Fantastic!

Wow, what an interesting, unique and intelligent book! I can see why it won the Man Booker Prize. While not really told "stream of consciousness", from the point of view of an older woman writing about her late teens in some unnamed place (but almost certainly Belfast or somewhere very much like it) during some unnamed time (but almost certainly during The Troubles). Even the narrator is unnamed, as well as most of the people in it.

The story of the girl is told as if the narrator is repeating the tale into a tape recorder. It skips around in fascinating ways, with digressions that are both interesting and dramatic. The writing does require some work, as it rambles in a unique fashion, but I found it very refreshing. The story looped around a few times, but it was often funny and always interesting. I particularly liked when she talked about her precocious "wee sisters" (her 3 younger sisters).

Highly recommended!