Review: Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson

Title: Grace Williams Says it Loud
Author: Emma Henderson
Publisher: Sceptre, 2010
Rating: 3 stars

To begin, here is a synopsis of Grace Williams Says it Loud, taken from Goodreads.com:

This isn't an ordinary love story. But then Grace isn't an ordinary girl. 'Disgusting,' said the nurse. And when no more could be done, they put her away, aged eleven. On her first day at the Briar Mental Institute, Grace meets Daniel. He sees a different Grace: someone to share secrets and canoodle with, someone to fight for. Debonair Daniel, who can type with his feet, fills Grace's head with tales from Paris and the world beyond. This is Grace's story: her life, its betrayals and triumphs, disappointment and loss, the taste of freedom; roses, music and tiny scraps of paper. Most of all, it is about the love of a lifetime.

Grace Williams Says it Loud tells the story of Grace, physically disabled and “mentally deficient”, as they put it in the book. We follow her from infancy, to the Briar Mental Institute, to a home in Hounslow. She makes friends and enemies, she falls in love with the wonderfully charismatic Daniel (my favourite character in the book), and then she loses him. Twice. We are shown the story of this life through Grace’s eyes, though it is the voices of all the other characters which fill the pages. Grace herself manages to speak only a maximum of two words at a time; the novel allows her thoughts the expression that her body is incapable of providing. It is this contrast, between the richly observant, descriptive narrative, and Grace’s stunted speech and her treatment by the nurses at Briar, that makes for some of the most moving sections of the book.

When I started reading this novel, I honestly couldn’t decide whether I liked it or not. I read it in three sittings: in the first, I reached page 70; in the second, I got to around page 170; and in the third sitting I read right to the end. But what struck me most about this book was that, by the time I reached page 70, I still couldn’t decide whether or not I liked this book. I found its narrative style didn’t quite sit right with me. I still can’t work out why. But what I then realised, whilst I was still puzzling over whether or not I liked this book, was that either way, it had made a significant impression on me in those opening few chapters.

Even now I have finished Grace Williams Says it Loud, I still can’t say whether or not I liked it. It was compelling, yes, and moving, and beautiful, in a way. It’s not a story – or a character – that I am likely to forget in a hurry. But I don’t think I enjoyed reading it. All the way through, the narrative style didn’t seem quite right. Grace’s observations seemed over-done, especially in the opening scenes of the novel. And then again at the end.

So: it was touching and beautifully done, in its own way, but not quite to my taste. Grace Williams Says it Loud was a good read, but not a book that I was able to lose myself in completely.

Simple Pleasures: My Book Wrap

As I mentioned in a previous post, my wonderful boyfriend got me a book wrap as part of my birthday present. (Inside the book wrap was a copy of The Seas by Samantha Hunt, which was on the Orange Prize longlist and has now been fast-tracked to the top of my To Read pile. But more on that another day...)

"What a great idea," I thought, as I opened the present. "One of the books I brought back from Norwich with me got its cover creased on the journey. Now I've got a nice way to protect it."

Today I went to London. Today I also took my book wrap out with me for the first time. A few days ago I finished The Swimmer by Roma Tearne, so was in need of a new book to read. I decided on Grace Williams Says It Loud, another novel picked for the Orange Prize longlist, and one I bought in my book-haul last week. As it travelled all the way back from Norwich with me, I thought I'd read that before The Seas which, as far as I know, hasn't travelled as far.

As it was, I didn't get any reading done on the train. But Grace Williams Says It Loud sat there in my bag, waiting patiently, snug, secure and uncreased in its pretty book wrap. It wasn't until this evening when I felt like doing some reading that I finally got it out of my handbag. And it wasn't until that moment that I realised the other great thing about this book wrap. Sure, it's very practical and will save many of my books from the torturous chaos of my handbag. But what I didn't recognise until that moment was the beauty that it adds to the reading process.

So: I take the wrap out of my bag and place it in my lap. The piece of ribbon is unwound from the button, and then once, twice, three times around the book. Then the fabric is folded open to the left, and then the other side is opened to the right. Grace Williams Says It Loud sits there, in the middle of the fabric, with its beautiful cover and the sea and the brooding sky... And that's it.

The beauty of the extended moment, perhaps. After all that I could finally pick up the novel and begin reading. Perhaps it just heightens the anticipation of starting a new book - that might be all it is. But there was something wonderfully pleasing about unwrapping that book before I could begin reading. Something that I'm sure most people wouldn't really appreciate.

My thought for today: it's the simple things in life that make me happy. I forget that too often.

Book-haul

My name is Emily Smith, and I'm a bookaholic.

There, I said it.

After the Orange Prize for Fiction longlist was announced yesterday, I spent a lot of the afternoon thinking about books. I'll be honest - I didn't have much else to do. So it got to mid-afternoon and I started getting a bit twitchy and restless, so I decided to go into town. Except "town" for me (90% of the time) means "bookshop". And so I made my way down to the local bookshop, braving a bus full of small children which were having some sort of screaming contest, and picked up a nice selection to add to my TO READ pile.

From top to bottom:
The Swimmer - Roma Tearne
Grace Williams Says it Loud - Emma Henderson
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Long Song - Andrea Levy.




*Note: I only bought the top 3 yesterday. They were on a 3 for 2 deal, so I got The Book Thief as well because I've heard a fair bit about it recently. I got The Long Song a couple of weeks ago in my last book-haul. I bought Room at the same time, and then a couple of days later bought all of The Hunger Games trilogy. That was a good week.

**Note: This is only the most recent additions to my TO READ pile. Lots of them are at home, rather than with me at university, which makes me sad. Other than these, I think I've only got two other books on my bookshelves here that I haven't read yet, which makes me feel slightly nervous.

I started reading The Swimmer last night. I'm about 80 pages in now, and am enjoying it so far. My initial impressions were that it's got a great cover, and that it could do with a slightly larger font size. I won't go into my thoughts on the novel itself just yet; that's something for another day. I'm off to do a bit more reading now, before some pre-birthday celebrations with my housemates, hooray!