lucyrosecreates1's review
An incredibly raw and thoughtful feat of writing. Words cannot begin to even describe how much empathy is soaked into this book. So beautiful.
movable_typo's review
3.0
A very lyrical and visceral story about 10-year old Ellie, who lives with her working-class fisherman father in North Yorkshire, England during the 1980s, coping with living in a community that stigmatizes people who go against the grain. Ellie exists in identities that intersect with one another that people around her see as bright, red flags: born in a working class family where her classmates scorn her for not having television or pop culture references; her mother is in an asylum after a suicide attempt as a result of undisclosed mental illness; she is discriminated from her peers and adults for her Irish heritage in a politically-charged climate where the IRA is mentioned as an overhanging threat and tool for shame; and her being conceived out of wedlock has resulted in her mother being banished from her family home, and her parents being an atypical couple is something that permeates the atmosphere of her family home. Her differences are highlighted, othered, and all under an umbrella that's labeled as 'troubled.'
Ellie does not act out in school, instead just trying to get by quietly without pulling in attention from others. Despite that, her peers pick on her, deliberately misunderstand her, and her teacher participates in the bullying by calling to attention her failing grades and offbeat personality which reaffirms the class' overall disdain. Adults look at her in pity or fear while talking behind her back, and no one really does anything to pull her aside to reassure her feelings and thoughts other than saying 'if you want to talk, I'm here' without giving her reason to trust them. Everything in her world is implied and there are no clear answers that ground her to the world around her.
This would have been fine if the story gives something concrete for the reader to latch onto about the events that surround all the characters instead of just implication. For example, Ellie's mother Kate has a very weak narrative despite being whom both Ellie and her father revolve their unspoken anxieties around towards and whom is the focus of much of their community's stigma against them. I can think of only two occasions in which Kate actually has a point-of-view chapter dedicated to her- one about events surrounding the past, and one short one after treatment that is actually shared with Ellie's- but ultimately it doesn't seem like there was a lot of substance going into how she's not in an institution or back to living in a community and being in Ellie's life again. Instead she's treated as someone who threatens Ellie and her father's way of life when she's back in it, and is just one more burden for Ellie to worry about hiding from her classmates and school life, and it's a perception that goes unchallenged within the text. Her followup treatment is also very unclear that compounds the vagueness of Kate's illness and about her general well-being: is she okay after treatment? Is it working? Does she need to go to followup appointments? There is nothing in the story that suggests that people outside of her family are taking care of her, so it just seems she's perpetually helpless. In the book, Kate's role seems to be the mental illness bogeyman who haunts the family and community, has trauma inflicted on her, and can only react to things happening to her without any initiative on her part.
There are several point-of-view chapters that go into the nosier adults in Ellie's life, notably her next door neighbor who actually is involved in helping her family's life and May Fletcher, the mother of her only friend at schools, whose occupation is a social worker. They're supposed to be somewhat well-meaning people who upon self-reflection also know the negative effects in which a prejudiced and bigoted community has on vulnerable families due to their own personal traumas- for one, losing a child very early and not having any children, the other being a single parent- but ultimately prove to be judgmental women who put pressure on and is afraid of a weird ten-year old kid. There is actually one point-of-view chapter in May's perspective where she leads the reader to think that she's seeing that deep down the presumed stereotyping of Ellie Fleck's life and future, there is an understandable, functioning family that does their best to be free from violence and trauma. However, there is no followup to suggest that that is a thought worth investigating, and May's character carries on as the worried mother who thinks the troubled kid at school will lead her son down the wrong path at ten years old.
The characters who work within institutions are predictably portrayed as neglectful at best and physically abusive at worse, while in between they are either nondescript people in uniforms who carry out their tasks that reinforces the main family's perception of their community being like a prison. The asylum staff don't seem to actually be the worst people despite being part of Kate's daily life within their walls and whom Ellie does not feel wholly comfortable with. I say they are not the worst people because the ones at Ellie's school are definitely the worst. She is bullied by her teacher and who gives ammunition for the bullies at her school to keep on tormenting her. The faculty, after seeing Ellie physically abused by her teacher towards the end of the book, chooses instead to sweep the incident under the rug and hope that Ellie keep trucking along in the same homeroom class.
The only people who are supportive and kind to Ellie are her father and her friend Robin Fleck. Robin is consistently good to Ellie as he actively defends her and sees the injustice of their teacher picking on Ellie, and who picks up on his mother's unresolved fear and trepidation of her. Ellie's father is likewise kind and looks to protect her from the harshness of reality by telling her old stories and keeping her involved in his life. However as the book marches on, their limits on how to deal with the situation in their lives that affect Ellie is put to the test and ultimately shows their limits to how they can help her. However much that Robin remains a supportive friend to her and be kindred spirits, he eventually feels a little fed up in how out-of-touch on how to handle normal situations in ways that promote self-preservation, and that he is ultimately just a child like Ellie and subject to needing help as well.
Ellie's father Peter seems to not understand what is happening at Ellie's school that doesn't involve a teacher's note on her being in trouble or being absent. Just like how he never talks about her mother Kate or to clearly answer questions about things going on in her life, Ellie never talks about things that are happening at school and to herself, so both father and daughter learn to dance around the subject of difficult things happening in their lives. This comes to a head later in the book when Ellie does something that endangers the life of another, and he reacts as though he expected her to have common sense even though how she perceives as common sense was something that was instilled in her by her father. It's very typical of the time period and within expectations of a single father raising a child in that time and environment where open discussion with children is not cultivated, but it is very unsatisfying that isn't a real confrontation between the two of them about what's going on in their lives. The story could stand to have an intervention by the school earlier in the book so that Ellie's school life can actually be seen by her father, because it otherwise makes it seem as though he is very out-of-touch with Ellie's own concerns and life.
tl;dr: a beautifully well-written book about a child going through difficult family events and hostile school environment, but does nothing to destigmatize mental illness or have people be more understanding about people impacted by mental illness. Many characters are reactive and not proactive in the events that occur around them. Prejudice and discrimination goes unchallenged. Ellie's situation seem to actually worsen rather than improve towards the end of the book without a real definitive answer that she will be okay. Antagonistic characters keep antagonizing to the very end. Personal triumphs get undermined a lot.
Ellie does not act out in school, instead just trying to get by quietly without pulling in attention from others. Despite that, her peers pick on her, deliberately misunderstand her, and her teacher participates in the bullying by calling to attention her failing grades and offbeat personality which reaffirms the class' overall disdain. Adults look at her in pity or fear while talking behind her back, and no one really does anything to pull her aside to reassure her feelings and thoughts other than saying 'if you want to talk, I'm here' without giving her reason to trust them. Everything in her world is implied and there are no clear answers that ground her to the world around her.
This would have been fine if the story gives something concrete for the reader to latch onto about the events that surround all the characters instead of just implication. For example, Ellie's mother Kate has a very weak narrative despite being whom both Ellie and her father revolve their unspoken anxieties around towards and whom is the focus of much of their community's stigma against them. I can think of only two occasions in which Kate actually has a point-of-view chapter dedicated to her- one about events surrounding the past, and one short one after treatment that is actually shared with Ellie's- but ultimately it doesn't seem like there was a lot of substance going into how she's not in an institution or back to living in a community and being in Ellie's life again. Instead she's treated as someone who threatens Ellie and her father's way of life when she's back in it, and is just one more burden for Ellie to worry about hiding from her classmates and school life, and it's a perception that goes unchallenged within the text. Her followup treatment is also very unclear that compounds the vagueness of Kate's illness and about her general well-being: is she okay after treatment? Is it working? Does she need to go to followup appointments? There is nothing in the story that suggests that people outside of her family are taking care of her, so it just seems she's perpetually helpless. In the book, Kate's role seems to be the mental illness bogeyman who haunts the family and community, has trauma inflicted on her, and can only react to things happening to her without any initiative on her part.
There are several point-of-view chapters that go into the nosier adults in Ellie's life, notably her next door neighbor who actually is involved in helping her family's life and May Fletcher, the mother of her only friend at schools, whose occupation is a social worker. They're supposed to be somewhat well-meaning people who upon self-reflection also know the negative effects in which a prejudiced and bigoted community has on vulnerable families due to their own personal traumas- for one, losing a child very early and not having any children, the other being a single parent- but ultimately prove to be judgmental women who put pressure on and is afraid of a weird ten-year old kid. There is actually one point-of-view chapter in May's perspective where she leads the reader to think that she's seeing that deep down the presumed stereotyping of Ellie Fleck's life and future, there is an understandable, functioning family that does their best to be free from violence and trauma. However, there is no followup to suggest that that is a thought worth investigating, and May's character carries on as the worried mother who thinks the troubled kid at school will lead her son down the wrong path at ten years old.
The characters who work within institutions are predictably portrayed as neglectful at best and physically abusive at worse, while in between they are either nondescript people in uniforms who carry out their tasks that reinforces the main family's perception of their community being like a prison. The asylum staff don't seem to actually be the worst people despite being part of Kate's daily life within their walls and whom Ellie does not feel wholly comfortable with. I say they are not the worst people because the ones at Ellie's school are definitely the worst. She is bullied by her teacher and who gives ammunition for the bullies at her school to keep on tormenting her. The faculty, after seeing Ellie physically abused by her teacher towards the end of the book, chooses instead to sweep the incident under the rug and hope that Ellie keep trucking along in the same homeroom class.
The only people who are supportive and kind to Ellie are her father and her friend Robin Fleck. Robin is consistently good to Ellie as he actively defends her and sees the injustice of their teacher picking on Ellie, and who picks up on his mother's unresolved fear and trepidation of her. Ellie's father is likewise kind and looks to protect her from the harshness of reality by telling her old stories and keeping her involved in his life. However as the book marches on, their limits on how to deal with the situation in their lives that affect Ellie is put to the test and ultimately shows their limits to how they can help her. However much that Robin remains a supportive friend to her and be kindred spirits, he eventually feels a little fed up in how out-of-touch on how to handle normal situations in ways that promote self-preservation, and that he is ultimately just a child like Ellie and subject to needing help as well.
Ellie's father Peter seems to not understand what is happening at Ellie's school that doesn't involve a teacher's note on her being in trouble or being absent. Just like how he never talks about her mother Kate or to clearly answer questions about things going on in her life, Ellie never talks about things that are happening at school and to herself, so both father and daughter learn to dance around the subject of difficult things happening in their lives. This comes to a head later in the book when Ellie does something that endangers the life of another, and he reacts as though he expected her to have common sense even though how she perceives as common sense was something that was instilled in her by her father. It's very typical of the time period and within expectations of a single father raising a child in that time and environment where open discussion with children is not cultivated, but it is very unsatisfying that isn't a real confrontation between the two of them about what's going on in their lives. The story could stand to have an intervention by the school earlier in the book so that Ellie's school life can actually be seen by her father, because it otherwise makes it seem as though he is very out-of-touch with Ellie's own concerns and life.
tl;dr: a beautifully well-written book about a child going through difficult family events and hostile school environment, but does nothing to destigmatize mental illness or have people be more understanding about people impacted by mental illness. Many characters are reactive and not proactive in the events that occur around them. Prejudice and discrimination goes unchallenged. Ellie's situation seem to actually worsen rather than improve towards the end of the book without a real definitive answer that she will be okay. Antagonistic characters keep antagonizing to the very end. Personal triumphs get undermined a lot.
sarahjjs's review
4.0
I got a little bit lost in the second half, which can happen in poetic writing but for the most part I loved this book
monkreads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
booksbynoe's review
DNF at page 210
I tried. I really did. But I couldn't get into this. I enjoyed the writing but not the narrative structure.
I tried. I really did. But I couldn't get into this. I enjoyed the writing but not the narrative structure.
annieks's review
5.0
This book is about a 10-year-old fisherman's daughter in the 1980s whose mother attempts suicide and is taken away to hospital. Doesn't sound that cheery, but I absolutely adored this. Marcus is a poet and it shows in her gorgeous, fractured, onomatopoeic prose as she puts us into the mind of a damaged child who is making stories to protect herself from the harsh reality of life. Stunning.
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