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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
As a memoir, this is very frank and really captures the way we perceive events as a child very well. I would give a warning for very heavy subject matter, especially child abuse.
I don't feel like the framing around Margaret Thatcher was done overly effectively. Each chapter opens with a quotation from her and she is mentioned from time to time, but the closing rally of how she inspired the author to keep pushing through tough times and the way he refers to her as his second mum felt very odd to me. I'm not denying that experience to be true, it just didn't seem to br weaved through the rest of the narrative in a way that made me see her influence on his life! That said, you do get to see the way her government policies directly impacted the lives in and community of this Scottish town, and really the country as a whole, which was very effective.
I don't feel like the framing around Margaret Thatcher was done overly effectively. Each chapter opens with a quotation from her and she is mentioned from time to time, but the closing rally of how she inspired the author to keep pushing through tough times and the way he refers to her as his second mum felt very odd to me. I'm not denying that experience to be true, it just didn't seem to br weaved through the rest of the narrative in a way that made me see her influence on his life! That said, you do get to see the way her government policies directly impacted the lives in and community of this Scottish town, and really the country as a whole, which was very effective.
A stark and evocative autobiography. The present tense first person narration puts you right into the scene, helped along massively by the decision to have scenes unclouded by the perspective of age; you really feel like you are watching the child experience all of these horrible moments, without the full language to explain it.
As others have mentioned, I don’t think the Thatcher framing really works, and the quotes at the start of each chapter feel forced.
As others have mentioned, I don’t think the Thatcher framing really works, and the quotes at the start of each chapter feel forced.
A fantastic read! Shocking, sad, heart-warming, beautifully written. A real insight into his life. Set against the backdrop of the thatcher years, which fits perfectly with the prose. Highly recommended.
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Mental illness
This memoir was really readable: heartbreaking, funny and heartbreakingly funny. I appreciated seeing Britain at a time I know little about, through the eyes of a boy and a family truly affected by the times in which they lived.
What didn't work for me was that the narrative structure didn't seem terribly strong or purposeful... After spending a lot of time in the author's youth at a relatively young age, we skip through to adulthood without much of a pause and suddenly end up in the present. As soon as we hear about the attempted Thatcher assassination, our time with teenage Barr abruptly ends and the whole feel of the book changes. I would have liked for the book to be longer and cover the parts of his life that are missing from the memoir, from university to eventually settling down in Brighton. The aforementioned links between the memoir and Thatcher didn't work for me, either. The idea felt rather forced, with the Thatcher quotes at the beginning of chapters not relating too much with the contents of chapters that follow them.
There were elements of this I really enjoyed and I loved hearing about events from Barr's perspective when he was a young child, but it didn't hang together well enough for me, unfortunately.
What didn't work for me was that the narrative structure didn't seem terribly strong or purposeful... After spending a lot of time in the author's youth at a relatively young age, we skip through to adulthood without much of a pause and suddenly end up in the present. As soon as we hear about the attempted Thatcher assassination, our time with teenage Barr abruptly ends and the whole feel of the book changes. I would have liked for the book to be longer and cover the parts of his life that are missing from the memoir, from university to eventually settling down in Brighton. The aforementioned links between the memoir and Thatcher didn't work for me, either. The idea felt rather forced, with the Thatcher quotes at the beginning of chapters not relating too much with the contents of chapters that follow them.
There were elements of this I really enjoyed and I loved hearing about events from Barr's perspective when he was a young child, but it didn't hang together well enough for me, unfortunately.
An excellent memoir of growing up gay in an abusive home in Motherwell in the time of Maggie Thatcher and yet somehow surviving. The inclusion of Maggie is interesting. On the one hand Damian Barr despises her, her removing of even the smallest things that might help the poor - she earned the name Milk Snatcher for stopping free milk in all schools, for the strikes that hurt so many in her years as PM, including his father, and her attitude towards homosexuals. On the other he has a sneaking admiration for her, for her work ethic, her advice to get out, and her making it in a world where she is also different. There weren't many female politicians in the 1980s and even less woman Prime Ministers. It's also all incredibly familiar to anyone who was in the UK at that time, even if it was south of the border.
This was an honest & well written account of the author’s childhood and adolescence in rough council estate areas in Lanarkshire. Although he is a decade or so older than me, having been brought up in a Scottish council estate myself I could resonate with at least some of the estate & school content. This book also detailed a fair amount of domestic abuse, but was written in such a way that these encounters were almost flippant, and perhaps the author didn’t recognise what he was experiencing as abuse until he was a bit older. It also detailed his experience of recognising he was gay at a fairly young age and how relationships with his peers shaped his thoughts and choices in relation to his homosexuality.
The Maggie Thatcher parallel was a good idea but I feel that the author could have pulled it together a bit more coherently with his own personal story.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would give it 3.5 stars. I would certainly be interested to read more from the author - I think he has also written some fiction novels - and will keep an eye out for his name in the future.
The Maggie Thatcher parallel was a good idea but I feel that the author could have pulled it together a bit more coherently with his own personal story.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would give it 3.5 stars. I would certainly be interested to read more from the author - I think he has also written some fiction novels - and will keep an eye out for his name in the future.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Just so beautifully written.
emotional
funny
sad
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Violence
anything to do with thatcher and her relationship with the LGBTQ+ community is an immediate interest to me; and unfortunely this book wasn't what i wanted. don't get me wrong, this is a beautifully written memoir confronting the drudgery of living in thatcher-era scotland, but sometimes i felt the prose was a bit too purple and found certain sections difficult to understand. I also struggled with the pacing: time jumps seemed rapid and almost random - i understood the linking themes but the overall product was, to me, subpar.