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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
A fearless, raging howl of a book. Ecstatically foul-mouthed, and brutally raw.
When I read the reviews for this book, I knew that I was likely in for another painful experience. I was right.
This is Anais's story. Anais has been in care since her birth, and the result is about what you'd expect. She's been beaten, abused, raped. She's lost every person that has been important to her. She likes to make up stories about who she could have been, the family she could have had, if the world were different. It's not, so she does a lot of drugs. She knows far more about the ugly side of the world than any 15 year old should. She's the kind of character that feels so incredibly real that you can't help but be afraid for every child in the system.
This was a hard story to read. You know that bad things are going to happen. You just know it, deep in your bones. And they do. The second half of the book is a succession of things going wrong, until you just want to scream and run away. But you read on, because sometimes this kind of story needs to be told.
This is Anais's story. Anais has been in care since her birth, and the result is about what you'd expect. She's been beaten, abused, raped. She's lost every person that has been important to her. She likes to make up stories about who she could have been, the family she could have had, if the world were different. It's not, so she does a lot of drugs. She knows far more about the ugly side of the world than any 15 year old should. She's the kind of character that feels so incredibly real that you can't help but be afraid for every child in the system.
This was a hard story to read. You know that bad things are going to happen. You just know it, deep in your bones. And they do. The second half of the book is a succession of things going wrong, until you just want to scream and run away. But you read on, because sometimes this kind of story needs to be told.
This story is raw and sometimes hard to read, but once I got into it I was hooked. I found the main character, Anais, to be believable and sympathetic. This story of kids who are caught up in the system is heart-breaking but important.
Redundancy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing
I don't give many 4 star ratings. I reserve 5 for ought to be a classic if it's not already and 4 for just below that. This should tell you that I very much liked The Panopticon. It is a difficult book, covering themes of foster care, drug abuse, child abuse, sexual violence, prostitution, and suicide, sometimes almost at the same time. The language is disturbing, profane and with abundant Scottish slang and dialect. I didn't know "umnay" could be a word but I'm glad I discovered it. The heroine, Anais, is the product of foster care at its worst. Too many homes and too much loss have nearly destroyed her. She doesn't trust, fights often and uses drugs nearly daily. She may be psychotic too. And yet I became very attached to her and wanted so badly for her to succeed. I have worked with foster children and though the teens in the novel are more troubled than most, I found them believable--the right admixture of defended while remaining children at heart. The story dishes out moments that are deeply sad and others that are touching without being cloying. Don't read The Panopticon if you don't have a strong tolerance literature containing profanity, sex and violence against children. If you can manage the themes, this book comes highly recommended.
This book broke my heart again and again, but when it ended I felt even more sadness. Thus far, it's easily the best book I've read in 2014, and would probably beat out many of the books I read in 2013 as well.
A challenging read. The dialogue is written Scottish dialect, it took some reading aloud paired with careful attention to context to decipher some phrases. The other challenge is reading about the events of the narrator's life - brutal and sad.
The narrator, Anais, is an intriguing character with a very strong voice, she is easy to like, despite the poor choices she makes.
The narrator, Anais, is an intriguing character with a very strong voice, she is easy to like, despite the poor choices she makes.
I probably enjoy edgy, disturbing, stylistically-strange novels more than the average reader does, but this book just didn't do it for me. The narrative is dark, vulgar, and lacks any real sense of redemption for the protagonist.
TW: abuse, rape, drugs, alcohol, violence, sex, coerced sex work, self harm, hiv, murder, care for young people,
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This book blew my mind. One of the best ones I've read this year by far. Jenni Fagan is a poet. Be aware of the above trigger warnings before reading this book however, some themes are extremely strong. if you can, this book is a must read.
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This book blew my mind. One of the best ones I've read this year by far. Jenni Fagan is a poet. Be aware of the above trigger warnings before reading this book however, some themes are extremely strong. if you can, this book is a must read.