This is a well written book. It has some fine lines, a few well-conceived set pieces, a fair share of perceptive and insightful observations, and occasionally a lean and edgy narrative drive.. That said, try as I might I found neither the characters, nor their situations, nor the overall narrative engaging enough to arouse or hold my curiosity and attention. As a consequence, it doesn't seem fair to write much more of a review, apart from encouraging inquisitive readers to give the book a try.

This book was so much funnier than I was expecting it to be, and at the same time it was downright dark. Super witty, and a really enjoyable reading experience.

Marcy Dermansky's characters are quirky to the point of weird and Hurricane Girl's Allison Brody is no exception.
After her house is destroyed by a hurricane and she is taken in by a news camera man who smashes a vase on her head after she attempts to leave, Allison decides to shack up with the neurosurgeon that saved her life.
Yes, it sounds like the plot of a 1960's French New Wave film, and probably just as cinematic too. Allsion makes such bad decisions for herself that we're not sure if it's a result of her head injury or just the many bumps in her life causing her to unravel. The novel is a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy, with a protagonist that you just have to root for.

This book was hilarious and witty. It was a lot of fun to read and it was really clever! The ending was perfect and amazing.

I was deceived by the cover , I expected something light and fun
Instead I was thrown into a dark story and at the thought of someone that is dealing with the aftermath of a dramatic even in her life.
Allison is a 30 yr old women that has escaped her horrible situation with her ex to start fresh, but because of circumstances that she can't control she looses her house which leads her to make some horrible decisions. I think the worst part is that she knows she made a bad choice yet she still does it. We also get to see into her thoughts as she tries to figure out what to do to remove herself from there yet she continues to make the wrong choices. Mind you by that point she probably wouldn't have been able to make the right choices.
I definitely don't want to spoil the book, so sorry for the vagueness.
There's something different about getting to know the thoughts of someone who is confused and hurt and trying to work out her life. Does she start over like nothing happen ? or does she go back to correct what was broken ?
I recently learned about the term DWM (Depressed Women Moving through the world)
and this book fits that term completely. The story is simple when it comes to the language that is used but I think that adds more to the story, it gives her more realistic.
I will say that the ending was perfect for me, you could kind of see where her thoughts were leading specially towards the end. There was a second when I was like oh no why ?!!!!! but she surprised me. There are moments that we all wish we would do over and she managed to get her do over.
There was a bit of romance but it wasn't a major player in the story since most of time she doesn't want to get too attached to him.
Overall this was a good story, I wont take too much away from it but I would definitely recommend it to someone that wants to read a bit of a darker story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC

I want to read a thousand more books like this, but I also don't because I know this was truly unique. I don't want to spoil anything, but Marcy Dermansky has written one of the most believable but outrageous novels I think possible. It was easy to read and easy to obsess over. Loved it.

Told from the perspective of Allison Brody, who loses everything she owns a week and a half after buying and moving into her new house on the beach in North Carolina, Hurricane Girl is compelling and weird. Allison left her abusive producer boyfriend in California to strike out on her own. She loves water. She knows she'll miss her boyfriend's pool and that she wants to get far away from him and live by the ocean. But a hurricane hits and her house is not equal to it. A news team films her in front of the wreckage and then, Allison experiences a head injury, yet still drives home to New Jersey. The whole novel turns surreal from the point of her injury, with Allison's treatment being delayed, her doctor apparently a person she casually dated for awhile, her relationship with her mother and brother and even her best friend not quite going right. It's hard to describe this novel which seems to do an amazing job portraying the inner thoughts of someone's scrambled brain, her needs, her obsessions, her relational problems. While the story ends abruptly, there is a reason and, in fact, we are done with Allison. It's fine. This is a short read, intense at times, laugh out loud funny at times and... brilliant. I'm not sure who the right audience is for it, but I'm in that audience, for what it's worth. Highly recommend to those who are intrigued.

Hurricane Girl is an engrossing story that I read in one day. I'm still trying to process what I read. It walks the line from engrossing, bizarre, a bit disturbing and a dark comedy for sure.

Allison leaves L.A. and her abusive movie producer boyfriend and moves to North Carolina where she buys a beach house. She spends one and a half weeks of bliss in her new house enjoying swimming and the beach. A Category 3 hurricane hits and she loses her house. Her story gets worse from here. Being inside Allison's mind is a trip. Is that actually her child-like inner voice or the voice of someone with a traumatic brain injury? Does the title Hurricane Girl refer to her most recent situation or has she lived her life in a hurricane of her own making?

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Recommend it.

I loved Hurricane Girl - it's unlike other books I read, and I ended up finishing it in one evening. Has been purchased for the library and will be recommending it!

There’s a high irritation factor with this novel, on account of its pace and repetition. Narrator Allison tests the reader’s patience with her poor choices and preoccupations. And yet the book has a compulsive dimension, a dreaminess, with its humor and flirtations with narrative expectations.. Smart stuff, perhaps, but not a novel to revisit.

I loved this book. It was original, off-beat and packed a punch. Allison is a 32-year-old who just left her movie producer boyfriend and moved cross-country to North Carolina. She lives a blissful week and one-half until a hurricane destroys her home. Then, things start to fall apart. She meets a news crew covering the hurricane and the cameraman, Keith, eventually asks her out. Should she go? She’s had bad luck with Keiths in the past. The strange, troubling, journey begins. You actually feel like you are in Allison’s head! The end is just satisfying.

Trigger warning for sexual assault.

Let me start by saying I read this book by mistake—or rather, if I had known what it was about I never would have picked it up! A few weeks ago I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and couldn't fall back asleep, so I flipped through my kindle to see what was there. (Alas, I'd just finished my current Kindle read at bedtime.) I already had this downloaded, I'd heard some good things from author friends, why not give it a try? WELL. The story starts with 32-year-old Allison moving across the country to the new North Carolina beach house she'd just acquired with all her savings. For the first time in ages, she's truly happy. But ten days after arriving on the coast her home is swept away in a Category 3 hurricane. Next I expected this plucky protagonist to pick herself up by her bootstraps and put her life back together but Reader, that is NOT what happens! Instead, Allison is dealt a (literally) crushing blow to the head by a man upset she won't sleep with him, and what follows is a surreal, almost dream-like account of her trek home to New Jersey and everything that follows. The publisher says this story "walks a knife's edge between comedy and horror." I never would have begun if I'd read that first, but I didn't—and I'm glad this book took me outside my usual reading lanes. Content warnings abound.

Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky is a quirky, quick and wild ride!
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The main character, Allison, has just left her abusive boyfriend and has recently purchased her own beach home in North Carolina. After a hurricane, the house is destroyed and Allison must come to terms with what is next.
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The story is told through her eyes, after she suffers a traumatic brain injury shortly after the hurricane. I could not put this book down and needed to know what would happen to Allison in the long wrong. I enjoyed much of her character and of course, all the references to New Jersey!

Marcy Dermansky has done it again! After reading Very Nice in 2019, I became a big fan of her work and was looking forward to this new release coming out. And it did not disappoint.

Allison has fled to the east coast to her new beach house after a breakup with a narcissistic movie producer. Shortly after she arrives at her new home, it's swept away in a hurricane. She encounters a local who seemingly tries to help her and is set on a journey home to rediscover who she is.

This book is full of Dermansky's signature wit and darkness. There is a bit of horror mixed into this novel but it's so perfectly blended in with dark humor that it's easy to forget how creepy things get.

I really enjoyed this one and loved being constantly surprised by it as the story went on.

Marcy Dermansky’s newest book “Hurricane Girl,” was a weird and wild ride, in the best way possible. The story follows Allison Brody as she narrowly escapes disaster after disaster—from dangerous men to natural disasters. Allison is not necessarily a likeable or reliable narrator, but her resilience and grit are compelling. The book is fairly short and very fast-paced so I could not put it down, feeling the need to see what would happen on the next page.

I found “Hurricane Girl” to be much more enjoyable than Dermansky’s previous book, “Very Nice.” With this narrative Dermansky found the fine line between horror and comedy, which is very appealing to me as reader. I recommend this book for fans of “Vladimir” by Julia May Jonas and “Nightbitch” by Rachel Yoder.

Yes, yes, yes! Marcy Dermansky does it AGAIN. She writes the most succinct, fun books.
And this one is odd in the best kind of way.
Allison Brody relocates from the West to the East Coast, buys a house - which is quickly consumed by a hurricane., she meets a man, suffers a terrible trauma, and the rest of the story is one of healing and revenge.
SO GOOD!

Discussed on episode 153 of the Book Cougars podcast:
https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2022/episode153

This was… weird, and shocking, and horrifying, and… good? Throughout Hurricane Girl I kept thinking, “no, the author won’t go there,” and then she goes there. The whole book feels like a fever dream, so read it when you’re in the mood for something weird and you’ll probably enjoy it.

Chaotic, unique, and unexpectedly good with a bit of (light) horror. Simplistic writing done well in this one and that ending was so well done.

2022 is definitely the year of the weird, off kilter, slightly absurd woman book and I’m absolutely obsessed.

This book follows Allison, a thirty something woman who has just bought her dream beach house on the coast after fleeing from her abusive movie producer ex boyfriend. Throughout the story a whole lot of chaos ensues and this begins very quickly when a category 3 hurricane destroys her new home and leaves Allison adrift, leading her to go home with a strange cameraman from a local news station.

Things quickly take a turn again when he smashes a glass vase over her head and Allison is left bleeding and must find her way out and back to her mothers home for help.

From there this book turns into a really gripping exploration of trauma and it’s after effects as we watch the main character come to terms with her situation and adjust to life after brain surgery. I absolutely loved Allison’s character and watching her make all of these strange, at times frustrating, decisions as she makes her way through her own kind of horror movie.

Throughout there are also all of these slightly strange moments including Allison believing she is pregnant with a baby called Phoebe, her obsession with swimming and swimming pools, dreams of her attackers cats, turkey sandwiches etc which kind of bring elements of light heartedness and comedy.

4/5 ⭐️, at no point did I know what Allison was going to do next and I really liked how it ended. I can’t wait to read more of Marcy’s books!