The Panopticon

Jenni Fagan came recommended to me. She didn’t disappoint.The character Anais is a victim of circumstance who endures many foster homes then on to care homes… she’s stuck in the system

The Panopticon is unremittingly bleak, following the hopeless story of Anais Hendricks, a fifteen year old girl who has spent her entire life in the social work system. Apart from a short period in adoptive care, this has been spent in foster families and institutional care.Anais arrives at the Panopticon, a semi-secure home in Midlothian, suspected of putting a policewoman into a life-threatening coma. She is a bright and colourful narrator, given a vivid depiction of life as a child on the margins of society. In Anais’s world, violence, drugs, rape, prostitution, death and abandonment are real. Anais and her fellow social services “clients” live with a genuine ongoing threat of being locked up. And for the most part, society views their upbringing as a task of containment rather than nurture. There is no love: birthday presents are given but must be signed for. Rules are not negotiable until, come the age of 16, all the rules and all the support – such as it is – get taken away for ever.Jenni Fagan mixes the despair with humorous everyday situations. The care kids have slapstick outings – e.g. to a boating lake – and get lippy with the grown-ups. The bullying of Brian, a seriously disturbed young man, has comedy to it. But always, just under the surface, there is abuse and fear. Especially heart rending is Anais’s love for her late adoptive mother – despite the mother having done so little to deserve any love.So at the detail level, The Panopticon works.Where there is a failing, it is that the big story is a bit slow and shallow. There is not much character development – the Anais at the start is the same as the Anais at the end. There are no great happenings, no real momentum. Instead, just a series of well-told vignettes. When this is coupled with drug induced experiences, it can be hard to distinguish between past, present and fantasy. That is presumably the point, but it still creates a texture that feels rather flat.The Panopticon is a relatively quick read. Some may be bothered by the Scots idiom although its use is really pretty moderate and the reader quickly becomes attuned. The pain in some of the situations, in the repeated poor choices that Anais makes, is exquisite. And the ending, full of ambiguity, is devastating.

As someone who has lived in a foster home, a children's home and an adolescent unit - and taken my fair share of illegal substances - I found this story and most of the characters and situations it described incredibly realistic. Yet, despite the book's depressing themes, I laughed my way through much of it, thanks to the protagonist's witty observations and comments and the general hilarity of some of her escapades.Being ill-treated by adults (particularly those who were supposed to care for you), and going through the care system, causes many (most?) children to feel the world is against them and to retaliate by fighting any form of authority, resisting any kindness, and abusing any trust subsequently shown by adults. I think the author showed this well in the attitudes of the protagonist and her fellow 'clients' (yes, we hated that term too).The sense of family felt by residents was also very true to form as, regardless of personal problems, ultimately, care-kids will tend to stick together, the 'us against them' mentality kicking in. I remember a boy of nine - our youngest resident - whose mum had died of cancer, which was how he'd ended up in care. We all Looked after him, knowing he needed love, regardless of our own reasons for being there (often violence). None of us was 'all bad'.SPOILER ALERT: An important part of this story, for me at least, was that Anais escaped serious harm, and long-term institution/prostitution, simply because she was more intelligent, and somehow better psychologically equipped to deal with her situation, than the majority. For most - like Isla and Tash - the story is very different.Additionally, while children often seem very resilient to trauma, the effects are often unseen or simply not recognised as such until later, so any future life Anais makes for herself will be tainted by the past.END OF SPOLIERWhile I'm not usually the type to read sequels or trilogy sets, I liked Anais that much that I'd read a new book based on her adult life, should the author decide to write one.4 Stars

This book is pretty full on, describing the life and misadventures of a disturbed and violent teenage girl in a bizarre youth offenders/children's home unit. Drug-use and violence throughout, but I could summon up some empathy for the main character Anais, who is energetic, eloquent, totally screwed up and is her own worse enemy. Not for the faint-hearted.