A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
Eimear McBride's novel tells the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother who is living with the after effects of a brain tunour. Not so much a stream of consciousness, as an unconscious railing against a life that makes little sense, and a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and sensual urges of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist, to read A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator's head, experiencing her world first-hand. This isn't always comfortable - but it is always a revelation. Eimear McBride's debut tells, with astonishing insight and in brutal detail, the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour. Not so much a stream of consciousness, as an unconscious railing against a life that makes little sense, and a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist, to read A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator's head, experiencing her world first-hand. This isn't always comfortable - but it is always a revelation. Touching on everything from family violence to sexuality and the personal struggle to remain intact in times of intense trauma, McBride writes with singular intensity, acute sensitivity and mordant wit. A Girl is a Half-formed Thing is moving, funny - and alarming. It is a book you will never forget.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
3mentions
3people
2014–2018years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh -- "a novel about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists"
Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life by Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard -- "A guide to personal and professional empowerment through civility and social skills"
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride -- "a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist"
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee -- "Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all"
- Not sure how well these are known in the US..
Mans search for meaning by Victor Frankl.
Anything by Dostoyevsky.
José Saramago's the double. They made a film based on this with jake gyllenhall but not sure how well known the book and saramego is in the US, both book and film are excellent.
A girl is a half formed thing by Elmer mcbride is the best thing I've read in years with a really unique writing style. It's an incredible tragic book though... Check out first chapter online here to see if you like the style.
http://www.flare.com/celebrity/must-read-the-first-chapter-o...
- For those of you who may have trouble viewing this, I hacked together a little Selenium script to scrape this for you[1].
[1] https://gist.github.com/anonymous/84449fe7860e292e904f
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