RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewThe weight of suicide as a subject, paired with Crosley’s exceptional ability to write juicy conversation, prevents it from being the kind of slim volume one flies through and forgets. Her signature shrewdness comes through particularly in the Depression section, which shows the author in the depths of her grief, but offers relief through humorous lines of dialogue and passing thoughts on pandemic-era activities ... Though humor can feel downright medicinal in a time of grief, it has its limits. There are moments when the memoir reveals this, when Crosley is confronted by the reality that a joke is not a sustainable way of processing her pain ... Offering us a look into his life through the lens of her love, pain and admiration. Telling us, with precision and generosity, how it might be when it is our turn to remember what was true about those we’ve lost.
Kendra Allen
RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewThere are no tropes or platitudes here; Allen exhibits the same assertiveness and transparency that she showed in her previous books ... In Fruit Punch, her vulnerability is particularly palpable ... Inhabiting her younger mind, Allen writes as a witness to the myriad ways in which the adults responsible for her well-being failed her ... Allen homes in on the right of a child to mistrust the whole world as she hurtles toward adulthood ... Complete with ’90s-baby cultural references to Morgan Freeman and Mary J. Blige, the book is a reading experience all its own, holding the reader at an emotional distance, even as it stings. Its fire may be unrelenting, but readers should push themselves to take the heat.
