You Crushed It

With the caustic daring of Brett Easton Ellis and the offbeat, psychological insight of Douglas Coupland, You Crushed It is a captivating exploration of love and the corroding nature of power in creative industries.

Raph Massi is crushing it. A young up-and-coming comedian, he’s successfully navigating the internal cosmos of the stand-up industry and burying long-borne insecurities with each successful gig. He does so with the support of his girlfriend, Laurie, who narrates the book, sharing their sensual, mundane moments of new love and the creative collaborations that follow.

But, when Laurie dumps him, Raph’s heartbreak metastasizesinto paranoia, cruelty, and a path that is as lonely as it is destructive. Baril Guérard shares an exacting portrayal of the innermost thoughts we hide from the world and from ourselves. The result is a devastating critique of the soft underbelly of toxic masculinity and the complicated ferocity of those who protect it.

You Crushed It is an eminently readable, witty reflection on artistic prowess, community, and the intoxication of success.

JEAN-PHILIPPE BARIL GUÉRARD is an actor and writer who lives in Montreal. He is the author of four novels: Sports et divertissements (published in English as Sports and Pastimes), Royal (winner of the Prix littéraire des collégiens), Manuel de la vie sauvage (which was translated into Spanish), and Haute démolition (You Crushed It). He also co-wrote Les Cicatrisés de Saint-Sauvignac with three other writers. Several of his books have been adapted for the stage and television, including Royal, Haute démolition, and Manuel de la vie sauvage. He also writes for the stage and screen.

NEIL SMITH is a writer and translator from Montreal. He has won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the Quebec Writers’ Federation First Book Prize. He has also been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation, the Sunburst Award, the Journey Prize, the Prix des libraires du Québec, and the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award. His fiction has been translated into eight languages.