Review for “A Girl is a Half Formed Thing” by Eimear McBride
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
I got about 25 pages into this before I called it quits.
This book is written completely outside of the conventions of English. Mostly stream of consciousness, fractured phrases, fleeting glimpses, impressions. This is not my main criticism here, however. I’ve read plenty of books with the nuances of busted English, no quotations, no full sentences and it still managed to be pleasantly readable. But THIS was an exercise in futility. Take the first paragraph, for instance:
“For you. You’ll soon. You’ll give her name. In the stitches of her skin she’ll wear your say. Mammy me? Yes you. Bounce the bed, I’d say. I’d say that’s what you did. Then lay you down. They cut you round. Wait hour and day.”
Huh????
I even tried reading this in a cracked version of an Irish accent and I STILL didn’t get it.
This book was definitely more style over substance. The author’s use of language here was almost gimmicky to me, a mask for the fact that the character wasn’t very interesting and there wasn’t much of a story to tell.
I don’t understand how this book is getting rave reviews. Am I the only one shouting that the Emperor has no clothes here?
29chapters.com 