Crush

by Ada Calhoun

I wanted to like Crush, but I found myself increasingly irritated by the uneven, often frustrating character development, especially as the narrator drifted from one emotional stance to another without much grounding or growth. The husband, who has all the motivation of a bowling ball, encourages his overworked wife to push the boundaries of their marriage. Although this should have opened up something sharp and revealing about desire and identity, but instead it often felt repetitive and oddly unexamined. I never fully understood her motivations, and that made it hard to invest in the stakes of what was happening. Worse, the husband came across as completely unlikable to me conveniently self-serving in ways that undermined any real sympathy or understanding. For a novel that’s supposed to grapple with love, freedom, and partnership, I kept feeling like I was stuck with people I didn’t believe in or particularly care about, which made the whole experience more frustrating than illuminating.