Welcome to Litsy!

I don't know what to say about this book. I've read five women's prize winners now and enjoyed them all, this is the first one that's disappointed me.

Or is it me?

This is described as a uncomfortable stream of consciousness but it feels like a word dump to me. Words at random dumped on a page and it didn't matter how much I concentrated, I had no idea what I was reading or what was going on.

It's a one star from me unfortunately.

Amazing skill! I admire the poetry and structure of this award winning novel. The story is relentlessly brutal. 3 🌟

I stopped reading after ten pages because of it's sentence structure. A stream of consciousness novel that reads more like poetry. I didn't want to invest the requisite mental effort!

It took me time to find the voice in this book in which we enter the head of an Irish girl from childhood to age 20. Growing up with a br's brain tumour, a mammy who turns away from her to religion, + sexual exploitation by an uncle, she finds sex to cope. Traumatic, complicated, and heartbreaking this is a tale that rewards the time it takes to listen to a child's painful cry. There is so much incredible irish fiction by women to rd just now.

Brilliant lecture by Eimear Mcbride on why the novel matters. She read on both of her audiobooks, I am now going to buy them as she was a fab speaker!

I'm not entirely sure what I just read, and I have no idea how to rate it. It is literally hard to read - it's described as stream of consciousness but from a broken mind. I might have enjoyed that for a couple of pages, but it's the whole book and it's tiring. I think I may have missed what was happening in a lot of parts and I felt dumb for not 'getting it'. The content is also brutal & heartbreaking.

Definitely need something lighthearted now!

My 5-star reads this month: a Japanese novel by a Nobel-prizewinner, 2 middle-grade audiobooks, everything about falcons, 2 wordless picture books, a comics biography, a sentient robot‘s diary, a historical novel in verse, a writer‘s memoir, fantasy space opera in comics, sad Irish stream-of-consciousness, funny British stream-of-consciousness, food safety history, and a manga by a Nigerian woman about a gay hockey player. I like variety!

Absolutely brilliant and utterly tragic. I tried reading this in paper format when it first came out, but I wasn‘t in the right head space at the time. #Audiobook was definitely the right choice for me, with the Irish author performing her own stream-of-consciousness narrative. No names. No holds barred. Poetic. Gritty. Transcendent.

"Love. Or love waiting for a man to come and take her place. But how would someone fit, I don't know, in between us two."

"And I will not think of your feelings anymore. For it's a bit too much to know."

What a harshness and misery in this book, filled with religion and abuse. Set in a stream-of-conscience style, a girl who only cares for her brother, uses sex for an escape because she thinks she‘s not worthy of love. So much sadness, so much violence. It is written well but I‘d say don‘t read it if you don‘t have to, it‘s one of the most depressing books I‘ve ever read. #1001books

I just couldn‘t connect with this ambitious debut novel. The disjointed, stream of conscious language combined with a brutally dismal plot was too much for me.

Giving this a try but finding the writing style difficult. Anyone else read this?

#bookhaul Recently there has been an update in the list of #1001books to read before you die. These are the newly added ones that I hadn‘t read yet. I couldn‘t resist buying them all #sorrynotsorry 😉.
Any recommendations on where I should start?

Wow. That was very dark, very sad, but also, somehow, beautiful. This is another of those books that is billed a “novel” but is really more of a long, strange poem. It‘s a format that really works for me, but I see why some don‘t care for it.
It definitely isn‘t the most accessible book. In the beginning I was confused and adrift, but once I caught the current I was completely immersed and couldn‘t stop listening. 👇🏽

Book mail! Finished Freshwater last night and was wondering what to start next. Looking forward to digging in ;)

Once you get to grips with the writing style it was a very gripping book. The emotional turns you go through of sadness for the character due to the lack of compassion and love in her life from the people who should be there to support her. It really does give an insight in to how important parental guidance and love is from a young age and aftermath of not receiving it.

"But suddenly it's clawing all over me. Like flesh. Terror. Vast and alive. I think I know it. Something terrible is. The world's about to. The world's about to. Tip. No it isn't. Ha. Don't be silly. Stupid. Fine. Fine. Everything will be. Fine. Chew it lurks me. See and smell. In the corner of my eye. What? Something not so good." pg 120

This book was intense. It‘s difficult to adjust to the stream of existence style, with no names and erratic punctuation, but if you let go of trying to understand every sentence and let it wash over you it becomes this swell of raw emotion and experience that‘s compelling. Her relationships with her mother, brother and uncle are twisted by religion, control and dependence, whilst the narrator seems chillingly unaware of the abuse she suffers 😢

“They pray to God and pray and pray for God‘s sake to be saved.” p25

1. Reading, library & meal and drinks out with the other half 🍻
2. 4‘11” (hope I don‘t start shrinking when I‘m older 😆)
3. In this house nearly 2 year and in the city 8 year
4. Tagged book, Euphoria, The Beggar King & Books vs. Cigarettes
5. Whenever me and my Mam meet up we always have a selfie 😀

#friyayintro

1. Walking & housework, sometimes in bed before I go to sleep
2. Audible
3. Original pace generally
4. I haven‘t listened to enough to have any but I always listen to a sample before deciding on a book and I‘m pretty fussy about which ones I‘ll be able to listen to
5. I absolutely loved Born a Crime! & the tagged book I‘ve just recently started and it‘s so good - the author narrates it and she‘s great & the writing is 🙌

#audiobookinquiry

This book broke my heart in a million different ways and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I love when writers dare to explore the limits of language and thought and what Eimear McBride does here is fantastic, beautifully written, and an interesting exploration of the violence millions of women grow up with. It‘s such an amazing book, and I‘ve gone over it a couple more times to get the feel of the words.

Now THIS is a debut! And my first 5 ⭐️ book of 2018.
McBride makes the reader be this girl, by going deep in her head, to feel her confusion & anger & fear. She makes them ask the questions the protagonist must be asking. It‘s hard work, but the answers - or, some answers - are there. What you find for this girl is probably what you‘d find for yourself when facing death, mortality, illness.
Such heavy things carried by such a slim book.
Bravo.

Bailed at the 20% mark. The grammar-free fragmented prose—which was somewhat effective as the voice of a narrator who‘s a wee tot—became pointless, gimmicky, and irritating when it continued unaltered into her adolescence.

I ❤️ McNally Jackson. New finds; books that I‘ve never heard before. I struggle to keep my purchases minimal.

I had to bail on this. It is written as a stream of consciousness, starting when the main character is a very young girl and I just couldn‘t do it. I might have got used to the writing style if I‘d given it more time, but given that I understand the book covers some quite brutal things, I wasn‘t sure I could give it the attention it needed.

Not an easy read or the the faint of heart. Beautifully written and filled with tragedy this novel of experimental fiction is well worth the time. I can't recommend it enough and I will never read it again. 😁

Save ten dollars on Eimear McBride ☺️

While I found the stream of consciousness narrative challenging, it conveys the confusion, the struggle, & terror better than coherent paragraphs. The novel is not one I'd recommend lightly or for everyone as it deals with some serious subject matter namely the abuse of the unnamed narrator and her attempt to cope. Due to it's seriousness, not the most enjoyable read but well worth the investment of time, energy, and emotional rawness.

May need a coffee refill to tackle some tough morning reading. I'm finding this book difficult on multiple levels - stream of consciousness narrative, intense subject matter - but still early and I have hopes for it.

Just arrived: the beautiful booksleeve from @bookgogo 😍Perfect!
Thank you for the extra goodies 😘😘😘

Waiting for my friend to show up like...

(This is why the book life is the best life.)

Having a bit of trouble concentrating on one book at the moment. I had a massive binge read last month and long days recently. I'm putting it down to the long days.

Only posting about it so that I have a fresh chance to tell you this book is utterly awful in every way. Don't waste your time. It's written in garbled up "prose" and is just sick and disturbing. I'm not a fan of sexual assault, especially of a child, and people for whatever reason don't feel the need to tell you right off the bat that abuse of all kinds is the *entire theme* of this book. It's gross and upsetting. #girlinthetitle #readjanuary

After seeing @Simona post about book subscriptions I thought I'd share what my local bookshop is offering. How amazing are these options? Indie press box, women writers and fiction in translation. I literally can't choose. The book hive in Norwich is amazing and I don't go in very often as it is too dangerous for me. Check them out here http://www.thebookhive.co.uk
#independantbookshops

Looooooong day, but starting this tonight. I love Galley Beggar Press' covers. Beauty in simplicity.

This book was interesting. The author used stream of consciousness to show how the main character's mind worked. This, and a bit of Irish slang, made for a difficult read. Some of the action was a bit difficult as well. I picked this up on Nook for a couple of bucks, so keep an eye out for it. I am glad I read it, but I definitely do not want to read it again.

Just started this book on the way home from the gym. It is going to take some concentration to get through the language. I wonder if I had children it would be easier to understand.

#Booktober Day 15 - Award-Winning

These five books were all previous winners of the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction/Women's Prize for Fiction/Orange Prize for Fiction/Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction - given to a female author, of any nationality, for the best original, English-written novel published in the UK in the previous year.

#femaleauthors #baileysprize #awardwinning

I hated this, possibly more than I've ever hated any book. Very depressing, difficult to read in so many ways. Here's a pic of Simon, who also looks traumatized, contemplating life and stuff after supporting me through the chore of this book. Btw, I feel like the whole cover should be trigger warning: sexual assault.

Not my cup of tea so far, but I'm going to stick with it and see where it goes. Definitely going to pick something much lighter for my next read. This story revolves around a theme of a dark and disturbing sexual nature, and I'm finding it difficult to read due to that, and the choppy, stream-of-consciousness freestyle prose. Even my sweet pup is depressed. He stuck out his back leg & kicked my Kindle... #petsoflitsy

Wow, this book is weird. I *think* I'm following it so far...

(please excuse the little "beauty mark" on my kindle haha)

My choice for 👍 debut novel. Stream-of-consciousness writing style. Not unlike reading an entire novel written by e e cummings. BUT WELL WORTH IT!! The book cover illustration looks like how my brain felt while reading it. ❤️ #booktober

#slowreading

McBride's style is probably not for everyone. Very experimental. But when it works, it's like being in the character's head and filled with raw emotion. Exposed in emotion and action, from birth to young adulthood, snapshots of life pass through. This is the second book of hers I have read and although the cadence is not super easy to slip into, it can be a visceral experience.

The prose style feels deliberately antagonistic toward the reader and that's just one of those things I can't stomach in big doses. 14 pages in and I wanted to hurl it through the window and into the thunderstorm outside.