Lower class life in Scotland has some harsh realities... and Kerry Hudson (who according to her bio lived it pretty hard herself) writes about it extremely well. She is funny, self-mocking, light hearted and sentimental. Right from the first paragraph I was hooked:
"Get out you cunting, shitting, little fucking fucker!" were the first words I ever heard. The midwife, as shiny-faced woman who learned entirely new turns of phrase that night, smoothed ma's hair."
What follows is a journey through the life of Janie Ryan as she struggles through her world of hostels, foster homes, housing estates, poor houses and B&B's (not the touristy kind) rubbing shoulders with drunks, junkies, thieves and foul mouthed wife beaters... many of these are her family members.
It's a rough life and yet the voice of Janie remains for the most part, heart-breakingly innocent and hopeful. Yes there are hilarious parts where I did actually laugh out loud, but I found this book intensely sad. I read a comment somewhere about this book that said it was uplifting. For me it wasn't, not really. I kept hoping it would be, but the turning point comes when poor, lovely little Janie first swears at and slaps her baby sister, you know then that she's turning out just like her ma... it just illustrated to me how the cycle continues... that sometimes no matter how innocent a poor little child is, if they're exposed to a certain type of behaviour, inevitably they learn to mimic it. I find it sad how unconditionally a child will love it's parent when that parent is doing a really awful job of providing unconditional love and care back... but it's not that simple...that poor parent is struggling through so much of their own shit (which they've probably learned from their parents, and their parents and their parents) and they just don't know how to deal with being a parent, then there's unemployment, bullying, drugs and alcohol.
Tony Hogan bought me an Ice Cream is a pretty harsh look at the reality of life in some of the poorest and most disenfranchised parts of Scotland but it's not all bad - there are moments of real love, loyalty and respect which shine through and make you want to keep reading. I enjoyed how real this book felt (including the Scottish slang) and I really liked Janie - how she just keeps trying to survive in what really is a pretty fucked up life.
Three and three quarter stars.
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