Creepy and Maud by Dianne Touchell

“Am I sounding creepy? Love is sort of creepy. When you fall in love, you presuppose all sorts of things about the person. You superimpose all kinds of ideals and fantasies on them. You create all manner of unrealistic, untenable, unsatisfiable criteria for that person, automatically guaranteeing their failure and your heartbreak. And what do we call it? Romance. Now, that’s creepy.”

Creepy & Maud are neighbours whose bedroom windows are opposite each other’s. In his spare time, Creepy (not his real name) reads books, researches the origins of words with the help of his Collins Australian Internet-Linked Dictionary (with CD ROM) and watches Maud (also not her real name) sometimes with binoculars, sometimes without. They attend the same school but have never spoken, over time they begin to communicate via notes in the window.

This is a book about all the different ways life can break you down, how hope can be found in unexpected places and the importance of being seen for how you are rather than how someone wishes you would be. I finished Creepy & Maud a couple of days ago but the characters have lingered, recommended for fans of realistic fiction and anyone who has ever wondered about the sanity of their parents.

Sharni @ Balwyn Library

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