Wow. Carmencita Gutierrez Alonzo moved to New York City. She lives in squalid, communal housing near the freeway underpass. I like her character, but she scares me a little.Through a deep haze of coke and hallucinogens, she ponders her bisexuality and her inability to form meaningful relationships. Is it the drugs causing problems or her own emotional baggage? Punk shows, drag queens, Coney Island and benders give adequate story depth. Road's illustrations are explicit and superb. Her self-induced fog provides little relief to her inner demons and manic episodes. Chapter 1 - The first step is always disillusionment.This novel reminded me of Lynda Barry's Cruddy. Bad Habits is reminiscent of Bukowski, Michelle Tea, and Palahniuk. Dark and addictive. Zine writer extraordinaire Cristy Road's newest release, Bad Habits, documents the life of protagonist Carmencita through memoir-style writings that read like a diary entry, or a conversation confided with a close friend. Carmencita is a trauma survivor, recently out of an abusive relationship, and is on a quest for healing and reformation. Taking the reader through Brooklyn, the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and a temporary stop in Miami, the encounters and escapades Road relays are emotionally raw with descriptions of insecurities, doubts, and appreciates that she could have pulled from your own mind at one point or another.On her website, Road describes this new release as a book about rebirth, and that it most certainly is. Bad Habits documents rebirth in a way that doesn’t glamorize or glorify the reformation and healing of a damaged self in transcendent, holy ways. Carmen's stream of consciousness commentaries on her experiences are interspersed among regular weed and cocaine use, exciting and impromptu sexual encounters, and the building of troubling but meaningful relationships. Everything is graphically and explicitly depicted, which may make a few uneasy, but I found it clear that it was a cathartic and feminist speaking experience. This book is about the process of rebirth, but also about survival.This book is progressive in everything it does; it is a feminist piece in its rightfully shameless exploration and depiction of tabooed subjects—such as female sexuality, drug use, and abuse—but Carmencita's radical politics are also delivered. She criticizes the gender binary, thinks of it as a constructed notion, and also cares about people rather than the categories in which they do or do not fall. In addition, the literary style of Bad Habits does not read as a traditional novel or memoir. Its structure aligns with the narrator's mental and emotional self through a somewhat nonlinear (but easy to understand) pace. Months are specified before each chunk of writing, but other than that, time takes a backdrop to the subjective experiences with the people who come and go in Carmen’s life.It would be impossible to review this book without mention of Road's illustrations, which go hand-in-hand with Carmencita's stories. Road, whose visual artwork is just as respected and circulates widely through urban radical communities, lives up to her name with provocative and beautiful pieces coming at you on nearly every page. They are emotional, graphic, and could probably offend a few people without trying too hard, but are so well-executed, and enhance Bad Habits as a whole. Much of the characters' personas and encounters are made easier to understand and imagine because of the illustrations, and made Road's novel a pleasure to read.Review by Yujean Park
What do You think about Bad Habits: A Love Story (2008)?
Another incredible gift from Cristy C Road. Love.
—RHS22498
