Union Street (Virago Modern Classics Book 43)

Poverty warps and twists in these stories and yet character now and then shines through so strongly. This writer is a gift to the world.

Recollection of post war life - so depressing - the author recaptures the essence of the vulnerability and hardship that a lot of women endured - it’s maddening - and it continues to this day

Everything was quick and good!!

Barker's book looks at the lives of women in a working-class neighborhood in northern England. Seven episodes examine the lives of women at every stage of life, from childhood to old age. It offers an unflinching look at the struggles of poverty and unrelenting work.Sexuality is often dangerous, and the women of Union Street are subjected to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Their lives revolve around trying to take care of families and stretch resources. Each story is compelling, and I was touched by the stories of women barely holding body and soul together. This is a book that makes the reader feel deeply, feel thankful, and recognize much about women's lives, feelings, fears, and responsibilities. Through these stories the reader sees the sum total of a life- the hopes and fears, the pains and celebrations. This is a deeply moving book, and one that is well-worth reading.

Uncompromising, unbelievably sad and harsh, ‘Union Street’ by Pat Barker does not hide the uncomfortable truths of poverty in North-East industrial England. This is the story of eight women who live on Union Street from teenager Kelly Brown to Alice Bell in her eighties and though each story is told individually, like the lives of the women, the stories interweave. An honest book about women struggling to hold life, family and home together, while retaining pride and some of their own individuality. Some succeed in this, others don’t.This is not a book about idealised motherhood. It is about putting bread on the table for your children no matter how you do it; including beating your husband to get his pay packet before he spends it on booze. These women are tough because they have to be; the choices are the cake factory, charring, and prostitution. Many marry young to feckless husbands because they are pregnant. This is not a light read; it features scenes of rape and backstreet abortion that somehow make the prostitution a lighter route. The language is often strong and some of the descriptions are difficult to read; but it is an honest book, bleak and realistic.The spine throughout the book is Iris King, she appears in each story and is the one most aware of other women’s lives and offers support and a word of kindness when needed. But Iris is the toughest woman in the street. Three weeks after marrying Ted, he knocks her around because she is ironing his shirts when he gets home from work when he was expecting his supper. “After he’d gone, she sat down and took stock… When he came back she was waiting for him behind the door with the meat chopper in her hand. The blow glanced off him, though there was enough blood around to scare the pair of them stiff. It didn’t stop him hitting her again, but it did free her from the fear. She never lost her self-respect.” It is that self-respect which separates Iris from the other women.This is the first novel by Booker Prize winner Barker, but such is the excellence of the prose you would never know. The ending is raw and sad, it cannot fail to touch you.

To my surprise, I was captivated by this book. I am not usually drawn to books that convey misery but this does so in an unsentimental, matter of fact way, and draws the reader into the life of each character. The author writes vividly and, where appropriate, beautifully. The evocation of the lives of several different people living on the same street and yet living different lifescapes which also interweave with one another, is absorbing. It is a stark but very compassionate work and the fact that I was repeatedly interested to get back to the reading of it, impressed me. So few books have this power to engage me.Very different to 'The Silence of the Girls' which I read first, but with the same authentic insight into her characters. A sense of ones common humanity.

This was an absolutely wonderful book. Unfortunately I started reading it on Friday night and read and read continuing until I was finished Saturday morning I cannot praise the author enough I have read her before and have never been disappointed. 🙂

I must first state that I didn't enjoy the book at all and yet I give it four stars because it is simply what it deserves.It is, put simply, beautifully written and the author has an uncanny eye for describing minutely and faithfully the every day, humdrum life of her characters. What's more she doesn't go for clichés but for hard-biting reality. Babies, children are suffered in that book, each new pregnancy resented because of the extra work and extra poverty it will occasion already over-stretched families. Men are mostly brutal, drinking themselves silly and beating their wives when they're not raping. And when they're rather different, they are afflicted with incurable diseases and chocking on their own blood. And this is what stopped me enjoying it all! Much too gritty for my liking and very depressing. Other readers found it upbeat in spite of it all but I didn't! And another thing that I found problematic as well is that it isn't a novel but a collection of stories and however well-written they are, they often finished abruptly without any sense of closure. They're like episodes, glimpses of lives but the stories don't make a whole.

I have to admit when I opened this book and read the first couple of pages, I was slightly taken aback by the crude tone and language used, and wondered if this novel was for me. However I perservered and within minutes I was completely absorbed. The book is incredibly easy to read, the characters are very well developed and you are quickly drawn into their world and made to sympathise with them.The book contains the stories of 7 women all living on the same street in Northern England. It begins with the story of 11 year old Kelly, raped and traumatised, who struggles to deal with such an experience without much support. Then, chapter by chapter, it deals with the stories of 5 older women in the street, from about the ages of 20 up to 60, all dealing with various problems such as pregnancy, post natal depression, prostitution, the death of a husband, etc. Finally the book ends with the story of Alice, a stroke victim determined to end her life on her own terms without the interference of her uncaring son or a nursing home.Whilst this might seem depressing, it actually manages to be quite uplifting. The harsh realistic imagery of the poverty and hardship present in the lives of these women is contrasted with the beauty of nature, the power of bonds between women, and the cyclical ongoing nature of life and love. The connection made between Kelly and Alice is particularly beautiful and heartrending.It's also important to note that this isn't just a book for women - we read it on our university course and for a lot of the men, this was their favourite book of the module.I had best say, though, that if you dislike hearing about the less glossy side of life, and are particularly sensitive, this may not be for you. Otherwise, definitely worth buying. Unreservedly 5 stars.