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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
A Flat Place is a very moving meditative memoir in which the author explores two seemingly disparate subjects - complex post-traumatic stress disorder and flat landscapes like Morecambe Bay and Orford Ness. Intertwined throughout is her experiences of racism and post-colonialism as the daughter of a Pakistani father and Scottish mother, as someone who was raised in Pakistan but had to leave for Britain when she was 15. This is a very subtle book. What’s important about her childhood isn’t so much what happened (and there is so much she can’t remember) - although some details like being forced to watch her father perform heart surgery on her grandfather on their kitchen table when she was just 11 had my jaw hitting the floor - but the way lack of space, lack of quiet, and most especially the constant tension and fear of emotional abuse made her feel her. The connections between the childhood trauma that she is still reckoning with and her love of flat places, the space and freedom she finds there soon became clear. The nature writing was evocative and had me Googling images so I could picture and come to appreciate these undervalued landscapes. But I also appreciated the quiet and understated way she tried to come to terms with her childhood, the person she had become and the way she moved through the world as a result.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Colonisation and Racism
kirstym25's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism and Colonisation
rani's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Colonisation, and War
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