seen in decades. The unnamed narrator, a loving mother of a teenage son, Nate, is nudged by her husband, Paul, to consider an open relationship. She kisses an old friend and finds that it doesn't mean much to her, but after she reconnects over email with another friend, David, she develops an obsession. She puts off meeting David in person out of fear that an all-consuming romance with him would jeopardize her marriage. Meanwhile, the narrator worries about Nate, though Calhoun neglects to develop him as a character, and vaguely alludes to her accomplishments as a writer. Calhoun litters the narrative with quotes about love from authors and philosophers that fail to elevate the material (a quote from José Ortega y Gasset follows the narrator's clunky attempt to explain her feelings for David: "When you give birth you can't put the baby back inside you. David and I had love between us; there was no returning it to wherever it came from"). Early in the story, the narrator reveals that she failed to sell a book about the history of the crush; unfortunately, Calhoun's novel struggles to illuminate much about her narrator's crush or about crushes in general. This one falls flat.
