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Introduction to a Half-Wit
This is not the whole book, but the first six chapters.
People who are interested in reading about an ‘idiot child’ who has a brain which wasn’t designed to understand things, and an imaginary friend who hates him, as he attempts to survive in a world where virtually everything presents a threat of one sort or another…
This is the uncompromisingly honest story of the author’s childhood. Laugh-out-loud funny – disturbing – endearing – and at times, tinged with sadness. You will run the whole range of emotions as you are immersed in the life of a boy who isn’t quite at home in this world, as he tries to navigate his way through childhood on a rough housing estate.
You’ll mainly laugh though, after all, it’s about a half-wit – how can that not be funny?
'As I spend all my time reading every genre possible, it has been years since I have read something that is completely different! It is incredibly refreshing. The tone is so brave, I love the raw edge that you write with, it really pulls you in to the content.’
‘It is not just a story – it is an experience, and I know that it really does take a seriously talented writer to do that. You have written in a way that draws the reader in so far that they could not just put the book behind them.’ - Heidi Knapton.
‘There is nothing I love more than writing that makes me really laugh out loud…your writing does that! I love the sincerity behind it though. I know there is a piece of me that should sympathise but your style won’t allow it, and I like that. You write with an undertone of ‘do not feel sorry for me’ because you write as though these things were ‘normal’. I will definitely be first in line to buy your book! And I can’t wait!!!’ - Melody Evans.
'I remember drying my hair one day and deciding to hold the hot end of my mum’s new Braun 3000 hair dryer to the carpet – ‘just to see what happens’ – and then being surprised when I ended up with a black circle in the carpet, a smoking hair-dryer, and when my mum finally coaxed me out of the toilet, a beating so intense that I had an out-of-body experience.'
People who are interested in reading about an ‘idiot child’ who has a brain which wasn’t designed to understand things, and an imaginary friend who hates him, as he attempts to survive in a world where virtually everything presents a threat of one sort or another…
This is the uncompromisingly honest story of the author’s childhood. Laugh-out-loud funny – disturbing – endearing – and at times, tinged with sadness. You will run the whole range of emotions as you are immersed in the life of a boy who isn’t quite at home in this world, as he tries to navigate his way through childhood on a rough housing estate.
You’ll mainly laugh though, after all, it’s about a half-wit – how can that not be funny?
'As I spend all my time reading every genre possible, it has been years since I have read something that is completely different! It is incredibly refreshing. The tone is so brave, I love the raw edge that you write with, it really pulls you in to the content.’
‘It is not just a story – it is an experience, and I know that it really does take a seriously talented writer to do that. You have written in a way that draws the reader in so far that they could not just put the book behind them.’ - Heidi Knapton.
‘There is nothing I love more than writing that makes me really laugh out loud…your writing does that! I love the sincerity behind it though. I know there is a piece of me that should sympathise but your style won’t allow it, and I like that. You write with an undertone of ‘do not feel sorry for me’ because you write as though these things were ‘normal’. I will definitely be first in line to buy your book! And I can’t wait!!!’ - Melody Evans.
'I remember drying my hair one day and deciding to hold the hot end of my mum’s new Braun 3000 hair dryer to the carpet – ‘just to see what happens’ – and then being surprised when I ended up with a black circle in the carpet, a smoking hair-dryer, and when my mum finally coaxed me out of the toilet, a beating so intense that I had an out-of-body experience.'
38 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 9, 2014
1 person want to read
About the author
Barry Stephenson
11 books1 followerBarry Stephenson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.
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