Crazy Enough A Memoir

2013 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction

“Like some twisted love child of Mae West and Keith Richards, Storm Large is a force of nature. Her ballsy, heartbreaking, hysterical, tour de force of a memoir is not to be missed. Crazy Enough is vulgar and fragile, tragic and empowering, and like Storm, it is always entertaining” (Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Heartsick and The Night Season).

Storm spent most of her childhood visiting her mother in mental institutions and psych wards. One day, nine-year-old Storm jokingly asked one of her mother’s doctors, “I’m not going to be crazy like that, right?” To which he replied, “Well, yes. It’s hereditary. You absolutely will end up like your mother. But not until your twenties.”

Desperate to delay the lonely sickness and sadness that haunted her mother, Storm stomped her size-twelve boots straight toward as much sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll as she could find. She sprinted through her young life, trying to stave off the madness she feared would catch up to her at any moment. Instead, she found herself deep in a life of craziness of her own making.

Then, in her twenties, with nothing to live for and a growing heroin addiction, Storm accepted a chance invitation to sing with a friend’s band. That night she reconnected with her long-term love of music, and it dragged her back from the edge. She has been singing and slinging inappropriate banter at audiences worldwide ever since.

With tremendous honesty and tremendously dirty language, Crazy Enough is about an artist’s journey of realizing that the mistakes that make, break, and remake us are worth far more than our flailing attempts to live a life we think is “normal.”

"Storm Large is an irresistibly rambunctious force of nature. Crazy Enough is shattering, gorgeous and uproarious fun." Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love

"Storm Large has written a bodacious book, buy it, now!" Gus Van Sant

“Like some twisted love child of Mae West and Keith Richards, Storm Large is a force of nature. Her ballsy, heartbreaking, hysterical tour de force of a memoir is not to be missed. Crazy Enough is vulgar and fragile, tragic and empowering, and like Storm, it is always entertaining.” Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Heartsick and The Night Season

"With cleverness and honesty, she transforms a story that in most hands would be maudlin into yet another funny, passionate, and irreverently jarring adventure." Portland Monthly

"Best recognized as a contender on Rock Star: Supernova, Large has the heart of a true exhibitionist...this project marks her first literary foray, and her memoir pulls no punches. A no-holds-barred coming-of-age story replete with mental illness, drugs and sex." Kirkus Reviews

"We're in complete awe of the blunt, surprisingly memoir...told in honest, poignant prose... [Large shows] all of us how to let go — not without fear and doubt, but with it." O magazine

"Storm Large performs with world-class symphonies and hard core rock bands...and she's written a book worthy of both audiences. If good writing is about taking chances and pushing readers to the edge, then this is a chart buster...as she takes us on a wild and sometimes painful ride into her world of crazy." Larry Colton, author of Goat Brothers, Counting Coup and No Ordinary Joes

"A memoir that reads like an in-your-face mashup of Augusten Burroughs and Chelsea Handler, combining raw humor and an understandable bitterness with more than than a few oversexed anecdotes. Though not for the faint of heart, Crazy Enough proves to be a readable account of one woman's descent into madness — and back out again." Shelf Awareness

"Frank, funny, and caustically un-self-pitying" Publisher's Weekly

"It's too bad that readers can't have her actually in their lives and feel the true force of Storm, but her book is so true to who she is that it is still a powerful, funny, and outrageous experience. Plus, you won't have to deal with all of those strange sounds and dirty sheets." Dan Stern, actor, director, writer

"A helluva compelling story." --Elle

"Storm Large is a force of nature. Her ballsy, heartbreaking, hysterical, tour de force of a memoir is not to be missed." --Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author

"Edgy, gritty, and fearless." --The Portland Observer

Yes, Storm Large is her real name, though she's been called many things. As a performer, the majority of descriptions have led with "Amazon," "powerhouse," "a six-foot Vargas pinup come to life." Playboy called her a "punk goddess." You'd never know she used to be called "Little S"--the mini-me to her beautiful and troubled mother, Suzi.

Little S spent most of her childhood visiting her mother in mental institutions and psych wards. Suzi's diagnosis changed with almost every doctor's visit, ranging from schizophrenia to bipolar disorder to multiple personality disorder to depression. One day, nine-year-old Little S jokingly asked one of her mother's doctors, "I'm not going to be crazy like that, right?" To which he replied, "Well, yes. It's hereditary. You absolutely will end up like your mother. But not until your twenties."

Storm's story of growing up with a mental time bomb hanging over her veers from frightening to inspiring, sometimes all in one sentence. But her strength, charisma, and raw musical talent gave her the will to overcome it all. Crazy Enough is "a memoir that reads like an in-your-face mashup of Augusten Burroughs and Chelsea Handler" (Shelf Awareness) and a love song to the twisted, flawed parts in all of us.

"A helluva compelling story." --Elle "Storm Large is a force of nature. Her ballsy, heartbreaking, hysterical, tour de force of a memoir is not to be missed." --Chelsea Cain, New York Times bestselling author "Edgy, gritty, and fearless." --The Portland ObserverYes, Storm Large is her real name, though she's been called many things. As a performer, the majority of descriptions have led with "Amazon," "powerhouse," "a six-foot Vargas pinup come to life." Playboy called her a "punk goddess." You'd never know she used to be called "Little S"--the mini-me to her beautiful and troubled mother, Suzi. Little S spent most of her childhood visiting her mother in mental institutions and psych wards. Suzi's diagnosis changed with almost every doctor's visit, ranging from schizophrenia to bipolar disorder to multiple personality disorder to depression. One day, nine-year-old Little S jokingly asked one of her mother's doctors, "I'm not going to be crazy like that, right?" To which he replied, "Well, yes. It's hereditary. You absolutely will end up like your mother. But not until your twenties." Storm's story of growing up with a mental time bomb hanging over her veers from frightening to inspiring, sometimes all in one sentence. But her strength, charisma, and raw musical talent gave her the will to overcome it all. Crazy Enough is "a memoir that reads like an in-your-face mashup of Augusten Burroughs and Chelsea Handler" (Shelf Awareness) and a love song to the twisted, flawed parts in all of us.

Yes, Storm Large is her real name, though she's been called many things. As a performer, the majority of descriptions have led with “Amazon,” “powerhouse,” “a six-foot Vargas pinup come to life.” Playboy called her a “punk goddess.” You'd never know she used to be called “Little S” — the mini-me to her beautiful and troubled mother, Suzi.

Little S spent most of her childhood visiting her mother in mental institutions and psych wards. Suzi's diagnosis changed with almost every doctors visit, ranging from schizophrenia to bipolar disorder to multiple personality disorder to depression. One day, nine-year-old Little S jokingly asked one of her mother's doctors, “I'm not going to be crazy like that, right?” To which he replied, “Well, yes. It's hereditary. You absolutely will end up like your mother. But not until your twenties.”

Storm's story of growing up with a mental time bomb hanging over her veers from frightening to inspiring, sometimes all in one sentence. But her strength, charisma, and raw musical talent gave her the will to overcome it all. Crazy Enough is a love song to the twisted, flawed parts in all of us.

Storm Large is a singer-songwriter best known as a contestant on the reality television show Rock Star: Supernova. Her acclaimed one-woman show, Crazy Enough, has appeared in the UK and Australia and is heading to off-Broadway in New York City.