Welcome to Litsy!

This is one of those slower books that examines the long-lasting trauma on one man. The main character is writing a letter to his daughter with whom he has not had a relationship most of her life. He is a former alcoholic and the letter is a telling of the story that led him to this place - he was a young man in the British Army stationed in Belfast during the troubles where an incident occurred. More in comments ⬇️

I‘d been waiting for this book to make it to my library since hearing it might be on the list for the Booker last year, and it was worth the wait. A truly beautiful telling of a story of a father coming to terms with his past while building a relationship with his daughter. I love that the book is written as though he is speaking to his daughter. ♥️

Stephen is an ex-soldier and recovering alcoholic who has just begun to build a relationship with his adult daughter, when a letter drops onto his mat. He has been summoned to speak to an inquiry about his time patrolling in Northern Ireland, and specifically about an incident that has caused his life to be the way that it is.

There is a lot of #bookerchatter around this, and I can see why. It‘s slow and sad, but beautiful in its own way.

Popped to the library today to pick up 4 books I had on reserve, and may have spotted 4 more too…. This adds to the 7 other books I borrowed last week…

They‘re mainly Booker Longlist potentials, with Our Wives Under The Sea being for #camplitsy and The Measure bing a complete #blameitoncindy @Cinfhen !

I‘ll start with the tagged as someone else already has it reserved so I can‘t renew.

In real life, rather than just the inside of head, Carville might have a cheerful southern accent, so that everything he says could be taken as the beginning of a good story and a funny one. Or he may even be an Englishman and sound like one of those rosy-cheeked Etonians who run our country now. When, by the way, will we get over wanting to tug our forelocks for those people? Is there something wrong with us?

I have failed in so much! I don't intend to fail in this, not for them...Why poke a stick in the nest? I was sent there, Maggie, and younger than you are now. That makes me a criminal? And what if you came to look at me like that? If one day you were to look at me as some of the people in that room in Belfast would look at me? Could I survive it?

At last, an easy question! I could not.

A bit of a day at work meets the library reservation button, and this is what happens...