Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville
6/10
I have really enjoyed other books by Kate Grenville - The Secret River, The Idea of Perfection. This one wasn't as immediately rewarding, but nonetheless it is an interesting book, which draws you into the inner world of a woman who is not living a 'normal' life. Kate Grenville must have researched the background to the book well because as I travelled through Lilian's life with her, I was reminded of some of the women I met on long stay psychiatric wards, back in the 1980s. In fact, Lilian could have based on one particular woman, who was plump, wore bizarre clothes, outspoken, articulate, unafraid and had lived an interesting, if odd, life. Both Lilian and the woman I worked with seemed to have disordered thinking - maybe delusional, or maybe just approaching life and its problems and pain differently from the rest of us.
I ended up caring about Lilian and wanting no harm to come to her - she was living on the streets and growing old. She seemed well able to look after herself, though.
When I look it up, it seems that this was Kate Grenville's first novel, whilst the others I have read came much later. You can see how her writing has changed.
6/10
I have really enjoyed other books by Kate Grenville - The Secret River, The Idea of Perfection. This one wasn't as immediately rewarding, but nonetheless it is an interesting book, which draws you into the inner world of a woman who is not living a 'normal' life. Kate Grenville must have researched the background to the book well because as I travelled through Lilian's life with her, I was reminded of some of the women I met on long stay psychiatric wards, back in the 1980s. In fact, Lilian could have based on one particular woman, who was plump, wore bizarre clothes, outspoken, articulate, unafraid and had lived an interesting, if odd, life. Both Lilian and the woman I worked with seemed to have disordered thinking - maybe delusional, or maybe just approaching life and its problems and pain differently from the rest of us.
I ended up caring about Lilian and wanting no harm to come to her - she was living on the streets and growing old. She seemed well able to look after herself, though.
When I look it up, it seems that this was Kate Grenville's first novel, whilst the others I have read came much later. You can see how her writing has changed.
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