A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing

Eimear McBride (Get this book)
A fresh, emotionally raw debut from Irish-born, U.K.-based author McBride. Written in halting sentences, half-sentences and dangling clauses that tumble through the text like fleeting, undigested thoughts, the story follows the female narrator as she navigates an abusive upbringing-physical, sexual and psychological-and the lingering effects of her brother's early childhood brain trauma. Lovers of straightforward storytelling will shirk, but open-minded readers (specifically those not put off by the unusual language structure) will be surprised, moved and awed by this original novel. McBride's debut garnered the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize in 2013 and the Baileys Women's Prize for fiction in 2014-and deservedly so. This is exhilarating fiction from a voice to watch.--Kirkus