Creep: Accusations and Confessions

Written by Myriam Gurba

Narrated by Myriam Gurba

A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE FINALIST * A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER

“Quite simply one of the best books of the decade.” —Los Angeles Review of Books * “The mother of intersectional Latinx identity.” —Cosmopolitan * “Brilliant…a hopeful book…rooted in the steadfast belief other worlds are possible.” —The New York Observer * “Witty, confident, and effortlessly provocative.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer * “The most fearless writer in America.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Good Night, Irene

A ruthless and razor-sharp essay collection that tackles the pervasive, creeping oppression and toxicity that has wormed its way into society—in our books, schools, and homes, as well as the systems that perpetuate them—from one of our fiercest, foremost explorers of intersectional Latinx identity.

A creep can be a single figure, a villain who makes things go bump in the night. Yet creep is also what the fog does—it lurks into place to do its dirty work, muffling screams, obscuring the truth, and providing cover for those prowling within it.

Creep is “sharp, conversational cultural criticism” (Bustle), a blistering and slyly informal sociology of creeps (the individuals who deceive, exploit, and oppress) and creep culture (the systems, tacit rules, and institutions that feed them and allow them to grow and thrive). In eleven bold, electrifying pieces, Gurba mines her own life and the lives of others—some famous, some infamous, some you’ve never heard of but will likely never forget—to unearth the toxic traditions that have long plagued our culture and enabled the abusers who haunt our books, schools, and homes.

With her ruthless mind, wry humor, and adventurous style, Gurba implicates everyone from William Burroughs to her grandfather, from Joan Didion to her own abusive ex-partner; she takes aim at everything from public school administrations to the mainstream media, from Mexican stereotypes to the carceral state. Weaving her own history and identity throughout, she argues for a new way of conceptualizing oppression, and she does it with her signature blend of bravado and humility.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797165738

Myriam Gurba

Myriam Gurba is a writer and artist. She is the author of the true crime memoir Mean, a New York Times Editors’ Choice. O, The Oprah Magazine, ranked Mean as one of the best LGBTQ books of all time. Publishers Weekly describes Gurba as having a voice like no other. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Paris Review, Time, and 4Columns. She has shown art in galleries, museums, and community centers. She lives in Pasadena, California.

Reviews for Creep

[Katherine Carr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So raw and sad and happy and funny and terrifying

[Ren Jender · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books written about violence against women, written in a collection of personal essays that include stunning bits of history including the famously corrupt Mexican president who shot and killed the family's Indigenous maid when they were both young children and that Jeanne Córdova. was a nanny to Joan Didion's daughter Quintana Roo (Gurba delightfully skewers the choice of that name too). Too much writing (and other media!) these days on domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment lets men off the hook: Gurba understands that her grandfather's misogyny and cheating on her grandmother (a child bride at 13 and later gave her gonorrhea) is part of the same atmosphere that leads to a stranger sexual assaulting her and a partner doing the same. That partner was a high school teacher who also repeatedly beat Gurba (and other partners) and told Gurba how turned on he was by his female students. He kept his job.

[Andie Hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Don't hesitate. You need to read this book. Yes, you.

[David Doch · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Same old predictable Social Sciences indoctrinated victim mythologies to gain privilege through shame.