Set in Montreal, Canada. Reviewed on 2018/01: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeditPbnJZU/
This book is not the most elegantly written one I’ve read this month, nor the most sophisticated one nor does it reflect any historical period or important event. Despite all of that I will still pick #lullabiesforlittlecriminals as my #bestbookof the month and arguably one of my #bestreads in the last few months. Beyond the drugs, the violence and the abuse there is something deeper going on here: that “moment” when you finally realize that your parents are or were as much of a #failure a mess and prone to irreparable #mistakes as you are if not even more because they chose to “raise” you anyway. I shouldn’t really say a “moment” because you know it’s more of a process, a culmination of little revelations here and there. And that is a 100% perfect what you get in this book. In a very #intimate and nostalgic way #oneill manages to undermine your safe distance as a reader and you do become #vulnerable and exposed to what it means to repeat our parents’ mistakes, to blame them for everything, to not take control of what you experience or how much you can actually change at the end. Even more telling, #heatheroneill places the main character as the narrator of the story thereby producing a brilliantly daunting and frustrating reading experience. This is not a read for the #fainthearted I literally cuddled with this book for a few nights after I finished reading it. It’s a precious book and story about having everything against you and failing over and over again. #highlyrecommended #canadianliterature#montreal #junkie #fosterchild#familyissues #lossofinnocence#bildungsroman #comingofage #baby
hebdo_readings 