Foto do autor

Jacqueline Roy

Autor(a) de The Fat Lady Sings

9+ Works 81 Membros 3 Reviews

Obras de Jacqueline Roy

The Fat Lady Sings (2000) 29 cópias
The Gosling Girl (2022) 24 cópias
Soul Daddy (1992) 6 cópias
Being Ben (2013) 5 cópias
Benjy's Ghost (2004) 4 cópias
Playing It Cool (1998) 4 cópias
A Daughter Like Me (1996) 4 cópias
Fat Chance (1995) 3 cópias
In Memory of Us (2024) 2 cópias

Associated Works

Counselling, Class and Politics: Undeclared Influences in Therapy (1996) — Contribuinte, algumas edições13 cópias

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
20th century
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
UK

Membros

Resenhas

Michelle Cameron is a child-killer, found guilty of strangling a baby to death when she herself was just ten years old. When she is finally released from prison as an adult, she remains a figure of hate and opprobrium, and so is given an new identity to live under. That identity is blown when she is falsely accused of another murder, her world comes crashing down, and her past roars back to blight her life.

Psychologist Zoe Laing has persuaded Michelle to participate in a book that she is writing, ostensibly to talk about why children kill. Michelle is very reluctant to do so, and there is an ongoing struggle between the two of them to get Michelle to be open about her life. As Michelle' life gets blighted, this gets hard and harder for Zoe.

This is a very sad and unusual novel, told from the perspective of a hated killer whose guilt is not in doubt. It's as if Robert Thompson or Jon Venables was the subject of a book where you could not help but see their side of the story. Very moving.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
gjky | 1 outra resenha | Apr 9, 2023 |
The Fat Lady Sings is an exploration of mental health, race and sexuality seen through the eyes and experiences of exuberant Gloria and silent Merle, who find themselves on the same psychiatric inpatient ward. Gloria is grieving after the death of her life partner Josie, while Merle's husband left her when she started "acting weird". Both of them are now at the mercy of impatient nurses and overbearing doctors who believe the women will be cured when their behaviour fits a narrow definition of "normal". The growing relationship between Gloria and Merle is moving to observe, as are the women's inner battles to define what is "normal" for them. While parts of the book are sad and enraging, overall it is hopeful and positive. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.… (mais)
 
Marcado
Sakerfalcon | Jul 15, 2022 |
Challenging binary rhetoric and institutional bias, The Gosling Girl is a thought-provoking novel from Jacqueline Roy.

Michelle Cameron was just 10 years old when she was found guilty of murdering her four year old neighbour, Kerry Gosling, and incarcerated in a young offender’s institution. Now twenty four, she’s been freed on licence, given a new identity and housed in a tiny London flat. Naive, vulnerable and lonely, the adjustment is a struggle, nevertheless, ‘Samantha’ finds a job she’s good at, adopts a stray dog, and begins to imagine future possibilities, until her DNA is found at the scene of a murder, and her new life is upended.

“What does it mean, this word that describes her constantly? Someone who doesn’t tell the truth? Someone who does bad things? Someone who doesn’t care? Is she evil?”

Michelle Cameron is a killer, but Roy asks if that is all, and will ever, define her in The Gosling Girl. For her part, Michelle finds it impossible to reconcile her past and peoples opinions of her, with her present, and hope for the future. It’s easy to pass judgement on Michelle with the barest of facts, but much more difficult as further details about her life are revealed.

“So my whole life is going to be about what happened when I was ten no matter what I do. It will go round and round, no way out of it, not ever. Consequences: actions and consequences.”

The righteous anger of Kerry’s family at Michelle is immediately relatable so it was uncomfortable for me to acknowledge my growing sympathy for the girl. The author raises questions about the nature of justice, and of punishment, as well as the inequalities inherent in the system.

“Devil-child, a paper called her once. She stares at her face and wonders if evil is etched in the light brown layers of her skin.”

Roy also addresses the role of racial prejudice, particularly in relation to the specifics of Michelle’s crime, and the subsequent treatment of her by the media. This theme is also highlighted by Natalie Tyler’s struggle to reconcile her identity as a black (and queer) woman with being a police officer when neither culture wholly accepts the other.

The Gosling Girl is a confronting, nuanced and poignant read.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
shelleyraec | 1 outra resenha | Feb 20, 2022 |

Listas

Estatísticas

Obras
9
Also by
1
Membros
81
Popularidade
#222,754
Avaliação
½ 3.7
Resenhas
3
ISBNs
21
Idiomas
1

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