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Ootlin
Ootlin | Jenni Fagan
4 posts | 4 read | 1 to read
'Beautiful, deep, transfixing . . . it will burn a home in your heart' LEMN SISSAY 'Essential reading, life-changing' SAMANTHA MORTON 'An astonishing piece of work' NIALL GRIFFITHS The government told a story about me before I was born. Jenni Fagan was property of the state before birth. She drew her first breath in care and by the age of seven, she had lived in fourteen different homes and had her name changed multiple times. Twenty years after her first attempt to write this powerful memoir, Jenni is finally ready to share her account. Ootlin is a journey through the broken UK care system - it is one of displacement and exclusion, but also of the power of storytelling. It is about the very human act of making meaning from adversity.
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youneverarrived
Ootlin | Jenni Fagan
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This was such a sad book - so much more should have been done for Jenni, questions asked, support given. I listened to it and the narrator did a brilliant job of portraying the sadness but obvious childlike feelings of Jennis early years and then the anger and disillusionment that comes with her teen years. Amazing that she‘s been able to tell her story 🩷 #wpnf25

squirrelbrain Great review! 4d
andrew61 Great review. I was aware of this book and plan to read. Her novel The Panopticon was a tough read about the care system so must have been based on her life experiences.i also loved Luckenbooth. 4d
youneverarrived @squirrelbrain thanks Helen. It‘s not a book I‘d normally gravitate towards but that‘s what I like about reading this prize list. 2d
youneverarrived @andrew61 ah wow I didn‘t realise she had written fiction too - although her love for stories and writing is seen in this book. I‘ll have to take a look at them. 2d
43 likes4 comments
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charl08
Ootlin | Jenni Fagan

Running at full pelt across the farm field then climbing up onto the top of a hay bale. I feel strong and invincible and like the sky is blue because it loves me. When I get home I am going to read a book under my covers by glow-worm. The library van stops outside our caravan once a week. It is loaning me everything it has to read and the librarian is always so nice to me. I have found a way to escape my world every night.

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squirrelbrain
Ootlin | Jenni Fagan
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Brutal. 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. 1mo
TrishB I watched the author talking about this with Samantha Morton, they both had harrowing stories 😢 1mo
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. 1mo
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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. 1mo
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. 1mo
youneverarrived I‘m going to listen to this when I‘ve finished A Thousand Threads. Did you do print or audio? 1mo
squirrelbrain @TrishB - Samantha Morton had a terrible childhood too. 😞 1mo
squirrelbrain I hope you can both get hold of it soon. 🤞@ChaoticMissAdventures @Lindy 1mo
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. 1mo
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. 1mo
Hooked_on_books But what about being a completist?! 1mo
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.) 🤪 1mo
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). 😬 1mo
charl08 Just picked this up. Harrowing stuff. 2w
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Twocougs
Ootlin | Jenni Fagan
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So this book was suppose to come out last year and for some reason it never did. Rumor has it that it will later this year. I knew a few had to be out there and they finally found a copy. Wow 🤯, what a heartbreaking story. Jenny was the in the care system in Scotland for 16 years, with multiple name changes, abuse, moves, etc. and somehow she survived to become an artist, poet, and writer. It‘s a story of hope, even when it looks bleak.