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Narrated by four-year-old Jesika, I could totally imagine her voice, and her child-like take on events was so endearing. I was bowled over by this book; the debut novel by a talented author. Copy provided by the publisher in return for an honest review. Excellent child's point-of-view telling, it must have been very hard to do with such coherence.
But sometimes in life we all need a helping hand when we are down on our knees as life seems to grind you down. I loved the characters that Amanda Berriman has created here, and Jessica’s voice will live with me for a very long time to come. I wanted the family to pull through and you will be rooting for them as well. I find it hard to read books told through a small child's voice as it can get a bit repetitive (and frustrating!).
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Not a pleasant read, but a valuable one and I applaud Amanda Barrowman for writing such a skilful story with such a delicate hand. It could have been been more graphic, but the more considered approach is true to her narrator and is the better for it. The misspellings and misheard words really reinforce that everything is being seen and heard from a position of complete innocence, from a different perspective born of a much reduced experience. The adults try to shield her from things and in one case deliberately manipulate what little Jesika sees and believes.
The stairs to their ‘home’ are smelly as Jessica knows only too well. This is the story of their lives through little Jessica’s eyes. And I will warn you now Jessica will steal your heart. She knows the ‘Money man’ comes to call and he is not at all nice. Jessica’s world is ever changing and she is growing up fast. As I've just said, 'Home' is told by four-year old girl, Jesika.
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I don’t necessarily even mean bad things - although let’s face it, much of Jesika’s reality is a grim one. I especially remembered checking the emotional weather forecast in adult faces and acting accordingly as Jesika does, how people shouting could seem to make the world shake. I think we forget these things as we grow up and they become trivial or inconsequential but from a four year old’s POV they are incredibly important. Berriman’s ability to put herself in Jesika’s shoes to tell us this story is breath taking. In ‘Home’ Amanda Berriman manages to combine several things I have only the most tenuous tolerance for in literature and do it in such a way as to make me absolutely love the result.
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review. A story of modern-day poverty told through the words of a four-and-a-half-year-old. Jesikas’ mum meets an old friend and her daughter and Jesika desperately wants to be Paige’s friend, but Paige is a frightened child who cannot express or tell anyone anything about the horrible games her uncle makes her play. Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review. To ask other readers questions aboutHome,please sign up. To see what your friends thought of this book,please sign up.
Review | Home by Amanda Berriman
No family should live in the conditions that hers does, but unfortunately that is the reality for many people. She did live in a different house and remembers it, but this is her reality now, and it is incredibly how she adapts and it becomes normal do her. I loved this book and I will measure all other books against it.
When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. A deeply tragic tale told through the eyes of 4-year-old Jesika. You would appreciate it Carla with all of your experience with young children.
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The book is narrated by Jesika, a four year old who lives with her Mummy and little brother Toby after her Father moved to Poland, never to be heard from again. Jesika’s Mum is struggling with life, she doesn’t have enough money and they live in a flat that’s got many things wrong with it, including mold. As a result Toby and their Mum both have a bad cough that won’t go away.
Her mum is struggling to make ends meet and Jesika struggles at times to understand her mum's moods. All she knows is that she loves her mum and doesn't want to live anywhere other than with her. Home is a story about a four-year-old girl named Jesika, who lives in a tiny flat with her mother and baby brother. The family’s living condition is awful, yet the innocence of Jesika portrays it in such a way that makes it seem like the happiest place ever. I first met Jesika, the young narrator of this novel, a few years back - in a short story in the Stories for Homes anthology in aid of Shelter.
However, if you haven't yet read this book, I urge you to stock up on tissues and all will become clear once you digest the words for yourself..... She and her mother live in substandard housing, in a poor neighbourhood, but Jesika loves her baby brother Toby and knows she, in turn, is loved by both him and her mother. Her father has returned to his native Poland and they are left to manage alone in a big city. Jesika's story is a very difficult one to read about.
I mainly enjoyed the delightful insight into the mind of a four-year-old child. Amanda Berriman shows such depth of understanding, such tenderness and patience with her character, that I have no doubt she’s captured how pre-schoolers really think. In a world where grown-ups frame ‘not making things harder’ as being ‘helpful,’ Jesika feels deep pride and validation in what a helpful girl she is, despite being too little to actually help at all. A powerful and moving story of poverty and also abuse but also a story of a mother’s love for Jessica and Toby that shines through despite the desperate heartache.
Jesika lives in a flat with her mum and younger brother Toby. Her mum is struggling to make ends meet and Jesika struggles at times to understand her mum’s moods. All she knows is that she loves her mum and doesn’t want to live anywhere other than with her. Amanda Berriman was born in Germany and grew up in Edinburgh, reading books, playing music, writing stories and climbing hills. She works as a primary school teacher and lives on the edge of the Peak District with her husband, two children and dogs. At the same time, the circumstances Jesika, her mother and her baby brother have to face aren’t all in shades of black only.
My congratulations to Amanda Berriman on a sensational debut novel. A new voice that I am looking forward to hearing more from in the future. This entry was posted in Book Reviews, debut novels, Literary fiction, NetGalley and tagged debut novels, England, recommended reading, stand-alone novels. Cleverly told from a very young child’s perspective, this book is a brilliantly drawn description of the unseen struggle some families face in poverty; nightmare landlords, horrendous housing conditions. Then there are other horrors, those taboos that we shiver to think of let alone speak of.
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However, it is told by Jesika in her child-like language which, although it gives the idea of how a child thinks, 300 odd pages of child-speak irritated the hell out of me and I found myself correcting her out loud!!! Therefore, I read the book so quickly, just to get through the agony. Jesika is four and a half and lives with her mummy and brother, Toby. They live in a slum flat with mould and broken windows. Jesikas’ mum and brother are taken to the hospital and she is put into foster care. Home had me going to bed early so that I could read and check in on Jesika because I’d be worried about her and how she was doing, that is how real that she felt to me.
Here Jesika is two years younger at 4, and tells us the story of her life in her own words and through her own young eyes. I realise that I'm very much in the minority and that many others have loved the book and the fact that Jesika is so young but this just isn't for me. There are several topics which are deeply disturbing, however they are dealt with sympathetically and sensitively. This is only the second book I have read in my life that I read in one sitting starting at 8pm and finishing at 1am in the morning and not regretting a minute of staying up way past my bedtime.
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