A Girl is a Half-formed Thing

Eimear McBride

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE
WINNER OF THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE
ONE OF THE SUNDAY TIMES' '25 BEST NOVELS OF THE 21ST CENTURY'

Eimear McBride's debut tells, with astonishing insight and in brutal detail, the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour. Not so much a stream of consciousness, as an unconscious railing against a life that makes little sense, and a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist, to read A Girl is A Half-Formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator's head, experiencing her world first-hand. This isn't always comfortable - but it is always a revelation.