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Schooling
A daring, deeply affecting exploration of the links between language and imagination, history and memory.
Catrine Evans is a thirteen-year-old American who is sent to an English boarding school after her mother dies of cancer. Thrown into a strange world, Catrine quickly discovers that the fine schooling promised by her Welsh father may be nothing but show.
As she finds herself newly alone among glue-sniffing classmates, childhood memories of apple trees and horses are interwoven with hauntings of a motorcycle accident she saw before she left America.
Schooling is Catrine's story. Fueled by an unstoppable stream of thoughts and feelings, Catrine shows us the world of Monstead School, peopled by teachers and students at once familiar and strange. Her English teacher, Mr. Betts, is remorseful for a life unlived. Aurora Dyer is a fire-haired girl with a shady past and hopeless future. Grim Ms. Maggone, the girls' housemistress, is unsettled by Catrine and regards her with a wary eye. Chemistry teacher Mr. Gilbert is an alluring and complicated presence.
Wholly original in its use of language, theatre, and art to map a girl's life, Schooling is a bold new spin on the traditional coming-of-age story, a literary tour de force.
Catrine Evans is a thirteen-year-old American who is sent to an English boarding school after her mother dies of cancer. Thrown into a strange world, Catrine quickly discovers that the fine schooling promised by her Welsh father may be nothing but show.
As she finds herself newly alone among glue-sniffing classmates, childhood memories of apple trees and horses are interwoven with hauntings of a motorcycle accident she saw before she left America.
Schooling is Catrine's story. Fueled by an unstoppable stream of thoughts and feelings, Catrine shows us the world of Monstead School, peopled by teachers and students at once familiar and strange. Her English teacher, Mr. Betts, is remorseful for a life unlived. Aurora Dyer is a fire-haired girl with a shady past and hopeless future. Grim Ms. Maggone, the girls' housemistress, is unsettled by Catrine and regards her with a wary eye. Chemistry teacher Mr. Gilbert is an alluring and complicated presence.
Wholly original in its use of language, theatre, and art to map a girl's life, Schooling is a bold new spin on the traditional coming-of-age story, a literary tour de force.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 19, 2001
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2340 people want to read
About the author
Heather McGowan
15 books55 followersHeather McGowan is an American writer. She is the author of the novels Schooling and Duchess of Nothing. Schooling was named a Best Book of the Year by Newsweek.
McGowan received an MFA from Brown University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
McGowan received an MFA from Brown University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
May 30, 2008
So Heather McGowan was my grad student professor at Brown in a creative writing class that I adored. I think she had a short story of the same character published in an anthology prior to the release of this novel.
Prepare yourself. She is a tough writer, and this was a crazy read. The narrator is this young girl who you can't really trust - is it her imagination or reality? She's very stream of conscious, which I love, but again, you really have to get into the narrator's mind, go with the flow, and often backtrack a bit when you get lost. It's a tough read, but well worth the effort.
I just saw that she has another book out, Duchess of Nothing, which the reviewers are stating is also a tough read. Man, I adored Heather McGowan in college. Possibly because she actually liked my short stories that had no point. sigh. Duchess of Nothing will go on my wish list of new reads.
Prepare yourself. She is a tough writer, and this was a crazy read. The narrator is this young girl who you can't really trust - is it her imagination or reality? She's very stream of conscious, which I love, but again, you really have to get into the narrator's mind, go with the flow, and often backtrack a bit when you get lost. It's a tough read, but well worth the effort.
I just saw that she has another book out, Duchess of Nothing, which the reviewers are stating is also a tough read. Man, I adored Heather McGowan in college. Possibly because she actually liked my short stories that had no point. sigh. Duchess of Nothing will go on my wish list of new reads.
January 17, 2011
This got a certain amount of criticism for being stylistically too difficult - NY Times reviewer: "Heather McGowan's first novel is, in the most fundamental meaning of the word, unreadable: it cannot be read, which isn't to say that there aren't other ways to experience or even enjoy it", but in fact you can let your eyes travel over all the words and know what is going on at least 80% of the time. On one level, a British boarding school novel that makes one almost tempted to invoke Stalky & Co, the story and the characters are not hard to grasp; the difficulty is in the kaleidoscopically changing point of view, the by-now fairly well-known stream of consciousness narration style that attempts to replicate on the page the ways in which thought and speech do not fall into neat prose. There's something almost cinematic (a la Robert Altman) about the interweaving and overlapping conversational snippets.
January 10, 2011
I was so excited about this book. The plot sounded juicy and the writing style seemed unique, but in the end, the stream-of-consciousness of an irritating character became tedious. I couldn't wait to finish this and move on to something else. I felt the writer's heavy hand all throughout this novel. I wanted it to be so much better.
January 9, 2022
3.5 stars. An original, cleverly written, hard to read, disquieting, stream of consciousness narration about a 13 year old American girl, Catrine Evans. Catrine has been uprooted from her home in Maine, USA, to live in an English boarding school. Catrine’s mother died one year ago. Mr. Gilbert, aged 34, is a chemistry teacher at Catrine’s school. Mr. Gilbert falls in love with Catrine. Catrine’s naivety is very well described. The novel is an interesting portrayal of adolescence.
It is a difficult novel to read as it is not clear what is actual dialogue, what is invented and what really happened. Sometimes the perspective is Catrine’s but at other times the perspective shifts to another character. Still, I found the book an interesting, worthwhile, rewarding reading experience.
This book was first published in 2001.
It is a difficult novel to read as it is not clear what is actual dialogue, what is invented and what really happened. Sometimes the perspective is Catrine’s but at other times the perspective shifts to another character. Still, I found the book an interesting, worthwhile, rewarding reading experience.
This book was first published in 2001.
December 19, 2011
I quite enjoyed bits of Schooling, but stylistically it annoyed the hell out of me. The narrative was all messed up and smothered by stream of consciousness, poorly punctuated, multi narrative mess, taking a lot of the feeling out of the story. Catrine gets sent to boarding school in England after maybe or maybe not killing a man. She gets in with the wrong crowd at school, has an affair with a teacher, and grows up a little bit. But it's disjointed and awkward and maybe that's supposed to just be teenage, but I found it incredibly irritating. Took me ages to read espite being relatively short, and that's just not a good sign. Ho hum.
April 23, 2013
This is very unusual for me to leave a book unfinished I just couldn't bring myself to finish this book. Written in a stream-of-consciousness, it was actually rather cleverly written, but the style prevented me from really feeling anything for any of the characters, and as a result I just stopped caring about half way through.
August 23, 2014
I'm sure I would have liked this book if it was written n such random and frenetic snap shots. There were points that I read 20 or 30 pages and really couldn't recall what it was that I just read. I see no need to pan this book, because my main issue was with the style of the writing. The story, when I could follow it, was actually interesting.
December 28, 2013
TERRIBLE! I do not like stream of consciousness writing in general, but this has to be the single worst book I have ever read. I did not find any of the characters likable, the story line is boring and the ending pointless.
Want to read
October 8, 2012oh i love boarding school stories!
August 10, 2013
Ok I could not get through this & have given up. too confusing for my liking
September 27, 2013
Just couldn't get into the story. I think it had to do with the way it was written more than the story itself.
February 20, 2014
All the ellipses distract from the story, twenty-three on one page. Maybe they're intended as bubbles in the stream of consciousness.
September 15, 2014
So difficult to follow, written as a stream of consciousness. Not my kind of book.
September 1, 2010
4.5
Very difficult read due to the stream of consciousness style, but very clever and interesting.
From Publishers Weekly
In her emotionally resonant and keenly observed first novel, McGowan employs a stream-of-consciousness prose style to describe the trials of a 13-year-old American girl when she is sent to an English boarding school following the death of her mother. From Maine, Catrine Evans travels to Monstead, the school north of London that her father, Teddy, born in Wales, attended during WWII. His memories of Monstead are halcyon, but the reality is different for Catrine, who is subjected to hazing by intensely class-conscious, cynical students who smoke, sniff glue and commit arson. Poised on the threshold between childhood and adolescence, Catrine's na‹vet‚ begins to harden into defensiveness when she realizes that even those who do begin to befriend her still consider her an outsider. Memories of her mother are painful, and she is also increasingly troubled by the knowledge that she and her friend Isabelle, back in Maine, may have caused a fatal accident. Unable to connect with her father, Catrine turns to her chemistry teacher, Mr. Gilbert, who seems to consider her special and encourages her interest in art. As this relationship progresses, Catrine faces the toughest lessons of all: she must learn to know her own mind and the limits and consequences of her emotional needs. McGowan works in an experimental mode. At once lush and harsh, and inventive in form, the novel reads like an extended sensory exercise. Readers who prefer a straightforward narrative may be bemused, but those willing to accept the challenge will be rewarded with a beautifully written coming-of-age tale. (June 19)Forecast: Blurbs from writers as varied as Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem and Alice Hoffman should give some idea of McGowan's range. Though initially she may be consigned to the writer's-writer ghetto, some good reviews and handselling could get the novel out to a wider audience.
From Library Journal
McGowan's first novel tells the story of 13-year-old Catrine Evans, who moves with her father from Maine to his native England where he places her in the boarding school that he attended. While adjusting to losing her mother, living in a foreign country, and attending a new school, Catrine is also attempting to come to terms with her participation in a reckless prank that may have cost someone's life. Filled with guilt and loneliness and yearning for love and attention, she becomes entranced with her chemistry teacher. McGowan, former writing coordinator at the Fine Arts Works Center, Provincetown, MA, combines a stream-of-consciousness, first-person narrative with dramatized representations of events, bits of third-person narrative, and sporadic journal entries. As a result, navigating one's way through the novel is not an easy task; the very nature of the narrative leaves the reader confused about motivations and intentions and about what Catrine is imagining vs. what is really happening. Still, McGowan's narrative techniques are unique and intriguing and call for repeated readings. Recommended for academic literature collections.
Very difficult read due to the stream of consciousness style, but very clever and interesting.
From Publishers Weekly
In her emotionally resonant and keenly observed first novel, McGowan employs a stream-of-consciousness prose style to describe the trials of a 13-year-old American girl when she is sent to an English boarding school following the death of her mother. From Maine, Catrine Evans travels to Monstead, the school north of London that her father, Teddy, born in Wales, attended during WWII. His memories of Monstead are halcyon, but the reality is different for Catrine, who is subjected to hazing by intensely class-conscious, cynical students who smoke, sniff glue and commit arson. Poised on the threshold between childhood and adolescence, Catrine's na‹vet‚ begins to harden into defensiveness when she realizes that even those who do begin to befriend her still consider her an outsider. Memories of her mother are painful, and she is also increasingly troubled by the knowledge that she and her friend Isabelle, back in Maine, may have caused a fatal accident. Unable to connect with her father, Catrine turns to her chemistry teacher, Mr. Gilbert, who seems to consider her special and encourages her interest in art. As this relationship progresses, Catrine faces the toughest lessons of all: she must learn to know her own mind and the limits and consequences of her emotional needs. McGowan works in an experimental mode. At once lush and harsh, and inventive in form, the novel reads like an extended sensory exercise. Readers who prefer a straightforward narrative may be bemused, but those willing to accept the challenge will be rewarded with a beautifully written coming-of-age tale. (June 19)Forecast: Blurbs from writers as varied as Rick Moody, Jonathan Lethem and Alice Hoffman should give some idea of McGowan's range. Though initially she may be consigned to the writer's-writer ghetto, some good reviews and handselling could get the novel out to a wider audience.
From Library Journal
McGowan's first novel tells the story of 13-year-old Catrine Evans, who moves with her father from Maine to his native England where he places her in the boarding school that he attended. While adjusting to losing her mother, living in a foreign country, and attending a new school, Catrine is also attempting to come to terms with her participation in a reckless prank that may have cost someone's life. Filled with guilt and loneliness and yearning for love and attention, she becomes entranced with her chemistry teacher. McGowan, former writing coordinator at the Fine Arts Works Center, Provincetown, MA, combines a stream-of-consciousness, first-person narrative with dramatized representations of events, bits of third-person narrative, and sporadic journal entries. As a result, navigating one's way through the novel is not an easy task; the very nature of the narrative leaves the reader confused about motivations and intentions and about what Catrine is imagining vs. what is really happening. Still, McGowan's narrative techniques are unique and intriguing and call for repeated readings. Recommended for academic literature collections.
August 8, 2015
Catrine Evans, a 13 year old American girl, begins attending a British boarding school after her mother dies and her father moves to England. The story covers roughly one term of her study and is told in part via stream of consciousness and in part third person narrative. It is experimental, it can make the brain spin, and the lack of punctuation can make one hold one's breath:
"She takes away her hand but puts a plea in her eyes not too much not too dramatic but just enough just enough to say your jokes the class laughing a cup of tea not back to school not yet an hour or even half just a small favor."
This book is a mix of Lolita + Joyce. To be sure, there are parts that are very beautiful, but conversely there are parts that frustrated this reader greatly. This is Catrine's story = we readers only learn about things that impact her. We don't know what her father is doing when she is at school, for example. We don't know what Gilbert is doing on his days off not spent w/ Catrine (generally). Therefore, those sections that were someone else's consciousness were awkward and felt like running into a brick wall. For example, the very first chapter begins from her father's perspective and then switches in the last paragraph to hers (evident in the pronoun shift from "I" to "he"); this happens again in Part 2 Chapter 11. Further, a couple of chapters are from Betts' perspective (e.g. Part 1, Chapter 22, 29, 50); to McGowan's credit they are obviously from an adult. And then there are those chapters where perspective is unknown (is it a dream of Catrine's?) such as Part 1 Chapter 39, which is about Gilbert and seems to be from an omniscient narrator. The Catrine sections are often amazing - the mind of a 13 yr old is a minefield. She's obsessed w/ controlling her wild hair (it is never far from her thoughts and pops up as a concern during other unrelated events); she thinks that everyone is looking at her (psychologically common for a girl of this age); when she participates in the school drama class, she thinks in terms of scripts (enter stage right). When in the car, her mind wanders - these sections were paragraphs 3+ pages long.
Creative but not for the faint at heart.
"She takes away her hand but puts a plea in her eyes not too much not too dramatic but just enough just enough to say your jokes the class laughing a cup of tea not back to school not yet an hour or even half just a small favor."
This book is a mix of Lolita + Joyce. To be sure, there are parts that are very beautiful, but conversely there are parts that frustrated this reader greatly. This is Catrine's story = we readers only learn about things that impact her. We don't know what her father is doing when she is at school, for example. We don't know what Gilbert is doing on his days off not spent w/ Catrine (generally). Therefore, those sections that were someone else's consciousness were awkward and felt like running into a brick wall. For example, the very first chapter begins from her father's perspective and then switches in the last paragraph to hers (evident in the pronoun shift from "I" to "he"); this happens again in Part 2 Chapter 11. Further, a couple of chapters are from Betts' perspective (e.g. Part 1, Chapter 22, 29, 50); to McGowan's credit they are obviously from an adult. And then there are those chapters where perspective is unknown (is it a dream of Catrine's?) such as Part 1 Chapter 39, which is about Gilbert and seems to be from an omniscient narrator. The Catrine sections are often amazing - the mind of a 13 yr old is a minefield. She's obsessed w/ controlling her wild hair (it is never far from her thoughts and pops up as a concern during other unrelated events); she thinks that everyone is looking at her (psychologically common for a girl of this age); when she participates in the school drama class, she thinks in terms of scripts (enter stage right). When in the car, her mind wanders - these sections were paragraphs 3+ pages long.
Creative but not for the faint at heart.
December 7, 2010
I think what is happening here is that McGowan chooses a trope plot--the illicit, almost innocent relationship of a teacher (male, 34) and a boarding school pupil (female, 13-14)--as a platform for an experimental mode of storytelling. I think the book is a little bit of a failure because of this compromise, but it is also totally worth reading.
The narrative is mostly from the girl, Catrine's, point of view (perhaps it is entirely so), yet from multiple angles. Sometimes it is in the manner of a play, sometimes it is dialogue as seen from the outside yet colored by her thoughts that intercede, sometimes it is stream of thought, sometimes it is dreams and daydreams. It can be hard to tell which of these is happening. McGowan's way of depicting conversations, in which people interrupt each other, makes one realize that typical dialogue is inaccurate, but as Benjamin Kunkel pointed out recently, accuracy doesn't necessarily mean truth. Indeed one of the major themes of Schooling concerns "learning to see" and the characters repeat a mantra in reference to painting that accuracy isn't true.
In general I very much liked that this was the way things were related. That McGowan has written plays is really in evidence in the dialogue. But Catrine was flat in a way that I find kind of unacceptable. I think she was flat on purpose, glassy and strange in her adolescence, and while this is how one might want to romanticize teenage girls, it isn't true. Maybe McGowan means this as how she is seen as an object by all the men in the book who want her, but I don't think so. And too in a play, there would be flesh and blood inhabiting all these words, while in the novel there isn't. I would believe this was also part of the point. After all it is a book about art. But I'm not sure.
The narrative is mostly from the girl, Catrine's, point of view (perhaps it is entirely so), yet from multiple angles. Sometimes it is in the manner of a play, sometimes it is dialogue as seen from the outside yet colored by her thoughts that intercede, sometimes it is stream of thought, sometimes it is dreams and daydreams. It can be hard to tell which of these is happening. McGowan's way of depicting conversations, in which people interrupt each other, makes one realize that typical dialogue is inaccurate, but as Benjamin Kunkel pointed out recently, accuracy doesn't necessarily mean truth. Indeed one of the major themes of Schooling concerns "learning to see" and the characters repeat a mantra in reference to painting that accuracy isn't true.
In general I very much liked that this was the way things were related. That McGowan has written plays is really in evidence in the dialogue. But Catrine was flat in a way that I find kind of unacceptable. I think she was flat on purpose, glassy and strange in her adolescence, and while this is how one might want to romanticize teenage girls, it isn't true. Maybe McGowan means this as how she is seen as an object by all the men in the book who want her, but I don't think so. And too in a play, there would be flesh and blood inhabiting all these words, while in the novel there isn't. I would believe this was also part of the point. After all it is a book about art. But I'm not sure.
May 13, 2014
I applaud Heather McGowan's debut effort
Schooling.
Most impressed with McGowan's use of stream of consciousness style which adds texture and depth to both narrative and characters.
Schooling is a sophisticated and involved coming of age story of 14 year old Catrine. Catrine is a young girl facing many issues at once. Banished to boarding school, ignored by her father. Young Catrine craves love and attention and gains the attention of her chemistry teacher Mr Gilbert. What begins as an innocent relationship soon turns in to much more with a somewhat shocking ending.
Catrine did not appeal to me at all in the beginning. However, I found myself lost in her thoughts, thanks to McGowan's style. I began to understand her and she subsequently grew on me. Initially she comes across as opportunistic almost calculating, sneaky but really she's a tortured soul, suffering from so much upheaval in her life and most of all a 'secret' gnawing away at her. She's complex but what 14 year old isn't. Her issues add to the storyline and her cat-and-mouse attraction to Mr Gilbert makes for interesting sexual tension. Catrine and Mr Gilbert have a very interesting dynamic which leaves the reader guessing at what will transpire next.
McGowan's style might not appeal to all but it really does add to this narrative. Looking forward to reading more from this bold and innovative author. Surprising this was her first novel, very seasoned writing for a green author.
Schooling is a sophisticated and involved coming of age story of 14 year old Catrine. Catrine is a young girl facing many issues at once. Banished to boarding school, ignored by her father. Young Catrine craves love and attention and gains the attention of her chemistry teacher Mr Gilbert. What begins as an innocent relationship soon turns in to much more with a somewhat shocking ending.
Catrine did not appeal to me at all in the beginning. However, I found myself lost in her thoughts, thanks to McGowan's style. I began to understand her and she subsequently grew on me. Initially she comes across as opportunistic almost calculating, sneaky but really she's a tortured soul, suffering from so much upheaval in her life and most of all a 'secret' gnawing away at her. She's complex but what 14 year old isn't. Her issues add to the storyline and her cat-and-mouse attraction to Mr Gilbert makes for interesting sexual tension. Catrine and Mr Gilbert have a very interesting dynamic which leaves the reader guessing at what will transpire next.
McGowan's style might not appeal to all but it really does add to this narrative. Looking forward to reading more from this bold and innovative author. Surprising this was her first novel, very seasoned writing for a green author.
March 15, 2018
Catrine and her father are back in the UK, after Catrine's mother dies. She is enrolled in the same boarding school her father attended, and is thrust into a new world while just starting to grapple with her the loss of her mother. Mr. Gilbert, her Chemistry teacher, takes a special interest in her.
Written in several different styles- stream of consciousness, play format- and with no distinction between past and present, this wasn't an easy book to read and often I had to just push through, letting the pieces fit together as they would. The further I got, the easier it was, and the more it made sense to the way we really think, rather than how stories are laid out. This especially worked for Catrine's adolescent mind as she was sorting through her new experiences in a foreign country without both her parents.
Food: spicy chili, but with a head cold. The flavors come through and at times, pungently, but everything is a little muddled, your congestion putting a damper on your taste buds.
Written in several different styles- stream of consciousness, play format- and with no distinction between past and present, this wasn't an easy book to read and often I had to just push through, letting the pieces fit together as they would. The further I got, the easier it was, and the more it made sense to the way we really think, rather than how stories are laid out. This especially worked for Catrine's adolescent mind as she was sorting through her new experiences in a foreign country without both her parents.
Food: spicy chili, but with a head cold. The flavors come through and at times, pungently, but everything is a little muddled, your congestion putting a damper on your taste buds.
July 15, 2014
Revives a very Woolf-style stream-of-consciousness effect, but McGowan seems determined to make it even harder for the less-than-fully-focussed reader by allowing past as well as present events to crowd in on the narrative. That is not too surprising though when you consider that the protagonist is a 13-year-old girl, Catrine Evans, transplanted from America into an English public School, Monstead, while still grieving for the loss of her mother. Given her efforts to fit in, her guilt over a possible accidental death and the attentions of her Chemistry teacher, Gilbert, who is stirred by her in ways he does not even fully understand, then the chaos going on inside her head leads quite naturally to this extreme-of-consciousness.
So it becomes a novel with a difficult style and problematic subject matter - teacher and underage pupil relationships always will be. I guess your reaction will be based on how much you sympathise with Catrine and empathise with Gilbert.
So it becomes a novel with a difficult style and problematic subject matter - teacher and underage pupil relationships always will be. I guess your reaction will be based on how much you sympathise with Catrine and empathise with Gilbert.
April 3, 2011
This book is full of intercut sentences and few typographical clues: almost a stream of consciousness from a mind given even more than usual to tangential thinking and distraction. Yet Catrine, far from being manic, is often described by others in the book as sullen or petulant. The plot is a classic Don't Stand so Close to me tale: Catrine finds that she is not yet ready to handle the adult relationship she craves and things fall messily and inevitably apart. There are some interesting sections, but the style and the heroine both eventually become irritating and the outcome is ... so what?
I had never heard of either book or author before seeing it in a Bookcrossing 1001 book box - which shows how closely I've studied the original list - & can see why it has been removed from later versions.
I had never heard of either book or author before seeing it in a Bookcrossing 1001 book box - which shows how closely I've studied the original list - & can see why it has been removed from later versions.
May 8, 2014
Stream of consciousness/cross-genre Lolita set in a British boarding school. Not as fun as it sounds. While I really enjoy the work of Carole Maso, and I found this novel's style reminiscent of AVA, I didn't find it nearly as readable. While the style did capture some of the broody uncertainty of the mind of a young teen, it was often disjointed and rather tiring. I really did not need any of the sections from the point of view of other characters. That got tedious quite quickly. Yet another book I wish had lived up to its potential.
April 13, 2013
Astonishing. One of the best novels I have ever read, which sounds like absurd hype - but in this case it's true. The subject is disturbing - an appropriate relationship between a male teacher and girl pupil - but the style, insight and overall technique are breathtaking. Truly original, and often hilarious as well as painful. This book shows what the novel could be, if only writers had a bit of ambition. It's a novel written as if Woolf and Joyce still mattered. I've read it twice, twelve years apart, and loved it even more the second time.
December 9, 2013
This isn't a book I could read quickly - the stream-of-consciousness style demands close attention. The story interweaves the past and the present, dialogue, thoughts and quotations in a way that reminded me of reading T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. As I started reading I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to stick with it (part of me resented being made to work so hard), but I was drawn into Catrine's experiences and found parallels with experiences of my own school days (Lilt! I'd forgotten all about Lilt!) in the England of the 1980s which gave a glow of nostalgia to the tale.
February 22, 2008
Stream of Consciousness is hardly my favorite style. But once I stopped concentrating and just sort of let the words wash over me, I kind of enjoyed this book. I'm sure I missed a lot by reading it this way, but it's the only way I could deal.
***SPOLIER***I didn't buy Catrine's reaction to the "incident" with her teacher. Her reflections seem like that of a girl who is much further along in processing what happened to her.
***SPOLIER***I didn't buy Catrine's reaction to the "incident" with her teacher. Her reflections seem like that of a girl who is much further along in processing what happened to her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2018
The idea was great. Especially since most of us have had that one teacher who bothered us or we bothered them in some cases. While I'm not usually put off by stream-of-consciousness, I think it was this books only fault. Yet I can see at times where it was absolutely necessary to use this word play, to better understand emotions of these torments. It was okay, but there were times when stream-of-consciousness became a pain.
July 23, 2014
Adolescence, a stream-of-consciousness boarding school drama, stylistically somewhere between Woolf and Macbride, Mrs Dalloway and A Girl is a Half Formed Thing. It held me by the end of the story, despite wafting.
Highly charged and topical theme given an interesting treatment, could be contentious.
Highly charged and topical theme given an interesting treatment, could be contentious.
November 8, 2014
So I could admire the author's efforts at creating the haze and muddlement of grief and loneliness, and I could be mildly intrigued by the interesting girl whose story this is, but I couldn't push myself to finish the book. Too vague, too meandering, convoluted, whatever other adjective one can muster ...
March 30, 2016
After her mother dies, a14 year old American girl is taken to England by her Welsh father to attend boarding school. While there, a teacher shows interest in her, teaching her to paint and taking her places.
The book is written in a stream of consciousness style that I don't particularly like. In fact, at times it is hard to understand what's going on.
The book is written in a stream of consciousness style that I don't particularly like. In fact, at times it is hard to understand what's going on.
August 16, 2016
First off - it's a stream of consciousness style, so know that before jumping in. I thought it was a really refreshing and honest look at the mind of a young girl looking to have others value her or "lift her up" - it's messy and the main character is shameful, but it's very real and I appreciated it.
Read
December 26, 2007Just started... first 14 chapters are facinating. A writing style that uses one sentence to simultaneously convey two topics. That doesn't do McGowan justice, but this writing is superb. More later
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