A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing: A Novel

A challenge book, because of the author's subject and her use of language. The style has been compared to Joyce. It's not a linear narrative, very suggestive, poetic at times. One does get into it and accustomed to its idiom and flow. The subject is tough - hardscrabble life in Ireland - a young woman with a father who disappears, a brother with brain cancer, a punishing mother, and an uncle who sexually abuses her at thirteen. A large chunk of the story deals with her self-punishing seeking of masochistic sexual encounters. Difficult.

Because of the comlicated style of the narration, it took a while to get the thread of what was happening.But the author was able to hold this patterning right to the end which was ultimately satisfying as it suited the fragmented and painful circumstances of the plot. It was a challenging read and hard to say "it was enjoyable" It was another"miserable Irish chilhood"but it was also compelling and the writing was authentic.There was little humour to lift the endless horror of the protagonist's life. In spite of all this one would have to admire the courageous form of the novel and it will be interesting to see what McBride produces next. Halfway through I had a blinding flash that it was meant to be "Rapped" but have been told that that was not how it was performed on stage!

This book was recently reviewed at my book club where it received mixed reviews. People who like well structured prose had difficulty adjusting to the stream of consciousness style, with one person putting the book down after 10 pages. While I found the writing style a struggle I did appreciate the way it was able to convey a scene in a few words. And while I did not understand every sentence I got a good gist of what was being discussed. The subject matter is also very difficult and it wasn't a book I would I be inclined to read at bedtime. Nevertheless, I found the the story plausible, though some parts were at the outer limits of plausibility. In all a good read and it certainly created a lot of discussion at the book club.

I liked the beginning. The writing style made it difficult to pick up some details, but the larger plot was easy enough to follow. After the first part the book was pretty dark and vulgar not to mention blasphemous. it was not at all enjoyable. However, I have to give it at least a three because as difficult a it was to read it is amazing that it was written. The sexual violence was overwhelming though.

This book is written in an experimental style that some people will find interesting and others will find difficult to read. Most sentences are broken, and the author plays around with word order. For me, this detracted from the writing's fluency. The story of a girl growing up in a repressive, single parent Irish Catholic family is interesting, but the plot becomes somewhat repetitive.

This was an amazing, but really tough read. I picked it up and put it down a few times before I could connect with the novel. Once I did, I couldn't put it down -- I read McBride's work in less than three days. Her writing is artful and different and painful -- in a good way. She writes with passion and her words hit you hard and make you question everything.

This book has a recycled paper feel to the cover, but with good treatment and glossing on the graphics.As far as content, the book is full of trials and hard times of an ill-educated girl and her mentally-handicapped brother. The language can be difficult to grasp at times because of the intentional grammar errors and there are some allusions to Irish and UK landscapes that one might not understand upon first reading.But the story is moving and heartbreaking. You just can't stop reading.

This is not a book for those who cannot bear to see the underbelly of this world. I bought this from the UK since it will not be out in the US until September. The impetus was a review I saw in The Guardian and an interview where the author credits James Joyce for giving her the courage to break the rules to tell her story. I found that it was very hard going at first. In fact, if I had come across the book without hearing how captivating the book is I might not have gone beyond the first few pages. So I started over again and began to read it aloud trying to use the punctuation as a guide. Since I was now very engaged in the book I became transported. Suddenly without realizing it my eyes became waterfalls and I couldn't continue for a few moments until I wiped them dry. From this point on, I continued to read aloud until the very end. What an experience.

Oh, I hated this.Before I get into that: I read it cover to cover, compelled to turn each page, drawn into the protagonist’s story of an awful childhood transforming into an awful adulthood. McBride is clearly an accomplished writer and this book is packed with powerful writing and powerful scenes.But, first, oh God, the gimmick of writing using the protagonists internal voice. It was incredibly consistent, which is quite some technical feat by McBridge, but for me it felt all the way through like this gimmick was just a desperate effort to make the book more interesting than it is: “yes, this is more young-girl-suffering porn, but look at the writing! The writing!!!” It didn’t feel like it brought deep insight into the character as much as it felt like smoke and mirrors.And second, yep, here we go, another book where a girl suffers for the crime of existing and has horrible experiences until she inevitably dies. These stories having been propping up the patriarchy (by making the suffering seem inevitable and inescapable) since the Liverpool orphan comics of the 1950s and well before (and yes, they almost always have a long-suffering female character who has to take care of a male character, putting his needs before their own.)I do accept that there is a place, and an important place, for books the remind us that this is still a world in which it often is a pretty rubbish place to be a woman. But dig below the writing and I really didn’t see anything I hadn’t seen before – depressing and predictable, no matter how beautiful the final scene.I’m absolutely certain there will be plenty of people out there who will love this as much as I hated it, and this is part of why the world is good and there are many, many books. If you’re into romance novels or really, really loved Jane Eyre (possibly also thinking Wide Sargasso Sea was a little unfair on Rochester), you might give this a shot. If you’re a blokey sci-fi feminist like me, you’re probably better off going and reading (re-reading) the handmaid’s tale.

I was really looking forward to this one, what with all the lavish praise that's been heaped on it, the awards it's received, and the backstory. The last is probably familiar to most of us by now, but just in case you haven't heard it, here it is; McBride searched in vain for a publisher for years, was rejected again and again (with one publisher stating it was "probably a masterpiece" but that it wouldn't find a large enough readership to make it commercially viable), and was finally taken up by Galley Beggar, a small independent. The general consensus seems to be that the UK publishing scene is overly timid, too driven by financial sensibilities, needs it's head read, etc. Well, all these things are probably true. But is the book a masterpiece? For me, probably not.That's not to say it doesn't contain some masterful moments. The opening chapter, where the unnamed (and as yet unborn) narrator speaks to her older brother is dazzling. Throughout the novel, the portrayal of the relationship between the two is tremendously affecting, and wonderfully well done. The rest of the plot, though, could lifted straight from Irish literature's central casting. Abusive mother? Check. Damp house? Check? Fire-and-brimstone grandfather? Check. Pervert uncle? Check. Lashings of Catholic guilt? Check. Sodomy? Check. (The last seems de rigeur for any modern literature pertaining to be serious, although to McBride's credit, she doesn't attempt to describe it in any particularly hifalutin way, as others, naming no names, have done). I found it all a bit of a melange of misery-lit clichés, and rather wearing. OK, plot is not the most important thing in literary fiction, but if you are going to have one, make it a good one.My greatest issue, however, is with the style. Stream of consciousness writing works brilliantly (when done well) when it's of the moment, descriptive of the half-formed thoughts we all have, before they coalesce into cogent speech - the closest writing can get, in fact, to depicting how life really feels. And when McBride does it for scenes which are set in the moment, in real time, it is indeed brilliant. But the format doesn't work for, say, describing the passage of several days in a few lines (describing starting a new school, for example, she says "I be the new girl" - why?), and it's problematic to sustain it for an entire novel, set over the course of twenty-odd years. It comes across as dislocated and, at times (sorry to say) pretentious.I'm not disputing that McBride has huge talent, but I fear proclamations of genius may be premature. I for one will reserve judgement until I see what she does next.

This was very painful to read. It took me a bit to get used to the writing but once I did I flew through this book. Our MC went through so much pain, that at some point I just started crying on her behalf. This books is a collage of experiences that make up the MC's life. From growing up in the shadow of her sibling who had brain tumor, to being raped by her uncle, to becoming hypersexual as a young adult and how that shaped the trajectory of her relationships and warped her view of love; including self love. Religion plays a huge role in this book; only that it made her feel unseen and intangible which put a rift between her and her mother. [I don't to even get into her relationship with her mother]. The ending was the part that made me cry so much, on one hand, I think she killed herself in the lake; on the other hand, I am hoping she just took a dip in place of a baptism; because I refuse to accept such a tragic ending to a pain filled life

This book has been sitting in my extensive to read pile for over two years,I've been looking forward to reading it with all the accolades it has acquired.I've read the first chapter which annoyed the hell out of me.I very rarely give up on a book with the exception of 'Catcher in the Rye'(don't set me off)Definitely not for me this writing style. I know it is a loved tome but just no.

This book is a reading experience. It’s brutal, horrifying and touching. The story is written as a stream of consciousness and the fractured sentences make it impossible to read in a hurry. You really have to savour each word. Added to this you have the story of a girl growing up with a departed father, an abusive mother, a predatory uncle and a brother brain damaged from childhood cancer. This is not for the faint hearted. Everyone should read this book.