Name: Little Scratch
Rating: 3.9375 (16 reviews)
ISBN: 9780385545761

Rebecca Watson

"An experimental novel that reveals one young woman's every thought over the course of twenty-four hours"--

Little Scratch

Alexa M

Wow. The writing style was definitely jarring but fit the tone of a story about how disruptive trauma can be to one's daily life. A very unique reading experience.

Wonko the Sane

The most experimental book we’ve had in our book club so far. It’s the story of an unnamed woman’s day, from waking to falling asleep. And I do mean all her day - every thing she does and every thought that enters her head, all at the same time. The difficulty of reading it is mirrored in the difficulty of living like this for the narrator, as her trauma bobs in and out of her consciousness as the day progresses. I have a friend with both ADHD and trauma, and she says this is exactly what the inside of her brain is like, so reading it has been a useful insight. I wouldn’t say reading it was a fully enjoyable experience, but as a piece of art, it is wonderful.

Moray Lyle McIntosh

Post-modernist brilliance. Watson uses rhythm and form to recreate the transitory nature of the inner monologue. It skips, it falters, it circles. As it goes along a silence builds in the centre, around the one thing our narrator can't (not) think about and the way it evokes her thoughts ever drawn towards the trauma but skittering away it just brilliantly conceived. In it's cleverest moments (and it's ALL clever) the different strands of thought, interruption, conversation can be read in multiple ways as the interior and exterior world interplay. Not a word wasted, even the repetitions are masterfully judged. It's (deliberately) messy and confused and it's a masterclass in portraying human thought.

Maisie MacDonald

Mackenzie Mossop

"Extraordinary"--THE NEW YORKER In the formally innovative tradition of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers and Ducks, Newburyport comes a dazzlingly original, shot-in-the-arm of a debut that reveals a young woman's every thought over the course of one deceptively ordinary day. She wakes up, goes to work. Watches the clock and checks her phone. But underneath this monotony there's something else going on: something under her skin. Relayed in interweaving columns that chart the feedback loop of memory, the senses, and modern distractions with wit and precision, our narrator becomes increasingly anxious as the day moves on: Is she overusing the heart emoji? Isn't drinking eight glasses of water a day supposed to fix everything? Why is the etiquette of the women's bathroom so fraught? How does she define rape? And why can't she stop scratching? Fiercely moving and slyly profound, little scratch is a defiantly playful look at how our minds function in--and survive--the darkest moments.

A Novel

little scratch

Mark

Rebecca De Mulder

Abi Baker

In the formally innovative tradition of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers and Ducks, Newburyport comes a dazzlingly original, shot-in-the-arm of a debut that reveals a young woman's every thought over the course of one deceptively ordinary day. She wakes up, goes to work. Watches the clock and checks her phone. But underneath this monotony there's something else going on: something under her skin. Relayed in interweaving columns that chart the feedback loop of memory, the senses, and modern distractions with wit and precision, our narrator becomes increasingly anxious as the day moves on: Is she overusing the heart emoji? Isn't drinking eight glasses of water a day supposed to fix everything? Why is the etiquette of the women's bathroom so fraught? How does she define rape? And why can't she stop scratching? Fiercely moving and slyly profound, little scratch is a defiantly playful look at how our minds function in--and survive--the darkest moments.

Little Scratch

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