Welcome to Litsy!

And it's wrap time. March wrap courtesy of StoryGraph.

Edgar says I am not journaling right now about the best book I've read so far this year. I've read several books (both fiction and nonfiction) by Sarah Moss, and damn, can she write! This was definitely her most vulnerable, and if you choose to read, proceed with caution. It's a hard subject, but she handles in well. She's sharp, intense, and brutally honest even questioning her own unreliability as a narrator of her own story.

“You need a reverse ghost here, a present voice to haunt the past.“

“Always distrust adverbs.“

I love Moss‘s books and her writing style and this memoir explores many of the themes that come out in her fiction.
Hard to say you loved a book that‘s so full of trauma and self hate. I thought the narrative was so well done - as if keeping at arms length the horrible and harmful thoughts in her head.
I wish her all the best.

A steep learning curve.

Totally unexpected how dark this would get! I read this just knowing Sarah Moss as a British literary fiction author (I‘ve only read Ghost Wall but need to change that!) with no idea what this would be about. From an unhappy childhood with “the jumbly girl” and “the owl”, her parents, to lifelong mental struggles, this was dark but so worthwhile. She wrestles with her own thoughts throughout, “that‘s not how it happened you stupid girl!” More⬇️

Went to pick up my library hold and am having a very Lucky Day!

#waterstoneshalfpricebookhaul
As ordered on Christmas Day 😁

The first part of this is writer Sarah Moss‘s memoir of her abusive childhood, written as somewhere between a fever dream and verse, and revealing her initial entry into anorexia. Then she delves into the most harrowing account of anorexia in an adult I‘ve ever read. This is very well done, but a harrowing read.

This maps the intersection between a life built from books, feminism, disputed childhood neglect and female (self) control.
I have close, albeit second-hand, experience of a near fatal eating disorder so this was a tough listen throughout: be warned! (Also, briefly, for suicide ideation.) If you're a fan of her novels, I think you won't want to miss this. I found it compelling, for which credit must also go to narrator, Morven Christie.