Hurricane Girl

Hurricane Girl

Marcy Dermansky

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

A propulsive and daring new novel by the author of Very Nice (“A cupcake that turns out to be nutritious.” —Rumaan Alam) about a woman on the run from catastrophe, searching for love, healing, home, a swimming pool, and for someone who can perhaps stop the bleeding from her head Allison Brody is thirty and newly arrived on the east coast after just managing to flee her movie producer boyfriend. She has some money, saved up from years of writing and waitressing, and so she spends it, buying a house on the beach. But then a Category Three hurricane makes landfall and scatters her home up and down the shore, leaving Allison adrift. Should she follow the strange camera man home from the bar and stay in his guest room? Is that a glass vase he smashed on her skull? Can she wipe the blood from her eyes, get in her car and drive to her mother’s? Does she really love the brain surgeon who saved her, or is she just using him for his swimming pool? And is it possible to ever truly heal emotionally without seeking some measure of revenge? A gripping, provocative novel that walks a knife’s edge of comedy and horror, Hurricane Girl is the work of singular talent, a novelist unafraid to explore the intersection of love, sex, violence, and freedom--while celebrating the true joy that can be found in a great swim and a good turkey sandwich.

Publication Year: 2022


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  • bookgang
    Mar 30, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    This literary fiction novel is an unforgettable book trip unlike any other. I love when books lean into oddly dark terrains (best exemplified in my favorite literary fiction read, One's Company), and this story isn't afraid to go into some dark places. 

    Picture it, you have finally bought your dream beach property, and a week after you move in, a category five hurricane passes through, destroying your house in its path. 

    A news crew comes to cover your story, and the anchorman offers you a place to stay until you can get back on your feet. It is undoubtedly a strange offer from a perfect stranger and that, my friends, is the beginning of the category five hurricane YOU will be on as a reader. 

    Tell you where this story would rob you of the unforgettable experience. Dermansky manages to use the darkest humor that made me laugh and shake my head at times. The plot gets so comically dark, in fact, that you do not know if it is the narrator's false perceptions or if these scenarios she finds herself in are, indeed, real. 


    One element that brought development to the story is that this character is a chronic people-pleaser (something I relate to very well). So when this mysterious incident occurs, she has the voice to speak as unfiltered as possible. It's a dreamy scenario for any woman who has desired this for herself.

    I liked this one much more than Dermansky's Very Nice, which yielded a cast of unlikeable characters and shallower plotlines. 

    This is the perfect novel to read if you are short on your reading goals because it can be read in a day, and you won't be able to put it down. 

     

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