The Panopticon
by Jenni Fagan
What is it about:
Fifteen-year-old Anais Hendricks is smart, funny and fierce, but she is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met. Sitting in the back of a police car, she finds herself headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders where the social workers are as suspicious as its residents. But Anais can't remember the events that have led her there, or why she has blood on her school uniform...
What did I think of it:
Talk about a book that is marketed completely wrong!
I picked this book up because it sounded like it would be a Young Adult mystery. Instead it turned out to be a story about a young girl caught in a circle of drug abuse and violence, desperate to break out of it.
Don't get me wrong: this is a really good book, but expecting an intriguing mystery and getting a gritty, realistic story about a girl caught in the system did throw me and it took me a while to get into this book. The story being in present tense and with a Scottish accent didn't help either.
But once I got used to the accent and had let go of my assumptions I really got into the story. Anais is indeed smart and fierce and it was intriguing to read how she keeps herself standing. The story is grim and repulsive at times, but Anais always keeps hope and keeps trying to find a way for herself to survive.
If you're looking for a light read, this is not your book. I also wouldn't advice this book to anyone who is sensitive about the use of the F-word and such. It is an interesting read though and although I was disappointed at first, in the end I was glad I had accidently picked it up.
Why should you read it:
It's an interesting, gritty YA read.
1 comment:
That would certainly make me confused at the start as well, expecting some sort of book and reading something different. Which is why I don't read blurbs anymore before starting a book :)
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