It's been months since I've read anything that really grabs me, and this strange, short, sad coming of age book was absolutely the right book at the right time. This one goes on the keeper shelf.

Barker begins with the murder of Janet, aged sixteen, in her family's castle in the Scottish highlands and then backtracks to her birth to tell the story of her short life. Janet is a socially awkward intellectual who connects to animals rather than people and never seems to know how to act, even around her own family. You can't help but think her life would have come right in the end, as it does for many of us weirdos who eventually find our place in the world, if it hadn't been for her early death. But in the final sentence her death is also framed as an almost joyous release from a life that felt unbearable.

Janet is seen as a problem child by her parents and stern Calvinist nanny. Hopped up on cake at a party (aged about four) she dances around wildly and is spanked and told how bad she is. Forced to babysit her younger sister, she daydreams and fails to notice when the baby starts eating sand at the beach, or drops her when trying to get her out of the pram, both of which adults see as examples of her wickedness. Even getting motion sickness during car trips is interpreted as an act of rebellion and attention-seeking. All these incidents are relayed through Janet's eyes as Barker shows how they contribute to her view of herself as someone unworthy of love. Her failings are so human and most are completely harmless, though her actions do sometimes result in other people getting injured. (In one case this is totally deserved; she pushes a boy who sexually harasses her into a patch of poisonous hogweed. Other times it is more ambiguous about whether she intended to cause someone else pain.) But at the same time Janet has so many good qualities. She is funny, irreverent, intelligent, caring (of animals), and often insightful about other people even though she doesn't know how to express it.

I found some of these scenes hard to read because they really struck home. I remember being a child and being confused about why something I had done was wrong. And as a parent I have certainly said things like "you are old enough to know better," which I don't think is a terrible, soul-destroying thing to say to a child. But you never know which experiences will turn out to be foundational in a person's self-image. (Not to compare Janet's parents to my own excellent parents or to myself, I hope!) I think what Barker conveyed so well, and so devastatingly, was the absolutely bewildering experience of growing up and figuring out how to be a person in the world.

Beyond the psychological insights, the writing was just incredible. Descriptions of the highland landscape and the decaying castle-cum-boarding school where the family live were both gloomy and beautiful. But there's something verging on the surrealist in aspects of the writing, too. Think of "I Capture the Castle" filtered through "Gormenghast" and that might be the best approximation. This book takes place in the 1940s and 50s but has a timeless feeling that contributes to that surreality. ( )

This book is short, easy to read, and full of unlikable characters who are incapable of of giving each other what they need - which sucks for the weird daughter, the oldest child who just wants to fit in, but as herself. As she grows up, her Mom and Dad ignore her for her more perfect siblings, which just makes her even more weird.

This book actually reminds of the anti-Addams Family, instead of an eccentric family full of acceptance, you get an eccentric family trying to be as normal as possible. The book is billed as a dark story, hilarious, and a funny work of genius. And its all of that, the writing is spot on, descriptions of the house, of Janet, even of the dogs and cats. This is not a happy family and it takes a very skilled writer to capture that unhappiness while managing to point out the absurdities.

Its recommended, but at times I found it emotionally difficult to read. ( )

Ali Smith calls this book “One of the best least-known novels of the twentieth century.” I have to agree. I kept checking the publish date because it reads like an old classic from a much earlier time. Darkly comic with almost poetic descriptions of the Scottish countryside, the writing is stunning and Janet’s short life depicts many reminders of the horrors of coming of age. The one word that springs to mind for this book is: unforgettable. ( )

I adored this, despite and fell in love with the heroine, despite her dark nature. It's a slim novel, a coming-of-age-noir set in mid-20th-century Scotland, black and very dryly funny and really beautifully written. There's a manor house, a pet raven, and a protagonist who just doesn't fit into the mold she's supposed to... I think just about anyone who's been a teenager will relate. This is not quite like anything else you might think of that would slot into those categories, and made me happy to read despite its sad ending (not a spoiler). Absolutely recommended, especially if you like that kind of arch but kindly UK voice along the lines of Muriel Spark, Sylvia Townsend Warner, et. al (though this was originally published in 1991, so a bit later in that milieu). ( )

i don't quite see what maggie o'farrell does in her introduction to this book, but i did enjoy it. this story of this misunderstood, outcast girl, who is disliked even by her parents, but who finds community with her books and with birds and creatures is one that you know from the outset will end in tragedy. the rest of the book just tells how we get there. and it is tragic - for literally no one to care to get to know her, to try to understand her, to see what the birds see in her. her depth of feeling for the animals is what most moved me, but her unlikeableness seemed more rooted in her differences and in her unwillingness to conform. something we often praise these days. anyway, it's interesting to think about and sad to read about, and even as i was waiting for the end to come, it was still surprising that it did.

janet's inability to mercy kill a bird in the moment when it was fatally injured, to put it out of its misery was written perfectly. that is, i'm quite sure, exactly how i'd respond, blubbering and all, and i fear for ever finding this out in life for certain. ( )