First Aid Kit Girl

by Lynsey Rose

Meet Stephanie. She's just like you. She hates her job and her colleagues. She eats the wrong things, says the wrong things. Thinks the wrong things. Stephanie seeks solace in pointy objects, sharp objects, and the raw comfort of the office First Aid Kit. To Stephanie, people are just things, caricatures. Obstacles to be avoided. Except one. Days are interchangeable. Until they aren't. First Aid Kit Girl is a black comedy, a horror story, an escaped internal monologue. But never a cry for help. Stephanie is coping. One foot in front of the other. One week after another. And then...

306 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2013

Reviews

[Lightupvirginmary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this, so I'm rather biased and won't review it (that would be weird), but you can find out more here: http://extol-lightupvirginmary.blogsp...
And like it here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-...

[Adam Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this from start to finish. Dark, humorous and captivating throughout.

[Natalie Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because my friend forwarded me an article from Ideastap about this author writing about mental illness. I'm a mental health nurse so I was interested to read this book.

First Aid Kit Girl is about Stephanie, a twenty something feeling stranded in a job she despises - something that many can relate to. Stephanie's way of coping with her absolute hopelessness is to self harm.

I gave this book 2* (if Goodreads allowed half stars it would be 2 & a half) because if this is a representation of mental illness then it's quite irresponsible. However I don't think the author set out to explore mental illness, rather the abject desperation that arises from feeling so disillusioned with your life and feeling unable to do anything about it. I don't want to give away any spoilers but it was the denouement and subsequent ending that sat quite uneasily with me.

That being said, I thought the characterisation was particularly strong and I am sure that anybody reading this can identify with at least some aspects of Stephanie's character. I know that I certainly did and that contributed to me reading the book so quickly. If I hadn't gone in to the book focusing on representations of mental health then I would have rated it higher.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Steph. She hates her job and her colleagues. She likes to cut herself. (That's not a spoiler, is it? There's a razor blade on the cover.) She uses a first aid kit to self-repair.

Then some light shines on her world when new staffers turn up.

This is a compelling, easy read, as long as you don't mind stories that revolve around self-harmers, I guess. I tore through the whole thing in three sittings.

It's got some Palahniuk stuff going on, which is a plus for me: urban/suburban decay, faceless office blocks, a protagonist who's an outsider. There's also humour and pop-culture references.

My wife and I both read it and had different opinions on which bits were best and worst, which characters most and least interesting, who was annoying or nice, et cetera.

I think anyone who's ever worked in an office will bring their own experiences to it, superimposing real-life ex-colleagues' faces on to the cast of characters.

Or maybe that's just me...

I'm being the tiniest bit generous at 4 stars, but not much; maybe 3.8. Check it out. It's good, (self-)harmless fun.

[Anne Mullane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book . Stephanie is amazing, you won't meet another character like her in a book any time soon - she is a real original. This is a book for anyone who has ever been bored working in an office, or has desperately tried to find a way out of working in an office. It's shocking, it's funny and it will keep you reading, gripped right to the end, I can't wait for the next novel from Ms Rose!