I Will Crash
Rosa learns that her estranged older brother has died in a car crash, and over the five days that follow she reconstructs the years of bullying, gaslighting, and controlling violence he ran on her from childhood, including the day he threatened to crash a car with her in it unless she gave him her best friend's phone number. Rebecca Watson writes the entire novel in a hallucinatory close-third with split columns, indented memory shards, and unconventional spacing that turns the page itself into part of the trauma. I Will Crash is Watson's second novel, a follow-up to little scratch, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Dylan Thomas Prize.
What you might want to know about I Will Crash
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A young woman reconstructs years of sibling abuse across the five days after her estranged brother's fatal car crash in a 2024 formally inventive British literary novel.
I Will Crash was written by Rebecca Watson and published in 2024. Watson is a London-based novelist whose debut Little Scratch experimented with similar fragmented typography.
Yes. I Will Crash uses experimental typography, with text scattered across pages to mirror grief and dissociation. The form is intentional and rewards attention to layout, but takes adjustment.
I Will Crash is 304 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, I Will Crash takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
I Will Crash is a standalone novel by Rebecca Watson, not part of a series.
I Will Crash is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.