Based on the author’s own experiences, this vivid novel explores how – as the Van Morrison song suggests – crazy love can take away the troubles. It can, though, add a whole lot more. ‘We save each other, don’t we, when we are in love.’
It has been 28 years since Vicki last sent a letter to Robert Muldoon. Last time she wrote, he was Prime Minister, while she was living with her loser-boyfriend and wanting to know why people like her had to exist in such dire straits. Back then, Muldoon sent her a dollar, but it was the irrepressible Billy who turned up and transformed her life. This time Muldoon is dead and it is Billy who has made her so desperate she doesn’t know where to turn.
Since running away with Billy, Vicki has barely looked back. Together they have become a family and prospered. They have survived so much, but can they survive Billy’s increasingly erratic behaviour, especially when he seems so set on pulling them apart?
‘If the novel has a message, it is surely that love can conquer all. It just depends on how consumed by it you want to be, and the price you’re willing to pay’, writes Stephanie Johnson in the Aotearoa Review of Books.
‘Allan’s writing crackles with energy. It’s packed, pacy, and smacks at your senses’, writes David Hill in Kete.
‘New Zealand at large should feel uncomfortable. Several political points are made in the book, the strongest being the stark depiction of how poorly equipped our society is to deal with people in mental health crises. You’ll hate Crazy Love, it’s awesome.’
John McCrystal, NZ Listener
‘Crazy Love is the study of a long relationship and its wild ride. It is raw and honest, vivid and real.’
Nicky Pellegrino, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly
‘This is deeply disturbing yet utterly compelling storytelling – an unflinching account of severe mental illness and associated domestic torment.’
Sue Orr, Newsroom
‘I appreciated the broader view taken on mental health. The narrative addresses the shortcomings of our mental health system, from labels to inadequate care and community support, and the trauma involved in asking for and getting help. But
crucially, also recognises the role of capitalist structures and wider socio-political influences on wellbeing.’
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