Union Street & Blow Your House Down

Rating:
Summary: Blow your concepts down
Review: 'Blow your house down' by the wonderful Pat Barker, handles working class, northern women in such a non-judgemental, fragile fashion, it is ever so difficult to perhaps judge them from your own point of view. Rather than portray these women, as sad, desperate and dirty, Pat barker has written about strong, determined, inderpendant working mothers, lovers and friends. 'Blow your house down' recognises the dreary, miserable, mangled environment these women are forced to work in as a result of their own situations, which life has left them in.

The main story line tells us of a murderer who kills one of the prostitutes. It establishes the fact that no matter how much danger is lurking in and out of these women's lives, they still carry on working the streets, earning their living. Still haunted by their friends murder, they don't reject their own lives- they risk them.

A truly good, honest and disturbing read from one of my favourites.

Rating:
Summary: Hard-hitting Slices of Life
Review: Pat Barker's _Union Street_ and _Blow Your House Down_ are hard-hitting, gritty novels about the lives of working-class women in northeast England (_Union Street_) and prostitutes living in fear of a serial prostitute murderer (_Blow Your House Down_). These novels are not for anyone already taking Prozac; _Union Street_ in particular is unrelentingly depressing, with rape, physical abuse, unwanted pregnancies, and other unpleasantness. Both novels contain scenes that are deeply, shockingly horrible.

So why read these two novels? Barker skillfully makes the lives of these women come alive for the reader: the tedium of their jobs, all the sensory attributes of their homes, the nature of their relationships with their husbands, boyfriends, children, and women friends. She allows us to look in at defining moments in these women's lives: moments that shape their lives, moments where they are forced to make choices, moments where they come to terms with their circumstances.

Neither of these novels are exactly what you'd call fun reads, but they are thought-provoking, absorbing, well-achieved, and memorable. I prefer _Blow Your House Down_ to _Union Street_, perhaps because it is a bit more unified. The accumulation of different horrible circumstances in _Union Street_ can be a bit overwhelming. Both books impress you with these women's ability to survive despite extraordinary hardships, but neither book ever waltzes into the potentially mawkish territory of triumph over circumstances. These women are survivors, not victors.
Pat Barker is one of the greatest contemporary British writers. If you are a fan of her better-known later work, I recommend this volume.

Rating:
Summary: union street
Review: very interesting novel which explores the living standards of middle class women. I found the life of each woman very exciting. I am studying this novel as part of my coursework and would be happy to hear anybodys view on this book