Cirrus@Austlit

'In Mark Brandi’s new novel The Rip, a homeless, young, female drug addict says to the reader: “I don’t think I could ever make you understand what it’s like for me, unless you could be me for a minute.” Of course, this is precisely the kind of sympathetic identification the novel encourages. It invites the reader to witness this character’s life for the duration of its story, using first-person point of view and a direct form of address that cleverly intensifies the illusion of conspiratorial intimacy.' (Introduction)