Grace William’s says it Loud by Emma Henderson

A stunning debut written with real heart and incredible originality.

This is the book I’ve been most keen to read so far in 2011…in fact it’s probably one of the books I’ve been most excited to read in a long time. When I first read the synopsis I was instantly intrigued, it sounded so original and appealing, I wasn’t wrong.

The story opens in 1947 when Grace is only 8 months old. She’s in a country garden with her mother, father, sister, and brother. The setting of the scene may seem idyllic but without any hesitation Emma Henderson throws the reader into Grace’s world and her life as a physically handicapped young girl. Only a few paragraphs in and Grace is telling her audience about a recent medial experiment where her lolling, problematic tongue is clipped. Grace tells us this in the same frank tone that is used throughout the book and the effects of this style never failed to tug at my emotions.

In 1951 the family move to London and Grace begins telling us more about her beloved mother for whom she shares a richly complex and heartbreaking relationship. She tells us about the trips her and mother take into town together when mother is feeling ‘brave’. It’s here that we start to learn in more the depth the physical deformities Grace suffers. These are touching scenes full of tenderness but also tinged with sadness.

We learn that Grace can’t talk very well; she has been diagnosed mentally defective  and after suffering from polio she loses the use of one arm and one leg grows longer than the other.

Skip forward a little and Grace’s health takes a turn for the worse after a worrying fit, she’s taken to hospital and thus the decision is made that Grace must now reside at the Briar, a hospital for disabled and mentally ‘deficent’ individuals.

And so begins Grace’s life at the Briar. A place sometimes filled with happy memories, like hiding in the apple shed with her best friend Daniel or having afternoon tea with the lovely but eccentric Miss Lilly. And holiday’s to beach towns with volunteers like Major Simpson. These are touching and meaningful moments that keep the novel buoyant with glimpses of joy and save  it from becoming murky with too much gloom.

However there are also moments of extreme suffering and pain for Grace at the Briar and these were some of the most daring and devastating moments of the book. Henderson touches on themes that I’ve never found portrayed in any book before and I found myself blown away by the content. The book was also highly thought provoking and I know that’s a phrase often banded around but really I began to question everything I’d ever though about mental and physical health problems.

Grace is treated with animosity and often disgust by some of the Dr’s and nurses of the hospital. These moments are often heart rendering and even at times a little hard to digest. But these are frank, honest moments and if the reader feels uncomfortable one can only imagine how Grace must feel.

I don’t want to give too much away about all that happens at the Briar but I will say a little of the heart warming relationship between Daniel and Grace. Daniel is an epileptic and has no arms after an accident. He is intelligent, charming and above enthralled like the reader by Grace. Daniel idolises his ‘debonair’ father, almost mimicking him through his own behaviour.

Between them they overcome their physical and mental short comings. Learning to cuddle and caress with Grace’s one good arm and without the aid of either of Daniels. Perhaps because of this their relationship seems all the more intimate. Both Grace and Daniel look out for each other and their relationship grows and strengthens. But the question is always there, can they, with their very vague futures, every have a happy ever after?

The relationship between Grace and her family is probably one of the most compelling and complex, throwing many questions into the equation. Grace’s mother is tender and caring, clearly a wonderful mother but how should she act now that she has a child with aliments that such little is known about? Nobody has the right answers and everyone is trying to make the right decision.

As a reader we are left wondering what is right. What is the best for Grace? Emma Henderson never imposes heavy opinions or chastises the way in which Grace is treated. Her writing seems to understand that in a time when so little was known about such problems it was never as simple as pointing the blame. There are characters that show extreme kindness and some awful cruelty, but nothing is black and white in Grace’s world.

I won’t say too much about how it all pans out least I should ruin it for you. I will say this though; Grace William’s is throughout charming and extraordinary. Her imagination and prose are beautiful and original, her take on life fresh and innovative. She perceives the world around her with empathy, understanding and a depth that no one thinks her capable of.

Despite struggling with speech Grace Williams certainly does say it loud.

Have you read this book? Or are you interested in reading it? What do you think about it making the short list for the Orange Prize?

9/10

Orange Prize for Fiction – Shortlist unveiled

It seems like only five minutes ago that the long list was announced for the 2011 Orange award, where did the time go? So you can imagine my surprise this morning when an email dropped into my inbox announcing this years short list. Off course I was also extremely excited as this is an award I love and almost all of the books on the list have really grabbed my attention. So who’s made the cut?

 Annabel – Kathleen Winter (1st novel)

Grace Williams says it Loud – Emma Henderson (1st novel)

Great House – Nicole Krauss (3rd novel)

Room – Emma Donoghue (7th novel)

The Memory of Love Aminatta Forna (2nd novel)

Tea Obreht – The Tiger’s Wife (Ist Novel) 

Despite my excitement over the event I must confess I’ve still only read Room by Emma Donoghue. Usually I would have devoured a lot more but my list of books to read this year seems to be higher than ever. However I do have whatever you love by Louise Doughty, Grace Williams say it loud by Emma Henderson and also Annabel by Kathleen Winter on my bookshelf at home crying out to be read.  The long list was full of eye-catching gems that I desperately wanted to read but these are the three that really stuck out for me. I was a little disappointed to see that Whatever you love hadn’t made the short list as it was one of my highly anticipated reads, however I will still be reading it soon. I wonder if I will still be disappointed that it didn’t make the short list? Or if I will think that the decision was the right one?

I’m also desperate to start Grace Williams say it loud. After reading the synopsis for it my first thought was I have to read this book! So I am really pleased to see it on the list, I hope it lives up to my expectations as it’s a book I’m extremely excited to read. I’ve heard great things about it so to see it on the short list is further fuelling my anticipation. Has anyone else read it yet? would you recommend it?

I’ve also heard a lot of great things about Annabel, although I must confess that I slightly judged the book by the cover the first time I saw it, (a cardinal sin, I know) I found the cover quite foreboding and dark however from the buzz of winning praise surrounding this book at the moment, I clearly shouldn’t be perturbed by a cover, shame on me perhaps? Seeing it on the short list has sealed my interest so this is another book for the TBR list, wow it’s getting longer still.

As previously mentioned I have already read Room and this ia book I just loved. The story gripped me from start to finish and it still lingers with me now so I’ am thrilled to see it on the list.

The shortlist is as diverse as ever with three debut novels making the list and a variety of writers from around the world. Off course this is what is so good about the Orange award; the way in which it sheds light on such a broad scope of talent and celebrates the ability of both first time writers as well as long serving writers.

I think it’s time to start getting stuck into the rest of the books, both the short list and the long list (I still want to read everything on there…all in good time). I wonder out of the three books I’ve mentioned on my TBR list, and indeed the whole of the short and long list is there anything you would strongly recommend? Anything that I just have to read?

What do you think about the short list? Are you pleased with the finalists or is there a writer you really wanted to see but regrettably didn’t? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Room – By Emma Donoghe

One of the most gripping and powerfully told stories I’ve read this year. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with Donoghue’s writting.

I’m always a little wary when I read a book that has had as much talk and praise about it as Emma Donoghue’s Room does. A book long listed for the Orange prize this year and short listed for The Man Booker Prize last year. Would the book live up to my expectations? Would I feel that I’ve missed something that all other readers seemed to have found? I have to admit that Room did not meet my expectations…it exceeded them.

The story starts on Jacks 5th birthday, he lives in ‘Room’, which really is just a 11×11 room that he shares with his Ma. We very quickly realize that Jack has never left this room, he was born here and he has no knowledge of the outside world. For him the small, confining space is his only world. The only glimpse he has had that anyone else exists is through the television, but his Ma has told him that everything in the TV is not real. They are just pictures. Make believe. From the very first words of the book a haunting and ominous presence leaks from the pages. Although we don’t know straight away the details of Jacks strange circumstances we are presided with an unnerving sense of unease.

Jack and his mother are being held captive by scary ‘Old Nick’ who comes in the night when Jack is sleeping in Wardrobe. Sometimes though, Jack who the entire story is narrated through, stays awake. And in the compelling and artistic way that Donoghue writes, Jack describes through his childish voice how he hears Bed creaking when Old Nick comes. If this sounds creepy now the feeling is nothing compared to what the author manages to convey, whilst retaining the innocence of youth in Jacks story telling. What is so precious about Jack is how intuitively he knows something is amiss, he counts all of his teeth when Old Nick is there, an OCD trait, yet he doesn’t quite grasp what is going on. He allows the readers to unveil the shocking truth and we become more and more empathetic for this loveable young boy.

I touched on the narration of the story and how Jack manages to tell the haunting story whilst ensuring that a youthful and endearing quality remains. It’s this dual purpose gained from Jacks narration that ensured my appreciation for just how well Donoghue had handled such a sensitive and shaky subject matter. On the one hand there is something disturbing and frightening about the fact that this haunting story is told by a small boy; that he is witnessing the rape of his mother every night, that he thinks inanimate objects like a wardrobe are his friends. It adds a creepy sense that subtly hits home to us just how morally wrong and damaging this story of captivity is. On the other hand the innocence of Jack also prevents this story from becoming too heavy, which off course could very easily happen in a tale like this.

The childishness of Jack is heartbreaking. The way he depicts his life in such an affectionate way, for example he tells us about ‘meltedy spoon’ and ‘egg snake’ that he and Ma made from broken egg shells. He describes them with fondness and refers to them as his friends. That Jack has had so little in the way of material possessions in his life, and yet he talks about his toys like friends and with so much joy deepens the story with unmistakable sadness. Room touches nerves and taps into emotions in a way that other writers have aspired to affect their readers but haven’t quite managed. And that this is written in such a childish manner and yet still packs such a blow just blew me away. Something you may think would come easily in a story about kidnapping, but I have read various novels and semi autobiographical books on this subject matter and honestly, sometimes I felt quite desensitized by the factual way the stories were told.

As the story wears on Jacks Ma begins to explain to him that there is more to the world than just him, her, and room. There is a whole world out there and all of the police cars, children, animals, hospitals, beaches he has seen on TV are actually real. She tells him that they shouldn’t be in this room but they are trapped by old Nick. What really tugged at my heartstrings was Jack’s reluctance to join the real world and his denial that they are a part of it. He desperately wants to cling onto the notion that only him and Ma exist and here the depiction of a mother and child relationship is magnificently displayed.

I don’t think anyone could read this story and not be touched by the frail lives of Ma and Jack and the fierce bonds that there circumstances create. The relationship between them is in one sense like an everyday mother and child relationshi yet it is magnified in this story of the captivity.

Room is a unique novel, it’s a story that has been touched upon before but not in this way and it’s this that made it for me such a spectacular and unforgettable novel. I’d highly recommend it too anyone wanting something a little different but also something moving that will get you thinking.

As I said earlier Room is up for the Orange prize for fiction. There will be a post up soon about all of the nominations, which I must confess I haven’t read yet. I wonder if they will be quite as powerful as Room?

Have you read Room? Did you feel as blown away by the story? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

10/10