Car Crash: A Memoir

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What is it like to survive a crash that kills your best friends, and how do you move on Car Crash is a stunning memoir about grief, perseverance and courage. 'Scarifying and unforgettable ... A brave and unsettling account.' -Tim Winton 'Car Crash is a phenomenal book. Beautiful and dark and compelling.' -Rick Morton At seventeen, Lech Blaine walked away unharmed from a car crash that killed three of his friends and left two in comas. On a May night in 2009, seven boys in Toowoomba, Queensland, piled into a car. They never arrived at their destination. The driver made a routine error, leading to a head-on collision. In the aftermath, rumours about speed and drink driving erupted. There was intense scrutiny from media and police. Lech used alcohol to numb his grief and social media to show stoicism, while secretly spiralling towards depression and disgrace. This is a riveting account of family, friendship, grief and love after tragedy. In a country where class and sport dominate, and car crashes compete with floods and pandemics for headlines, our connection with others is what propels us on. Heartbreaking and darkly hilarious, Car Crash is a story for our times. 'One of the best writers of his generation' -Benjamin Law 'This book is for everyone - it truly captures something of "modern Australia" in a tenderly told story of one young man's tumultuous coming-of-age.' -Bri Lee

Author Bio

Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essay Top Blokes. His writing has appeared in The Monthly, Guardian Australia, The Best Australian Essays, Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings and Meanjin. He was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review Queensland Writing Fellowship and is the Charles Perkins Centre 2023 Writer in Residence.