A bully is frustrated by important people in his life, and at the same time he feels superior to others and therefore has the right to traumatize them for his own stress relief. Thus, he takes out his pain on others. Crash illustrates how anger and entitlement blend together in the life of Crash Coogan.

As a small child, Crash gets his nickname when he greets a cousin at the door by barreling into her, football style, and knocking her backward into the snow. Crash enjoys digging holes in the front yard, pouring the dirt onto his mom’s pansies, and peeling bark off their trees.

These behaviors might sound cute or silly, if a bit vicious, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear they’re Crash’s ways of protesting the emotional neglect he suffers under his parents’ roof. His parents are ambitious and hard working—his dad runs a firm, and his mom sells real estate—and he feels fortunate to get any attention from them at all. He wants to invite his father to attend his first game as a football player, but his dad, working at home, is busy: “I figured I better not press my luck.