Book Review: Alt.Punk by Lavinia Ludlow

Imagine the world of severe OCD–spending hours scrubbing your hands and showering with bleach. Then imagine what would happen if a girl who lived in that world went spiraling out of control when she falls for a disgusting, germ-infected lead singer of punk rock band and decides to run away from life and go on tour with him and his band. If you’ve seen the movie Fight Club, think of Tyler Durden’s house on Paper Street. Then, add about 10 times more filth, and you’ll get a visual of how disgusting life on the road is.

Alt.Punk is the story of Hazel, a college-educated Safeway manager with a cruel family who stays safely in the shadows of her life, wandering through with a safe, unemployed and unmotivated boyfriend named Kree, who lives in the other bedroom of her apartment, since she beats him up in her sleep. When she isn’t working extra hours for free at Safeway, Hazel alternates her time between hanging out with her chemically imbalanced acquaintance Avaline, binge eating, searching for germs and disease, and listening to punk rock bands.

One day Hazel breaks free of her routine when she breaks up with Kree, quits her job, and discovers the emotional release of dating and touring the country with Otis, a suicidal punk rock singer whose also a drug-addicted man-child and brother  of her former stock boy nemesis, Landon. Between the germs, the violence of the punk scene, the lack of health insurance from being unemployed, and the drinking and the drugs she takes to deal with all the provocative, grotesque and crazy people surrounding her, Hazel manages to completely turn her life upside down, but in a way, it’s a good thing, because her self-destruction allows her to really feel alive for the first time in her adult life.

This book was intense, funny, and riddled with disgusting images and thoughts my own mildly OCD mind could barely handle. More than once I shivered in disgust when reading it. Ludlow has a unique voice and talent that paints a perfect picture of dysfunction for her readers. If you like a book that can scare the hell out of you, then you must read Alt.Punk! Just keep in mind that it’s not for people who get grossed out easily.

Read Lavinia’s blog.

Follow Lavinia on Facebook.

Follow Lavinia on Twitter.

Add Alt.Punk to your Goodreads to-read shelf.

Visit Indiebound to purchase a copy of Alt.Punk.