Ootlin | 
pickBrutal. Upsetting. Anger-inducing.
Yes, clearly, it‘s an incredible difficult read, as the author grows up in the Scottish care system. It is beautifully lyrical in places but, maybe because of this dichotomy between the beauty and the horror, I felt a weird disconnect from the writing, like I was skimming the surface. Or maybe the author is distanced from her experience for her own safety / sanity. I‘d be interested to hear what others think.
squirrelbrain It‘s still a pick, though, as it‘s necessary to put ourselves through our own (minor) discomfort to read such important books. 3d
TrishB I watched the author talking about this with Samantha Morton, they both had harrowing stories 😢 3d
ChaoticMissAdventures This one has been hard to get my hands on in the US. Might have to order it from Blackwells when the fiction list drops... Glad to hear you got something out of it even if the topic is hard. 3d
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Lindy Glad to see your review. I enjoyed Fagan‘s Panopticon and Luckenbooth, so I immediately wanted to read her memoir when I saw it on the Women‘s Prize Nonfiction list. Hopefully it will be released in North America soon. 3d
Hooked_on_books It‘s always interesting with books relating harrowing experiences. Different styles of approaching it work for different people. I usually avoid books related to childhood abuse, but I think this one might be a bit of a variation on that, so I‘ll give it a try. I‘m sure it‘ll infuriate me regardless. 2d
youneverarrived I‘m going to listen to this when I‘ve finished A Thousand Threads. Did you do print or audio? 2d
squirrelbrain @TrishB - Samantha Morton had a terrible childhood too. 😞 2d
squirrelbrain I hope you can both get hold of it soon. 🤞@ChaoticMissAdventures @Lindy 2d
squirrelbrain @Hooked_on_books - only read it if you can get hold of it relatively easily - I wouldn‘t buy it, if I was you. 2d
squirrelbrain @youneverarrived - I read it in print. I think it might work better on audio as it‘s quite ‘stream of consciousness‘ which I prefer listening to rather than reading. 2d
Hooked_on_books But what about being a completist?! 2d
squirrelbrain Ah, yes, there is that! @Hooked_on_books Even though you‘re probably not going to read any of the NF list this year. (Me neither.) 🤪 2d
Hooked_on_books Now, I never said I wasn‘t going to read any of the list. Silly Helen. I just wasn‘t going to go full bore into it (she says after nearing completion of the 4th book and having 6 more available to start reading with designs on the rest). 😬 2d
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