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A review by hernamewaslily
Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett
3.0
An experimental text that blends fiction, memoir, and essay, Claire-Louise Bennett’s ‘Checkout-19’ is not going to be for everyone. In the simplest terms, it is a coming-of-age story that follows the narrator as she discovers her love her literature and writing, and how this goes on to affect her life from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. Bennett covers topics ranging from childhood crushes on teachers and periods to uneasy sexual relationships and what it means to be a working-class woman in bourgeois circles, all of which are dealt with in a refreshingly personal and relatable way.
Some parts of the novel were dense and hard to get through. This was not helped by the intentional repetition that Bennett employs whereby some elements of the story reoccur at various points in the text. However, as the narrator states, “I experience, every few years, an urge to recall this moment and the events that preceded it. Not only to recall it, but to write it down, again. Again”, thus this repetition is a purposeful literary tool that reinforces the text’s meta-commentary on the function of writing and literature.
An intelligent, insightful piece of work that delves into the female psyche through a study of literature and writing.
Some parts of the novel were dense and hard to get through. This was not helped by the intentional repetition that Bennett employs whereby some elements of the story reoccur at various points in the text. However, as the narrator states, “I experience, every few years, an urge to recall this moment and the events that preceded it. Not only to recall it, but to write it down, again. Again”, thus this repetition is a purposeful literary tool that reinforces the text’s meta-commentary on the function of writing and literature.
An intelligent, insightful piece of work that delves into the female psyche through a study of literature and writing.