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Bina
"My name is Bina and I'm a very busy woman. That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I'm here to warn you ..."
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2019
About the author
Anakana Schofield
6 books133 followersAnakana Schofield is an Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, essays, and literary criticism. Her second novel Martin John was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and more.. Her debut novel Malarky won the 2012 Amazon.ca First Novel and the Debut Litzer Prize for Fiction in the US and was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Malarky was selected for the highly competitive Barnes & Noble program Discover Great New Writers and named on 16 different Best Book of 2012 lists.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
June 3, 2021
SPOILERS included....
.....but not a tad interference from each reader taking their own turn
with “Bina”.
NOTE...even the book cover, will look different to readers AFTER reading this book.
It is books like “Bina”...by Anakana Schfield ...
that remind me....I can’t fully retire from writing reviews (oh I want to every other day)...but sometimes a book penetrates so deeply into every vein of my body — I don’t feel complete, without this quiet moment - ( me, my fingers typings), trying to express the book’s captivating power —- soooo worthy of ‘every readers’ time.
Honestly - I’m an old fart - 69 years of age - married 42 years - fortunate that I never faced violence, abuse, injustice, or oppression- on even the tip of the scale that our protagonist did.....but I still found reading “Bina” incredibly valuable of my time reading it —-
.....[thank you Betsy for your review and bringing its value to my attention]....
I wish - I could say I don’t believe every point made in ‘Bina’....that I don’t feel it’s all true....but I can’t. I’m limited with by my little quiet - easy & fortunate - life.
That said....I’d like to put this book in every woman’s hands. And if you’re raising daughters - read it with them: discuss it.
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE I write...READ THIS one part: (it’s not written by me — but expresses the core-context of ‘Bina’ so well, I’m including it)...
“This style is utterly unique. Schofield’s wit makes it slip down easily, yet her refusal to spell things out gives the reader plenty of work to determine what is going on. By not telling us explicitly what happened, we are embedded more deeply in Bina’s character. The reader has a greater investment in her story and her life, and the book makes a dialogue out of a monologue . . . [Bina’s] warrings pepper the reader like buckshot, sober slaps in the face amid tragicomic malarkey . . . Here’s another warning: watch out for this book . . . it will undo you”
…..John Self, Irish Times
Anakana Schofield is the author of the acclaimed, Giller Prize— shortlisted novel
‘Martin John’ (2015), and a list of other awards (deserving)….
She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia
In the final words of her Acknowledgments, she write:
“Finally meri a million to my lovely son, Cuan Isamu, who uses too much electricity, cooks a mean chili, and is a great laugh. Mo cheol thu!”
Now....a little more - ha - a lot more (forgive me)....of excerpts.....
hoping they give ‘enough’ flavor for other readers to choose reading Bina.
“For every woman who has had enough”
Warnings
From the opening first page: [note, Bina is 74 years old: she knows a few things]...
“My name is Bina and I’m a very busy woman. That’s Bye-na not Bee-na. I don’t know who Beena is, but I expect she’s having a happy life. I don’t know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you’ve come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I’m here to warn you, not to reassure you”.
“Someone should have told him to shut up, but that’s the problem with men like Eddie, nobody is saying what needs saying. And wait now till you hear how suddenly he wasn’t such a bad lad. And wait now till you hear how it was only since he left that I lost the run of myself. And I must miss him. Rather than the truth. NOT A BIT. Not even a porridge-size but. Not a crumb. As a fella once said to me from the front of his car, if you tell people the truth they won’t believe you, but tell them lies and they’ll believe all of it”.
“I am seeing this now. I am seeing this here today. I am seeing it in the court system, which has me captured while that lug is that free and gone to Canada”.
“And that is one of the many reasons why I am here warning you”.
This is what an angry author looks like:
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No … only the author wrote the word No, 33 times and then said
“This is what no rapid-fire 33 times looks like”.
The author says that if she does nothing else in her warnings to readers…. She will train us to say “No”!
“Write a nice book, she’ll tell you, about nice people, because Bina will warn you raw — you won’t find those nice people in the world! You’ll have to make them up!”
so......okay....maybe I don’t fully believe this: I know many nice people — in my little world....
But.... sometimes we need to hear these urgent uncomfortable truths ....THERE ARE SCUMBAGS sharing this planet with us.
“Another warning: Careful what you think you were hiding, as it’s probably on full view. Careful not to hide suffering because you are only making more work for the people who have yet to discover it. Complain. Complain. Complain. Suffer loud and plentiful or be doomed”.
“Sacrifice is a stupid thing that women do”.
“Don’t do it”.
“The men don’t notice”.
“And all the women around you spend their lives mopping you up”.
“So you’re only making more and more work for the women who’ll have to repair you”.
“That’s more than a warning”
“It is an order”
“Be prepared to be unpopular”.
“I don’t think any of the women knew how bad things had become with Eddie. And that is for the best. Because they’d say things like, Bina, you have the right idea, without indicating exactly which part I had right. And honestly, I didn’t want to be a disappointment to them”.
“How much Phil knew
Bina doesn’t know
What she knew
If she knew
But now Bina can see what families mean when they say they wish they’d known more, or that they wish there was more to know.
One thing about families though
Sometimes they don’t want to know
They say they do.
You tell them
And they lose the brain on you
Call you bad words
Evil deeds”.
This is a bold book - (sometimes very funny- but we’re not fooled), by a talented author.
The writing — which is very different- (yet easy to read) —fully held my attention....[it will yours too]...
‘ Bina’ taps deeply into our cerebral minds .....
Bina’s voice is IN OUR FACE.... not easy to ignore.
Thank you Anakena Schofield > we need books like this.
.....but not a tad interference from each reader taking their own turn
with “Bina”.
NOTE...even the book cover, will look different to readers AFTER reading this book.
It is books like “Bina”...by Anakana Schfield ...
that remind me....I can’t fully retire from writing reviews (oh I want to every other day)...but sometimes a book penetrates so deeply into every vein of my body — I don’t feel complete, without this quiet moment - ( me, my fingers typings), trying to express the book’s captivating power —- soooo worthy of ‘every readers’ time.
Honestly - I’m an old fart - 69 years of age - married 42 years - fortunate that I never faced violence, abuse, injustice, or oppression- on even the tip of the scale that our protagonist did.....but I still found reading “Bina” incredibly valuable of my time reading it —-
.....[thank you Betsy for your review and bringing its value to my attention]....
I wish - I could say I don’t believe every point made in ‘Bina’....that I don’t feel it’s all true....but I can’t. I’m limited with by my little quiet - easy & fortunate - life.
That said....I’d like to put this book in every woman’s hands. And if you’re raising daughters - read it with them: discuss it.
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE I write...READ THIS one part: (it’s not written by me — but expresses the core-context of ‘Bina’ so well, I’m including it)...
“This style is utterly unique. Schofield’s wit makes it slip down easily, yet her refusal to spell things out gives the reader plenty of work to determine what is going on. By not telling us explicitly what happened, we are embedded more deeply in Bina’s character. The reader has a greater investment in her story and her life, and the book makes a dialogue out of a monologue . . . [Bina’s] warrings pepper the reader like buckshot, sober slaps in the face amid tragicomic malarkey . . . Here’s another warning: watch out for this book . . . it will undo you”
…..John Self, Irish Times
Anakana Schofield is the author of the acclaimed, Giller Prize— shortlisted novel
‘Martin John’ (2015), and a list of other awards (deserving)….
She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia
In the final words of her Acknowledgments, she write:
“Finally meri a million to my lovely son, Cuan Isamu, who uses too much electricity, cooks a mean chili, and is a great laugh. Mo cheol thu!”
Now....a little more - ha - a lot more (forgive me)....of excerpts.....
hoping they give ‘enough’ flavor for other readers to choose reading Bina.
“For every woman who has had enough”
Warnings
From the opening first page: [note, Bina is 74 years old: she knows a few things]...
“My name is Bina and I’m a very busy woman. That’s Bye-na not Bee-na. I don’t know who Beena is, but I expect she’s having a happy life. I don’t know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you’ve come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I’m here to warn you, not to reassure you”.
“Someone should have told him to shut up, but that’s the problem with men like Eddie, nobody is saying what needs saying. And wait now till you hear how suddenly he wasn’t such a bad lad. And wait now till you hear how it was only since he left that I lost the run of myself. And I must miss him. Rather than the truth. NOT A BIT. Not even a porridge-size but. Not a crumb. As a fella once said to me from the front of his car, if you tell people the truth they won’t believe you, but tell them lies and they’ll believe all of it”.
“I am seeing this now. I am seeing this here today. I am seeing it in the court system, which has me captured while that lug is that free and gone to Canada”.
“And that is one of the many reasons why I am here warning you”.
This is what an angry author looks like:
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No … only the author wrote the word No, 33 times and then said
“This is what no rapid-fire 33 times looks like”.
The author says that if she does nothing else in her warnings to readers…. She will train us to say “No”!
“Write a nice book, she’ll tell you, about nice people, because Bina will warn you raw — you won’t find those nice people in the world! You’ll have to make them up!”
so......okay....maybe I don’t fully believe this: I know many nice people — in my little world....
But.... sometimes we need to hear these urgent uncomfortable truths ....THERE ARE SCUMBAGS sharing this planet with us.
“Another warning: Careful what you think you were hiding, as it’s probably on full view. Careful not to hide suffering because you are only making more work for the people who have yet to discover it. Complain. Complain. Complain. Suffer loud and plentiful or be doomed”.
“Sacrifice is a stupid thing that women do”.
“Don’t do it”.
“The men don’t notice”.
“And all the women around you spend their lives mopping you up”.
“So you’re only making more and more work for the women who’ll have to repair you”.
“That’s more than a warning”
“It is an order”
“Be prepared to be unpopular”.
“I don’t think any of the women knew how bad things had become with Eddie. And that is for the best. Because they’d say things like, Bina, you have the right idea, without indicating exactly which part I had right. And honestly, I didn’t want to be a disappointment to them”.
“How much Phil knew
Bina doesn’t know
What she knew
If she knew
But now Bina can see what families mean when they say they wish they’d known more, or that they wish there was more to know.
One thing about families though
Sometimes they don’t want to know
They say they do.
You tell them
And they lose the brain on you
Call you bad words
Evil deeds”.
This is a bold book - (sometimes very funny- but we’re not fooled), by a talented author.
The writing — which is very different- (yet easy to read) —fully held my attention....[it will yours too]...
‘ Bina’ taps deeply into our cerebral minds .....
Bina’s voice is IN OUR FACE.... not easy to ignore.
Thank you Anakena Schofield > we need books like this.
June 16, 2021
I said last year: "Not yet published in the UK (I had to buy my copy from Canada) but a sure-fire Goldsmiths contender when it does." Now it has been - and its shortlisted for the Prize.
and also winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year
In 2013, the Irish journalist Joanne Hayden reviewed “two welcome and vital new voices in Irish fiction”, Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and Anakana Schofield’s Malarky: A Novel in Episodes.
Malarky (my review) starred the eccentric Philomena, aka Our Woman. But Hayden's review drew attention to the supporting cast, particularly noting that “Bina, one of the gang, is every bit as bonkers and entertaining as Philomena”, to Schofield’s delight (http://anakanaschofield.com/2013/08/): “I love that Joanne Hayden so intelligently discerned the overturning of stereotypes in Malarky and that she picked up on Bina in the book who I’m partial to.” Bina’s first scene from Malarky:
In a later scene in Malarky, Bina visits Our Woman (aka Phil) in hospital, where she is receiving both physical and psychological care, encountering an eccentric fellow patient, who they nickname Beirut, due to his obsession with the city.
When his mother visits, they discover his real name, Martin John, (and the delusional nature of his obsession): "Our Woman decides its not a good name for him." A footnote says ‘See Martin John: A footnote novel” and indeed Martin John’s story was the subject of Schofield’s eponymous 2nd novel (my review), which is essentially A Novel in Refrains.
Now Schofield’s 3rd novel, inspired as she acknowledges by Hayden’s review, focuses on the story of Bina. Called Bina: A Novel in Warnings, the 74 year-old first-person narrator immediately sets us right on the pronunciation of her name, and gives her first two warnings.
My name is Bina and I'm a very busy woman. That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I'm here to warn you not to reassure you.
I am a modern person with modern thoughts on modern things. I’m not a young person, so I’m used to being ignored. I expect you won’t listen. The last time we met nobody listened to me[1].
If you see me on the road and I pay no heed to you, know I have very good reasons for doing so. If you ever see a person lying in a ditch[2], drive straight past them as fast as you can. And if a man comes to your door, do not open it.
These serve as my first two warnings.
Footnotes:
[1] See, Malarky, a Novel in Episodes.
[2]. Because I was reassured. He’s a nice lad they said, he wasn’t.
The first of these men is the ‘pretend son’ that featured briefly in Malarky. His name Eddie, he crashed his motorcycle into the wall outside her house, where she finds him in a ditch, and when he later leaves hospital, she takes him in, only to spend the following years strongly regretting it. As the novel opens, he has finally, to her relief, flown the nest, to Canada – which leads to a great comic set-piece comparing Justin Trudeau to the Taoiseach:
I didn’t like their Prime Minister, he was flighty. Looks like it take off if he went rolling up an escalator too fast. But he’s a good coat on him. I don’t like our prime minister. He is an awful man. I can’t remember his name but he’s very hairy ears though. A bit like a wolf.
I’ll be honest I’m only repeating what a woman I delivered Meals on Wheels to said about him, because I’m not much for television. Her name was Mary and one day out of nowhere she said, would you look at the ears on him. She was pointing at the television channel claiming it was the Taoiseach. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was actually a badger and now I’m after repeating the story myself without remembering the woman was confused. She was angry about something, I forget what. I agreed with what she was angry about. For I’m angry about a lot of things and I have no one agreeing with me at all.
That’s a warning. Two even.
Find someone who will agree with you.
Don’t repeat stories about people on the television.
But many of her warnings to the reader, and her own anger, follow from her experience with Eddie. Bina’s kidney problems were noted in Malarky, and here she blames them on him:
He’s mad as a goat, they’ll say. Yet I never met a goat as mad as a man.
Goats never caused me mounds of grief.
Goats never sat like a pile of rank mush in my kitchen.
Worse thing they ever did was eat something they couldn’t digest, yet you’d no more go down their throat after it. You leave them be. You let them decide, do you want to live or die? Do you want to carry on or take a left turn?
A man though, he could get into your kidneys and irritate them & you in a very special way. It’s why women are up in the night to go to the toilet as they age. They are widdling the confused strain of anger gathered up in there all day. I’ve no explanation as to why men are up piddling all night too, except perhaps it’s God’s subtle way of tormenting them. He goes straight for the pipe does our Saviour.
Out of the toilet quick, Bina!
Before I’m distracted.
I’m an awful woman for distraction.
Curiosity was my downfall.
You’ll see yet.
The second, known as The Tall Man, who came to her door, is the reason for her warnings about curiosity. He represents ‘The Group’ and wants her, using her position and compassion as a Meals-on-Wheels lady, visiting the home-bound and vulnerable, to help them in their highly secretive, and probably illegal, mission. When she accepts he trains her, largely using Scrabble:
Think about it, he said. Think about how words sit beside each other, think about how one word can blend and become another. Become aware of the shape of the words leaving your mouth. Be noncommittal in all that you say. We are using the language of cover. We have to cover. We have to protect. We have to honour the wishes of our clients.
I had no good clue what he was wittering on about so I covered and nodded.
Exactly what she is asked to do becomes clearer, although never 100% explicit, as the novel progresses. We do soon learn that Phil, from Malarky, has recently died, her daughters blame Bina, who herself is devastated by the loss of her friend, that Bina has spent a week on remand in prison and is facing a trial, that David Bowie comes to her in dreams with messages although he is gradually turning into a penguin, and her house is now protected from the authorities by a gang of Crusties (shades of another recent Irish novel, Kevin Barry's Night Boat to Tangier) who tell her it's not her fault and everything is ultimately the fault of the ECB ... or is it the TSB (Bina isn’t clear):
The TSB Is digging up Nigeria, they say. The TSB is doing all kinds of bad things to mammals and kerbs and eating tires and beating clouds and imprisoning pandas.
The novel consists of Bina’s Warnings and Remarkings from what she has learned from her experience, but all told rather obliquely given the risk as her solicitor and The Group advise her, that things may be used in evidence against her:
But if she is talking and saying nothing
There's sometimes a lot being said
Listen into the gaps of what's not being said and you'll find your answer.
Another excellent novel from Schofield – experimental in literary terms, funny, and yet wise and compassionate. Not yet published in the UK (I had to buy my copy from Canada) but a sure-fire Goldsmiths contender when it does.
An interview with the author (which does explain what Bina is asked to do, so may be best read after the novel):
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment...
I feel like this book could provoke an interesting public conversation, but it doesn’t have to. It’s a work of literature. I take language, I take form, I take character, I take cadence and I put that on the page. And through those literary terms I try to explore some fundamental questions.”
Two other reviews:
https://consumedbyink.ca/2019/06/12/b...
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
and also winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year
In 2013, the Irish journalist Joanne Hayden reviewed “two welcome and vital new voices in Irish fiction”, Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, and Anakana Schofield’s Malarky: A Novel in Episodes.
Malarky (my review) starred the eccentric Philomena, aka Our Woman. But Hayden's review drew attention to the supporting cast, particularly noting that “Bina, one of the gang, is every bit as bonkers and entertaining as Philomena”, to Schofield’s delight (http://anakanaschofield.com/2013/08/): “I love that Joanne Hayden so intelligently discerned the overturning of stereotypes in Malarky and that she picked up on Bina in the book who I’m partial to.” Bina’s first scene from Malarky:
In a later scene in Malarky, Bina visits Our Woman (aka Phil) in hospital, where she is receiving both physical and psychological care, encountering an eccentric fellow patient, who they nickname Beirut, due to his obsession with the city.
When his mother visits, they discover his real name, Martin John, (and the delusional nature of his obsession): "Our Woman decides its not a good name for him." A footnote says ‘See Martin John: A footnote novel” and indeed Martin John’s story was the subject of Schofield’s eponymous 2nd novel (my review), which is essentially A Novel in Refrains.
Now Schofield’s 3rd novel, inspired as she acknowledges by Hayden’s review, focuses on the story of Bina. Called Bina: A Novel in Warnings, the 74 year-old first-person narrator immediately sets us right on the pronunciation of her name, and gives her first two warnings.
My name is Bina and I'm a very busy woman. That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I'm here to warn you not to reassure you.
I am a modern person with modern thoughts on modern things. I’m not a young person, so I’m used to being ignored. I expect you won’t listen. The last time we met nobody listened to me[1].
If you see me on the road and I pay no heed to you, know I have very good reasons for doing so. If you ever see a person lying in a ditch[2], drive straight past them as fast as you can. And if a man comes to your door, do not open it.
These serve as my first two warnings.
Footnotes:
[1] See, Malarky, a Novel in Episodes.
[2]. Because I was reassured. He’s a nice lad they said, he wasn’t.
The first of these men is the ‘pretend son’ that featured briefly in Malarky. His name Eddie, he crashed his motorcycle into the wall outside her house, where she finds him in a ditch, and when he later leaves hospital, she takes him in, only to spend the following years strongly regretting it. As the novel opens, he has finally, to her relief, flown the nest, to Canada – which leads to a great comic set-piece comparing Justin Trudeau to the Taoiseach:
I didn’t like their Prime Minister, he was flighty. Looks like it take off if he went rolling up an escalator too fast. But he’s a good coat on him. I don’t like our prime minister. He is an awful man. I can’t remember his name but he’s very hairy ears though. A bit like a wolf.
I’ll be honest I’m only repeating what a woman I delivered Meals on Wheels to said about him, because I’m not much for television. Her name was Mary and one day out of nowhere she said, would you look at the ears on him. She was pointing at the television channel claiming it was the Taoiseach. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was actually a badger and now I’m after repeating the story myself without remembering the woman was confused. She was angry about something, I forget what. I agreed with what she was angry about. For I’m angry about a lot of things and I have no one agreeing with me at all.
That’s a warning. Two even.
Find someone who will agree with you.
Don’t repeat stories about people on the television.
But many of her warnings to the reader, and her own anger, follow from her experience with Eddie. Bina’s kidney problems were noted in Malarky, and here she blames them on him:
He’s mad as a goat, they’ll say. Yet I never met a goat as mad as a man.
Goats never caused me mounds of grief.
Goats never sat like a pile of rank mush in my kitchen.
Worse thing they ever did was eat something they couldn’t digest, yet you’d no more go down their throat after it. You leave them be. You let them decide, do you want to live or die? Do you want to carry on or take a left turn?
A man though, he could get into your kidneys and irritate them & you in a very special way. It’s why women are up in the night to go to the toilet as they age. They are widdling the confused strain of anger gathered up in there all day. I’ve no explanation as to why men are up piddling all night too, except perhaps it’s God’s subtle way of tormenting them. He goes straight for the pipe does our Saviour.
Out of the toilet quick, Bina!
Before I’m distracted.
I’m an awful woman for distraction.
Curiosity was my downfall.
You’ll see yet.
The second, known as The Tall Man, who came to her door, is the reason for her warnings about curiosity. He represents ‘The Group’ and wants her, using her position and compassion as a Meals-on-Wheels lady, visiting the home-bound and vulnerable, to help them in their highly secretive, and probably illegal, mission. When she accepts he trains her, largely using Scrabble:
Think about it, he said. Think about how words sit beside each other, think about how one word can blend and become another. Become aware of the shape of the words leaving your mouth. Be noncommittal in all that you say. We are using the language of cover. We have to cover. We have to protect. We have to honour the wishes of our clients.
I had no good clue what he was wittering on about so I covered and nodded.
Exactly what she is asked to do becomes clearer, although never 100% explicit, as the novel progresses. We do soon learn that Phil, from Malarky, has recently died, her daughters blame Bina, who herself is devastated by the loss of her friend, that Bina has spent a week on remand in prison and is facing a trial, that David Bowie comes to her in dreams with messages although he is gradually turning into a penguin, and her house is now protected from the authorities by a gang of Crusties (shades of another recent Irish novel, Kevin Barry's Night Boat to Tangier) who tell her it's not her fault and everything is ultimately the fault of the ECB ... or is it the TSB (Bina isn’t clear):
The TSB Is digging up Nigeria, they say. The TSB is doing all kinds of bad things to mammals and kerbs and eating tires and beating clouds and imprisoning pandas.
The novel consists of Bina’s Warnings and Remarkings from what she has learned from her experience, but all told rather obliquely given the risk as her solicitor and The Group advise her, that things may be used in evidence against her:
But if she is talking and saying nothing
There's sometimes a lot being said
Listen into the gaps of what's not being said and you'll find your answer.
Another excellent novel from Schofield – experimental in literary terms, funny, and yet wise and compassionate. Not yet published in the UK (I had to buy my copy from Canada) but a sure-fire Goldsmiths contender when it does.
An interview with the author (which does explain what Bina is asked to do, so may be best read after the novel):
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment...
I feel like this book could provoke an interesting public conversation, but it doesn’t have to. It’s a work of literature. I take language, I take form, I take character, I take cadence and I put that on the page. And through those literary terms I try to explore some fundamental questions.”
Two other reviews:
https://consumedbyink.ca/2019/06/12/b...
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
March 3, 2020
Even if you weren’t wowed by Anakana Schofield’s Martin John, you’ve got to pay attention to Bina when you read Eimear McBride and Rachel Cusk’s backcover blurbs. Bina is a powerful cri de coeur of an elderly and perhaps ill woman, reflecting on men, her friendships, and her life. Dedicated by Schofield ”for every woman who has had enough”, Bina’s — ”That’s Bye-na not Bee-na” had it with men, she’s absolutely had it: ”You know what words are not unreasonable. / I have had enough. / I have had enough and I know this to be a fact. You’ll know when you’ve had enough / You’ll know when you know this to be a fact. / And when you do it’s a perfectly reasonable thing." Bina’s not looking for sympathy: she’s far too tough and far too seasoned to need or expect sympathy. But Bina wants you to hear her and her warnings, accumulated during a lifetime of struggle: ”What looks to be a change for better the initially, can, if carefully and skeptically observed, be an unambiguous deep slide into the dire. / Keep your eye sharp. / Make no decision about what anything might be or become until the very worst of it is upon you. / Don’t. Invite. Change. / Don’t imagine things change for the better. / They don’t.”
Bina’s not for you if you need a plot-driven novel. And Bina’s not for you if you need clarity about just what’s going on. Schofield sets Bina in an Ireland in which 74 year-old Bina finds herself accused of an unnamed crime and involved with an unnamed group working for an unnamed cause. The Group is led by the unnamed Tall Man, the Group is worried about the Mole in its midst, and it and Bina keeps the Glass. The specifics of the cause seems almost irrelevant to Bina: ”I was mad for a day trip that time, so when the others said they were going on a protest I tagged along. I swear I’d no clue what we were going protesting about. Some vague curry of planes, Iraq, Shannon, bullets in bags and bags inside planes that should not be flying over us. Truly, I didn’t care.” Bina’s pretty much alone in the world, especially since the death of her beloved friend Phil, who died grieving for her son killed in the army: ”We need you Phil. We needed you Phil. We needed you to carry on. You were wrong and you should have carried on. You don’t know who needs you til you’re gone. This is the trouble.”
Bina doesn’t pack quite the oomph of Martin John nor its horror, but it’s a compelling and convincing look into the mind and soul of an aging, isolated, and understandably very angry woman.
4.5 stars
Bina’s not for you if you need a plot-driven novel. And Bina’s not for you if you need clarity about just what’s going on. Schofield sets Bina in an Ireland in which 74 year-old Bina finds herself accused of an unnamed crime and involved with an unnamed group working for an unnamed cause. The Group is led by the unnamed Tall Man, the Group is worried about the Mole in its midst, and it and Bina keeps the Glass. The specifics of the cause seems almost irrelevant to Bina: ”I was mad for a day trip that time, so when the others said they were going on a protest I tagged along. I swear I’d no clue what we were going protesting about. Some vague curry of planes, Iraq, Shannon, bullets in bags and bags inside planes that should not be flying over us. Truly, I didn’t care.” Bina’s pretty much alone in the world, especially since the death of her beloved friend Phil, who died grieving for her son killed in the army: ”We need you Phil. We needed you Phil. We needed you to carry on. You were wrong and you should have carried on. You don’t know who needs you til you’re gone. This is the trouble.”
Bina doesn’t pack quite the oomph of Martin John nor its horror, but it’s a compelling and convincing look into the mind and soul of an aging, isolated, and understandably very angry woman.
4.5 stars
November 28, 2021
I was mightily impressed with Anakana Schofield's previous novel, Martin John, an inventive and darkly comic vision of a troubled mind. So I was eager to get my hands on her latest, but I'm afraid it didn't bowl me over in the same way.
This story is narrated by another distressed individual, an Irish woman in her seventies named Bina. From her ramblings we can decipher that she lived alone until a man named Eddie crossed her path and proceeded to take up residence in her home. Eddie was an unpleasant individual by her account, and though he has since moved to Canada, he has left an indelible mark on Bina. She has also gotten into some trouble with the police after becoming involved bunch of hippies, which led to her being imprisoned for a brief period.
Where the novel succeeds is in the voice of Bina. Her mind is clearly addled, she continually repeats herself in her chatter and goes off on tangents that make no sense. But I'm afraid there is very little in the way of real story here, and because of this I didn't find it a very compelling read. The amount of actual plot could be written on the back of one of the receipts that Bina is so fond of. So as an experiment in capturing the twists and turns of an elderly woman's thought process, I would say that it prevails. But as far as an entertaining, captivating storyline goes - for me it fell short.
This story is narrated by another distressed individual, an Irish woman in her seventies named Bina. From her ramblings we can decipher that she lived alone until a man named Eddie crossed her path and proceeded to take up residence in her home. Eddie was an unpleasant individual by her account, and though he has since moved to Canada, he has left an indelible mark on Bina. She has also gotten into some trouble with the police after becoming involved bunch of hippies, which led to her being imprisoned for a brief period.
Where the novel succeeds is in the voice of Bina. Her mind is clearly addled, she continually repeats herself in her chatter and goes off on tangents that make no sense. But I'm afraid there is very little in the way of real story here, and because of this I didn't find it a very compelling read. The amount of actual plot could be written on the back of one of the receipts that Bina is so fond of. So as an experiment in capturing the twists and turns of an elderly woman's thought process, I would say that it prevails. But as far as an entertaining, captivating storyline goes - for me it fell short.
April 30, 2024
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. It certainly had entertaining moments and for personal reasons I found Bina's anger with Eddy particularly funny. It gave me some Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead vibes but the ending wasn't as satisfying.
3.5 rounded up.
3.5 rounded up.
June 7, 2019
My name is Bina and I'm a very busy woman. That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse. I'm here to warn you, not to reassure you.
I love love loved Anakana Schofield's Martin John and went on to love love love her earlier novel, Malarky, and even though I was beyond excited to get my hands on her latest, Bina, and even though Bina herself was a character in Malarky, and makes a brief reference to the main character in Martin John, I didn't love love love this. I don't know if my expectations were too high, or if Schofield's fractured writing style and interconnected stories finally just felt like more of the same, but whereas those first two works fired off all the pleasure centres in my brain, Bina simply didn't engage me in the same way. I'm going to go with three stars here, but that really feels like I'm evaluating Schofield to a higher than usual standard: against her own work that I found more satisfying.
I'm only telling you this to warn you. I've better ways to waste my time than mithering on here. I'm a busy woman. Of that be certain. People think old women have nothing to do but stand around. They're very wrong and very ignorant and do take that last combination of wrong and ignorant as another warning. If people think you have time to stand about, let them know otherwise, by not standing about. Take off! Take off when they least expect it. Could you just hold this for a minute? Don't. Be gone. Would you like to? No. I wouldn't. Can I borrow your bread knife to take on a picnic? No. You can't. Because you'll never bring it back. Would there be any chance...? No. There's no chance. None. None. None.
Subtitled “A Novel in Warnings”, Bina is the story of an old Irish woman who has finally had enough of being used and abused, and having taken to her bed, is writing out her version of recent events on the backs of old bills and envelopes, hoping to distill her hard-earned wisdom into a series of warnings to whoever might eventually find them. Bina is anxious and forgetful, so her writing is both rushed and repetitive – a format that makes for narrative tension (just what is going on?) and provides a lot of blank space on the page and what looks like poetry:
You're going no place
I said to her
You're going no place that I'm not going.
Well.
She said.
Just that.
Well.
Open-ended well for me to fall into.
Come with me.
We eventually learn that the majority of Bina's troubles can be attributed to two men: Eddie (or “Forty Guts” as Phil from Malarky calls him), who fell into Bina's ditch and never left; and the Tall Man, who came in for a cup of tea and a game of Scrabble and got Bina tangled up in all kinds of shadowy business. Now, with a yard full of Crusties, reporters and inspectors snooping about, an answering machine filled with hateful messages, and Phil having gone and made her own mistakes, Bina is glad that Eddie and the Tall Man have disappeared, but can only lay in bed, write out her warnings, and make her way towards the red dot. In a book that seems mostly to be about the need to take control over one's own life (even if that control means the right to lay in bed and do nothing at all; or the right to ask the lady from Meals on Wheels for a special favour), it was shocking to me the extent to which Bina had allowed the vile Eddie to take advantage of her (spoilery quote):
His anger came from no specific location and yet it could become an urban settlement of rage in 60 seconds. The words scared me less than his sounds. The anger of displaced objects being flipped off a surface. The kick of his boot into my sideboard and the crashing of the three cups that fell down and smashed. Which cups were they, I wondered, under the crunch of his hoof as he walked on them and stamped them further into smithereens. Then another hurl let out of him and the sound of cup fragments being kicked further across the floor. But the repeated sound that stayed with me was always his fist. I never recovered from that first time he punched me straight in the ear. I never heard right since on that side, in that ear. And to this day I am none the wiser as to why he landed that first punch at all.
I once again found Schofield's writing to be engaging – sometimes funny, sometimes touching, always artful – but Bina left me wanting more. Obviously, I will happily still look forward to whatever Schofield comes out with next.
April 6, 2021
I really don't know what it is with Irish writers that they can't write a book like normal people. I don't know if this need for experimental fiction is genetic or environmental, but something's up.
It's my second Anakana Schofield's book and I'm pretty sure her next one will just be a bunch of cut-up words offered in a plastic bag for home assembly by the reader. And I will buy it too, because I really like Schofield's words.
Her characters are not particularly pleasant people, however Bina (after whom this book is titled) is definitely more pleasant than the antihero of her Martin John novel who was a regular sex pest.
In the book Bina tells us she would give us a series of warnings, and if we have any sense at all, we would heed them. Of course, Bina's monologue doesn't have a beginning or an ending. It barely has a middle. Everything is chopped up, chaotic, and the reader needs to put it together patiently to learn Bina's story.
If this is not something you feel like reading in its entirety, let me just pass on some of Bina's warnings:
- tell men 'no'
- don't sacrifice yourself: men don't appreciate and women are too busy sacrificing themselves to notice.
- if a man (especially a tall one) rings your doorbell and wants something, do not open the door.
- if the police wants to search your house, they need a warrant
- if you find a man in a ditch, just leave him there.
It's my second Anakana Schofield's book and I'm pretty sure her next one will just be a bunch of cut-up words offered in a plastic bag for home assembly by the reader. And I will buy it too, because I really like Schofield's words.
Her characters are not particularly pleasant people, however Bina (after whom this book is titled) is definitely more pleasant than the antihero of her Martin John novel who was a regular sex pest.
In the book Bina tells us she would give us a series of warnings, and if we have any sense at all, we would heed them. Of course, Bina's monologue doesn't have a beginning or an ending. It barely has a middle. Everything is chopped up, chaotic, and the reader needs to put it together patiently to learn Bina's story.
If this is not something you feel like reading in its entirety, let me just pass on some of Bina's warnings:
- tell men 'no'
- don't sacrifice yourself: men don't appreciate and women are too busy sacrificing themselves to notice.
- if a man (especially a tall one) rings your doorbell and wants something, do not open the door.
- if the police wants to search your house, they need a warrant
- if you find a man in a ditch, just leave him there.
May 29, 2021
Bina, the first-person narrator, has such an authentic, idiosyncratic, heartfelt voice that it is almost impossible to write a review immediately after finishing it/her without mimicking her.
Ergo:
Warnings
Do not read this book if you only like generic voices you recognize because you've read them millions of times and they are familiar.
Only read this book on the blasted Kindle if you cannot possibly get your mitts on a hard copy paperback. There are footnotes at the bottom of many pages and large white spaces and an inventive layout of line breaks that are best seen from a tactile paper book held in your mitts.
Do not be fooled by the page length of said paperback (313 pages). Because of the aforementioned layout, it reads faster than a 150-pager.
Do not ignore the beautiful cover (Katy Homans, designer; George Shaw, art), best held in your mitts while you swoon and breathe on it. (You cannot do this with a Kindle.)
Do not be daunted by the fact that as you are reading and laughing, you may not know exactly what is going on or what Bina is talking about. Patience! It will all come clear.
Remarkings
This book is not like any other because it is written by a writer named Anakana Schofield who probably has never considered writing anything by mimicking anybody else. She writes from her own muse and doesn't give a fig about what you might be used to reading. This is a great thing, to be applauded.
If I told anything at all about the plot, you would be justified in offing me. And since I like my life, mum's the word.
But if you understand the death of a friend, if you understand having had enough, this may be a book for you.
Ergo:
Warnings
Do not read this book if you only like generic voices you recognize because you've read them millions of times and they are familiar.
Only read this book on the blasted Kindle if you cannot possibly get your mitts on a hard copy paperback. There are footnotes at the bottom of many pages and large white spaces and an inventive layout of line breaks that are best seen from a tactile paper book held in your mitts.
Do not be fooled by the page length of said paperback (313 pages). Because of the aforementioned layout, it reads faster than a 150-pager.
Do not ignore the beautiful cover (Katy Homans, designer; George Shaw, art), best held in your mitts while you swoon and breathe on it. (You cannot do this with a Kindle.)
Do not be daunted by the fact that as you are reading and laughing, you may not know exactly what is going on or what Bina is talking about. Patience! It will all come clear.
Remarkings
This book is not like any other because it is written by a writer named Anakana Schofield who probably has never considered writing anything by mimicking anybody else. She writes from her own muse and doesn't give a fig about what you might be used to reading. This is a great thing, to be applauded.
If I told anything at all about the plot, you would be justified in offing me. And since I like my life, mum's the word.
But if you understand the death of a friend, if you understand having had enough, this may be a book for you.
October 29, 2020
Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020
My only previous experience of reading Schofield was her previous Goldsmiths shortlisted book Martin John, which was striking but not a very enjoyable reading experience, so I was a little unsure I wanted to read this book. I am glad that I did, as I enjoyed it much more, and found this portrait of its narrator, a lonely old woman who feels persecuted for reasons that appear increasingly justified, rather touching.
The book is a follow-up of sorts to her first novel Malarky, which I have not read. This is clearly signalled, as there are at least 5 places in which Schofield has added footnotes that just say "See Malarky: A Novel in Episodes". I am not sure what reading it would have added, but for me this book works quite well as a stand-alone story.
Bina's two key relationships are with Phil, a long-standing friend who wants to kill herself, and with Eddie, a relation who took advantage of her generosity but eventually emigrated to Canada.
My only previous experience of reading Schofield was her previous Goldsmiths shortlisted book Martin John, which was striking but not a very enjoyable reading experience, so I was a little unsure I wanted to read this book. I am glad that I did, as I enjoyed it much more, and found this portrait of its narrator, a lonely old woman who feels persecuted for reasons that appear increasingly justified, rather touching.
The book is a follow-up of sorts to her first novel Malarky, which I have not read. This is clearly signalled, as there are at least 5 places in which Schofield has added footnotes that just say "See Malarky: A Novel in Episodes". I am not sure what reading it would have added, but for me this book works quite well as a stand-alone story.
Bina's two key relationships are with Phil, a long-standing friend who wants to kill herself, and with Eddie, a relation who took advantage of her generosity but eventually emigrated to Canada.
October 28, 2020
Don't read this without first reading Malarky (1)
Do read this before reading the Goldsmith (or New Statesman) write ups of the shortlisted books (2)
These serve as my first two warnings
I read this book due to its shortlisting for the 2020 Goldsmith Prize – a prize for which the author has been previously shortlisted with her second novel “Martin John”. Both books are set in Ireland which in the eyes of the Goldsmith prize (which I sometimes think should be relabelled the Celtic Prize) seems to automatically increase their eligibility.
(1) There has been some discussion on this year’s Booker longlist of whether its appropriate to list a book which is part of a series and then debate about whether you actually do need to read the rest of the series to follow the book. In this case although the book is not billed as part of a series I find it very hard to argue that you don’t have to read the author’s rather underwhelming debut novel “Malarky” before reading this. It is not so much that the book tells the story of a prominent side- character from that novel (and her sort-of-son) but more the frequent footnotes referring the reader to the previous book.
Bina has we learnt spend some time on remand and is now awaiting a possible trial, although a group of young activists are supporting her cause and surrounding her house. All of this connected with her meals-on-wheels volunteer position and “The Group” a secretive, organisation that have recruited her to add their illegal cause. And all of a little obscured by the shady activities of her “pretend son” – who deliberately it seems crashed his motorcycle into her hedge, inveigled himself into her house on his discharge from hospital and then used her house as a cover for all sorts of dodgy schemes, which now he has fled to Canada and the authorities are taking a more active interest in Bina, are coming to light.
Another oddity with this book and its shortlisting is the question of spoliers. Much of the book – in the author’s trademark circular style – relies on Bina almost but not quite telling us what she is suspected of and that The Group asked her to do – and how this relates to her past relationship with Phil, the now departed and by Bina much missed, heroine of “Malarky”.
I have given you several facts so far. Add them up and I might give you a prize to send away for at the end.
(2) However the Goldsmith shortlisting and the New Statesman (the prize’s sponsor)’s write up of the shortlist both give away what Bina is doing in the first line. I had not read either but had already by osmosis picked up what the book is about. I would strongly recommend to avoid spoilers if possible.
As an aside some books look accidentally prescient with COVID – this the opposite, for the line “no one suspects people in choirs” albeit the line “Arsenal giving away goals and THIS GOVERNMENT … [he] never stopped going on about THIS GOVERNMENT and he was very angry about the Arsenal Manager” summed up the week I read the book quite nicely (added to by my reading an autobiography of that same person in the same week).
Overall I thought this was the best of the author’s books I have read – as I think it was a better treatment of the difficult topic it covers without the rather crude approach of the first two novels. It also had probably the only time her sense of humour has really appealed to my own (the final quote of my review).
The book I felt had a very strong overlap with Caolinn Hughes's "The Wild Laughter" although I much preferred the poetic language in that.
I didn’t like their [the Canadian] Prime Minister, he was flighty. Looks like it take off if he went rolling up an escalator too fast. But he’s a good coat on him. I don’t like our [Irish] prime minister. He is an awful man. I can’t remember his name but he’s very hairy ears though. A bit like a wolf.
I’ll be honest I’m only repeating what a woman I delivered Meals on Wheels to said about him, because I’m not much for television. Her name was Mary and one day out of nowhere she said, would you look at the ears on him. She was pointing at the television channel claiming it was the Taoiseach. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was actually a badger and now I’m after repeating the story myself without remembering the woman was confused
May 15, 2019
I loved this novel. It will not be to everyone’s liking, but I found it a compelling read.
Bina (pronounced Bye-na) is an angry 74-year-old woman who has “had enough.” From her bed, on discarded envelopes and receipts, she writes her story: “I was always remarking to myself, but now I’m doing my remarking in a more formal capacity for yourselves, and for after I’m gone, and I am very glad of it. For it has been a long life of being talked at, often unintelligently, and at this late hour in the departure lounge of life, I am happy to do the full remarking aloud and down onto these papers.”
Bina tells us about Eddie who inserted himself into her life for a decade during which time “Within these four walls it was persistence, it was never living.” She calls him an “ordeal creator” who became violent and used her property for criminal activities: “The man is a lying hoar. He has lied far and wide and double-eared for 10 years. He’ll lie til the pyramids are fully eroded and rebuilt in Lego.” She is overjoyed that he is gone but is ever fearful that he will return.
Bina introduces us to the Tall Man who recruited her into a group; “What he wanted me to do eventually became a mountain of woe and had me sent inside prison for a week.” Now she is awaiting trial on serious charges. Members of the group, whom she calls Crusties, are camped out in her yard: “They are outside camping with their clipboards, in case the Guards come for me.”
Bina had two friends, Tomás and Phil, but both are gone so she finds herself very much alone. She has decided to write her story to warn people not to repeat her mistakes; she feels she has “been handed this here undertaking. To. Deliver. These. Warnings. I am a practical woman, there’s nothing I like more than to be useful and this here makes me useful.” In fact, much of what she writes consists of warnings. For example, “if you are thinking of opening your hearth or your heart. Don’t.” and “I would warn you never to disclose your dark thoughts but to constantly disclose your truthful thoughts, because it’s only the dark ones that follow when the truthful ones are hid.” and “Don’t do the things you’re not supposed to do. Even if people ask you to do them. Don’t.” and “Another warning: Careful what you think you are hiding, as it’s probably on full view. Careful not to hide suffering because you are only making more work for the people who have yet to discover it.” and “Sacrifice is a stupid thing that women do. Don’t do it. The men don’t notice.”
Bina also writes her conclusions about life based on what she has experienced. She comments on various topics like ageism (“I’m not a young person so I am used to being ignored”) and media (“It’s a funny thing when the papers write about you or the TV tells about you, but they have not talked to you. . . . They give you a voice based on what they believe your actions are. They talk about you like they are speculating through binoculars”) and the treatment of women (“They were not giving up because I was a woman and I was grabable”). She mentions that “There’s nothing quite as confusing as yourself, I concluded. This is likely why so many of us succumb to absolute confusion, the dementia, in the end.” and “if you tell people the truth they won’t believe you, but tell them lies and they’ll believe all of it.” and “We cannot know every reason a person has for doing a thing.”
There are some wonderful touches of humour:
“A man though, he could get into your kidneys and irritate them & you in a very special way. It’s why women are up in the night to go to the toilet as they age. They are widdling the confused strain of anger gathered up in there all day. I’ve no explanation as to why men are up piddling all night too, except perhaps it’s God’s subtle way of tormenting them. He goes straight for the pipe does our Saviour.”
and
“There’s a new fella out there, the lanky looper I call him, with a thin face and a long beard that might have food gone relic inside it. He has it twisted down to a point and a red elastic band put on it with a bead or three, and he looks surgically demented. I don’t care what you put on yourself. I wouldn’t care if you tattooed a droopy spider on your baldhead like a lampshade, but a grown man with three pink beads hanging from his chin is disturbing.”
and
When her lawyer tells her to watch her words because “’You’re going to scupper us all if you keep this up,’” she thinks, “Last I checked there are no double berths for the convicted and their solicitors in any prison in this country.”
Because the style is unconventional, the narrative is fractured. Bina circles around events without fully explaining herself so it takes a while to understand, for example, what work she actually did with the group. She says that she is being vague so she doesn’t implicate herself; because of legal reasons, she “cannot articulate without getting in trouble.” She repeats herself to emphasize her message but also because she is forgetful. She admits that “My memory isn’t great so you may have to read a few things twice” and bemoans how “A name, a word, a meaning, a person, it’s all unthreading and blowing out the backdoor of my mind.” She often addresses the reader directly: “Don’t forget, when you can’t remember, it’ll come back to you.” Sometimes he speaks about herself in the third person.
There are sections which read more like poetry than prose:
I panicked too much.
It’s been a lifetime of panic. Eddie would make you panic. It’s how he is.
Sirenic.
Claxonic.
Awful.
Awful.
Awful.
At times the language reminded of e e cumming’s poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town”: “This wasn’t unusual heard. It wasn’t unusual to hear it. You could not at all it. You could not at all them. But you couldn’t eradicate the thought of it. You couldn’t get at the part of them that had started to feel it or had maybe felt it all their lives. You wouldn’t even know what someone felt all their lives and whether it was now or then they were feeling it and when was then and how was now? Maybe they could barely arrive at now because of then.”
This would probably be considered a difficult book. Early on, Bina actually mentions this:
But this hasn’t been a difficult book yet.
Bina’s not for difficult books.
Life is full of difficulty, so if she were ever to lie down and take up a book, it couldn’t be a difficult one.
I’d never read that rubbish, she’d say of this book.
It would give me bad dreams.
Despite the book’s challenging style, serious subject and often melancholic tone, I highly recommend it. Bina’s voice is one you will not soon forget.
Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Bina (pronounced Bye-na) is an angry 74-year-old woman who has “had enough.” From her bed, on discarded envelopes and receipts, she writes her story: “I was always remarking to myself, but now I’m doing my remarking in a more formal capacity for yourselves, and for after I’m gone, and I am very glad of it. For it has been a long life of being talked at, often unintelligently, and at this late hour in the departure lounge of life, I am happy to do the full remarking aloud and down onto these papers.”
Bina tells us about Eddie who inserted himself into her life for a decade during which time “Within these four walls it was persistence, it was never living.” She calls him an “ordeal creator” who became violent and used her property for criminal activities: “The man is a lying hoar. He has lied far and wide and double-eared for 10 years. He’ll lie til the pyramids are fully eroded and rebuilt in Lego.” She is overjoyed that he is gone but is ever fearful that he will return.
Bina introduces us to the Tall Man who recruited her into a group; “What he wanted me to do eventually became a mountain of woe and had me sent inside prison for a week.” Now she is awaiting trial on serious charges. Members of the group, whom she calls Crusties, are camped out in her yard: “They are outside camping with their clipboards, in case the Guards come for me.”
Bina had two friends, Tomás and Phil, but both are gone so she finds herself very much alone. She has decided to write her story to warn people not to repeat her mistakes; she feels she has “been handed this here undertaking. To. Deliver. These. Warnings. I am a practical woman, there’s nothing I like more than to be useful and this here makes me useful.” In fact, much of what she writes consists of warnings. For example, “if you are thinking of opening your hearth or your heart. Don’t.” and “I would warn you never to disclose your dark thoughts but to constantly disclose your truthful thoughts, because it’s only the dark ones that follow when the truthful ones are hid.” and “Don’t do the things you’re not supposed to do. Even if people ask you to do them. Don’t.” and “Another warning: Careful what you think you are hiding, as it’s probably on full view. Careful not to hide suffering because you are only making more work for the people who have yet to discover it.” and “Sacrifice is a stupid thing that women do. Don’t do it. The men don’t notice.”
Bina also writes her conclusions about life based on what she has experienced. She comments on various topics like ageism (“I’m not a young person so I am used to being ignored”) and media (“It’s a funny thing when the papers write about you or the TV tells about you, but they have not talked to you. . . . They give you a voice based on what they believe your actions are. They talk about you like they are speculating through binoculars”) and the treatment of women (“They were not giving up because I was a woman and I was grabable”). She mentions that “There’s nothing quite as confusing as yourself, I concluded. This is likely why so many of us succumb to absolute confusion, the dementia, in the end.” and “if you tell people the truth they won’t believe you, but tell them lies and they’ll believe all of it.” and “We cannot know every reason a person has for doing a thing.”
There are some wonderful touches of humour:
“A man though, he could get into your kidneys and irritate them & you in a very special way. It’s why women are up in the night to go to the toilet as they age. They are widdling the confused strain of anger gathered up in there all day. I’ve no explanation as to why men are up piddling all night too, except perhaps it’s God’s subtle way of tormenting them. He goes straight for the pipe does our Saviour.”
and
“There’s a new fella out there, the lanky looper I call him, with a thin face and a long beard that might have food gone relic inside it. He has it twisted down to a point and a red elastic band put on it with a bead or three, and he looks surgically demented. I don’t care what you put on yourself. I wouldn’t care if you tattooed a droopy spider on your baldhead like a lampshade, but a grown man with three pink beads hanging from his chin is disturbing.”
and
When her lawyer tells her to watch her words because “’You’re going to scupper us all if you keep this up,’” she thinks, “Last I checked there are no double berths for the convicted and their solicitors in any prison in this country.”
Because the style is unconventional, the narrative is fractured. Bina circles around events without fully explaining herself so it takes a while to understand, for example, what work she actually did with the group. She says that she is being vague so she doesn’t implicate herself; because of legal reasons, she “cannot articulate without getting in trouble.” She repeats herself to emphasize her message but also because she is forgetful. She admits that “My memory isn’t great so you may have to read a few things twice” and bemoans how “A name, a word, a meaning, a person, it’s all unthreading and blowing out the backdoor of my mind.” She often addresses the reader directly: “Don’t forget, when you can’t remember, it’ll come back to you.” Sometimes he speaks about herself in the third person.
There are sections which read more like poetry than prose:
I panicked too much.
It’s been a lifetime of panic. Eddie would make you panic. It’s how he is.
Sirenic.
Claxonic.
Awful.
Awful.
Awful.
At times the language reminded of e e cumming’s poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town”: “This wasn’t unusual heard. It wasn’t unusual to hear it. You could not at all it. You could not at all them. But you couldn’t eradicate the thought of it. You couldn’t get at the part of them that had started to feel it or had maybe felt it all their lives. You wouldn’t even know what someone felt all their lives and whether it was now or then they were feeling it and when was then and how was now? Maybe they could barely arrive at now because of then.”
This would probably be considered a difficult book. Early on, Bina actually mentions this:
But this hasn’t been a difficult book yet.
Bina’s not for difficult books.
Life is full of difficulty, so if she were ever to lie down and take up a book, it couldn’t be a difficult one.
I’d never read that rubbish, she’d say of this book.
It would give me bad dreams.
Despite the book’s challenging style, serious subject and often melancholic tone, I highly recommend it. Bina’s voice is one you will not soon forget.
Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
March 5, 2021
The first 50 pages were of the most hilarious I ever read. After that, it got less hilarious but even better. Brilliant book. Seems like I'm adding two more books to my order list.
July 6, 2019
This is a profoundly different type of novel, which begins in a deceptively simple way. But first, may I offer you a warning of my own… give yourself time to fall into the rhythm of this story. You may not think you like it at first, at least I didn’t. Took me a while. Bina has taken to her bed to escape the troubling outside world and to try to make sense of her thoughts by writing down her warnings and remarkings. What transpires is a deep and disturbing series of revelations in cryptic dialogue from Bina’s head (and heart). I am in awe of Anakana Schofield’s ability to create and reveal to her readers such a vivid and fully exposed character, the perfect dialect, the emotional undertones and the wonderful wit. This is brilliant. it took me back into hidden corners of my mind, back to the ‘old country’ and the sayings and words of wisdom from my own grandmothers. The writing jumps off the page. And amid the pathos there is this unstoppable, insatiable humour. Had me laughing out loud in places. Some quotes:
“… and at this late hour in the departure lounge of life…”
… “We are waiting for the Coroner’s report.
We’ll see what’s in the report
And the toxicology tests
They take a life time.
You could be resurrected before they figure out what killed you.”
… “Why would looking left mean you are lying?
‘do not look left, ever’ (the tall man said to Bina.) And Bina ponders:
“I imagine a lot of people get run over from following that part of his advice.”
Oh, and one last quote: “Resignation is not acceptance.”
Bina is astonishing. Thank you Anakana Schofield. It was a pleasure to meet you at MacNally for your Winnipeg launch of Bina on May 29th 2019. (And once before in 2012 at WIWF).
“… and at this late hour in the departure lounge of life…”
… “We are waiting for the Coroner’s report.
We’ll see what’s in the report
And the toxicology tests
They take a life time.
You could be resurrected before they figure out what killed you.”
… “Why would looking left mean you are lying?
‘do not look left, ever’ (the tall man said to Bina.) And Bina ponders:
“I imagine a lot of people get run over from following that part of his advice.”
Oh, and one last quote: “Resignation is not acceptance.”
Bina is astonishing. Thank you Anakana Schofield. It was a pleasure to meet you at MacNally for your Winnipeg launch of Bina on May 29th 2019. (And once before in 2012 at WIWF).
June 19, 2019
I received a free ARC of this book at a library conference I attended. Sorry but I just couldn’t get into it. Like many others have stated, it was highly repetitive. I didn’t understand if she was taking about the IRA or whatever. The Tall Man, Phil, Eddie, the Crusties????
WARNING: Dear Readers: Your reading time is precious! If you do not enjoy this book after 20 or so pages there are many more books out there. Use your time wisely.
Warning: It is ok to not finish a book.
Warning: This book might not be your cup of tea.
Please heed my warnings!
WARNING: Dear Readers: Your reading time is precious! If you do not enjoy this book after 20 or so pages there are many more books out there. Use your time wisely.
Warning: It is ok to not finish a book.
Warning: This book might not be your cup of tea.
Please heed my warnings!
March 24, 2020
At first, Bina seems to be just funny and quirky, but as the novel progresses you learn more about what exactly has happened and it gets sad and occasionally dangerous. Very original and well written. I loved this experimental novel!
February 5, 2021
My review for the Minneapolis Star Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/review-bi...
Even the dedication of Irish-Canadian writer Anakana Schofield's witty and abrasive "Bina: A Novel in Warnings" is relatably caustic: "For every woman who has had enough." A warning serves as an alarm, a signal, an admonition, a summons, and as its subtitle promises — or threatens — Schofield's novel is all of these.
Told in the angry voice of an aggrieved and agitated Irish septuagenarian, the book cautions upfront what the reader's getting into: "That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse."
From there, Bina launches into her scathing and offbeat examination of the demands of empathy faced by women of all ages, and the negative outcomes — both petty and sweeping — that women endure because of said demands.
Bina's woes derive almost entirely from men, including her "sorta son" Eddie, "the kind of son you are landed with because no beggar wants to be bothered with him and because he's used up all his goodwill and will soon expire on yours."
There's also the Tall Man, or "Dr Death, as the papers have dubbed him." Her complicated loyalty to her dear female friend Phil — short for Philomena — provides a fraught counterpoint to these men's manipulations.
Bina has landed in serious legal trouble due to her involvement in a pro-euthanasia activist organization she calls only The Group. She's jotting her testimony in secret on "all over the back of these bills and papers." The plot unspools obliquely, with important details revealed in footnotes full of philosophizing, like: "I saw this when I was arrested. I saw how simple the thinking on right and wrong is and how there's no road found in between."
Experimental and fragmentary, the novel includes profuse white space. Many pages are poetically spare with paragraphs more closely resembling stanzas, as when Bina opines, "Life is nothing but ordeals. / Have you noticed? / There are ordeal creators. / That's a fact." Sometimes, she even rhymes, as when she reproves: "See / Men stay on the mat / Don't let them in / It means din." This formal audacity results in a propulsive energy, a quick and quirky reading experience that feels pleasantly unpleasant, equal parts entertaining and upsetting.
Schofield's debut, "Malarky" (2012), won the Amazon First Novel Award, and her follow-up, "Martin John," was shortlisted for Canada's Giller Prize. Bina appeared as a minor character in the former, and Phil was the narrator, but this book can stand alone.
In the vein of Rachel Cusk or Clarice Lispector from whom she draws one of her epigraphs, Schofield uses her book's inventive structure to deliver a story that's biting, bitter and rife with dark humor. Relentless in her tone of alarm, like a warning bell or a warning shot, Bina's words will leave your head ringing.
Even the dedication of Irish-Canadian writer Anakana Schofield's witty and abrasive "Bina: A Novel in Warnings" is relatably caustic: "For every woman who has had enough." A warning serves as an alarm, a signal, an admonition, a summons, and as its subtitle promises — or threatens — Schofield's novel is all of these.
Told in the angry voice of an aggrieved and agitated Irish septuagenarian, the book cautions upfront what the reader's getting into: "That's Bye-na, not Beena. I don't know who Beena is but I expect she's having a happy life. I don't know who you are, or the state of your life. But if you've come all this way here to listen to me, your life will undoubtedly get worse."
From there, Bina launches into her scathing and offbeat examination of the demands of empathy faced by women of all ages, and the negative outcomes — both petty and sweeping — that women endure because of said demands.
Bina's woes derive almost entirely from men, including her "sorta son" Eddie, "the kind of son you are landed with because no beggar wants to be bothered with him and because he's used up all his goodwill and will soon expire on yours."
There's also the Tall Man, or "Dr Death, as the papers have dubbed him." Her complicated loyalty to her dear female friend Phil — short for Philomena — provides a fraught counterpoint to these men's manipulations.
Bina has landed in serious legal trouble due to her involvement in a pro-euthanasia activist organization she calls only The Group. She's jotting her testimony in secret on "all over the back of these bills and papers." The plot unspools obliquely, with important details revealed in footnotes full of philosophizing, like: "I saw this when I was arrested. I saw how simple the thinking on right and wrong is and how there's no road found in between."
Experimental and fragmentary, the novel includes profuse white space. Many pages are poetically spare with paragraphs more closely resembling stanzas, as when Bina opines, "Life is nothing but ordeals. / Have you noticed? / There are ordeal creators. / That's a fact." Sometimes, she even rhymes, as when she reproves: "See / Men stay on the mat / Don't let them in / It means din." This formal audacity results in a propulsive energy, a quick and quirky reading experience that feels pleasantly unpleasant, equal parts entertaining and upsetting.
Schofield's debut, "Malarky" (2012), won the Amazon First Novel Award, and her follow-up, "Martin John," was shortlisted for Canada's Giller Prize. Bina appeared as a minor character in the former, and Phil was the narrator, but this book can stand alone.
In the vein of Rachel Cusk or Clarice Lispector from whom she draws one of her epigraphs, Schofield uses her book's inventive structure to deliver a story that's biting, bitter and rife with dark humor. Relentless in her tone of alarm, like a warning bell or a warning shot, Bina's words will leave your head ringing.
November 3, 2020
I read this book due to its inclusion on the 2020 Goldsmiths Prize shortlist. A few years ago, I read the author’s previous book, Martin John, when it, too, was shortlisted for this prize. In preparation for reading Bina, I also recently (in fact, immediately before this one) read the author’s debut novel, Malarky.
The first thing I would say, my first warning, as Bina might say, is that you really should read Malarky before you read Bina. Bina is a minor character in Malarky and Phil, the main character in Malarky, plays a significant role from the sidelines in Bina. I think you could read Bina standalone, but I am not sure it is a good idea.
Anakana Schofield has a distinctive writing style that takes a bit of getting used to. Sentences are broken up, protagonist and grammatical tense are likely to change mid-sentence without warning, there is a fair amount of repetition. On top of all these, this books includes a lot of hints about what is going on without necessarily coming clean. We can work out as the book progresses what it is that Bina has been doing to get herself into trouble. But The Group and the Tall Man, for example, remain somewhat unexplained.
In all three of the books mentioned, the protagonists are memorable characters with memorable voices. It’s personal choice in the end, but Bina is the least convincing for me (with Our Woman, Philomena or Phil, coming out on top). This novel is notably more subtle about its message or theme. Where the first two novels rather shouted at the reader, this one barely whispers and leaves the reader to piece things together. So, whilst I found the protagonist less convincing here, I did like the approach. Others, I know, feel exactly the opposite!
The first thing I would say, my first warning, as Bina might say, is that you really should read Malarky before you read Bina. Bina is a minor character in Malarky and Phil, the main character in Malarky, plays a significant role from the sidelines in Bina. I think you could read Bina standalone, but I am not sure it is a good idea.
Anakana Schofield has a distinctive writing style that takes a bit of getting used to. Sentences are broken up, protagonist and grammatical tense are likely to change mid-sentence without warning, there is a fair amount of repetition. On top of all these, this books includes a lot of hints about what is going on without necessarily coming clean. We can work out as the book progresses what it is that Bina has been doing to get herself into trouble. But The Group and the Tall Man, for example, remain somewhat unexplained.
In all three of the books mentioned, the protagonists are memorable characters with memorable voices. It’s personal choice in the end, but Bina is the least convincing for me (with Our Woman, Philomena or Phil, coming out on top). This novel is notably more subtle about its message or theme. Where the first two novels rather shouted at the reader, this one barely whispers and leaves the reader to piece things together. So, whilst I found the protagonist less convincing here, I did like the approach. Others, I know, feel exactly the opposite!
April 9, 2021
I've just this moment finished this novel, and I'm a bit teary and my heart is swollen. I've fallen more than a little in love with the 74-year-old Irish lady named Bina (as she says: "That's Bye-na not Bee-na") who is telling this story in her own off-kilter way. I'm sad right along with her that she's lost her life-long best girlfriend Phil. And at its core, that's what this story is about -- about lifelong best female friends and the things women do for each other and for others around them.
If you are bothered by unreliable narrators, please know that Bina is definitely unreliable. In the beginning of the book, it is not clear why that is, but hang in there and I promise it is worth it. I double-dog dare you not to shed at least a tear or two along the way.
I'm off to find Anakana Schofield's earlier novels, and I'll be watching for whatever she writes next.
If you are bothered by unreliable narrators, please know that Bina is definitely unreliable. In the beginning of the book, it is not clear why that is, but hang in there and I promise it is worth it. I double-dog dare you not to shed at least a tear or two along the way.
I'm off to find Anakana Schofield's earlier novels, and I'll be watching for whatever she writes next.
July 12, 2019
Bina is the story of a woman trying to make sense of a completely nonsensical concept: how it is that the people we want to go stay and the people we want to stay go. Bina mulls over the ins and outs of this distressing conundrum with great fervor while at the same time hoping to save the reader from a similar fate through the postings of warnings. In the process, she completely endears herself to the reader.
Nobody gets into the heads of her main characters like Schofield and she does it again with Bina. I swear, she must have ate, slept and breathed Bina the entire time she was writing the book and I bet she hated finishing it knowing she would lose a very good hen as she wrote the last sentence.
Bina comes across as entirely real and Schofield stays true to her character through every sentence of every page. It's there in Bina's way of speaking, in her big heart and desire to be useful, in her roundabout way of making sense of things, her sense of humour, her vulnerability, her likes and dislikes, and her integrity and courage. Bina, the character, is a delight and I absolutely love her.
Nobody gets into the heads of her main characters like Schofield and she does it again with Bina. I swear, she must have ate, slept and breathed Bina the entire time she was writing the book and I bet she hated finishing it knowing she would lose a very good hen as she wrote the last sentence.
Bina comes across as entirely real and Schofield stays true to her character through every sentence of every page. It's there in Bina's way of speaking, in her big heart and desire to be useful, in her roundabout way of making sense of things, her sense of humour, her vulnerability, her likes and dislikes, and her integrity and courage. Bina, the character, is a delight and I absolutely love her.
December 31, 2020
This is a fantastic read! I loved this book. So unique and strange and though-provoking. 4.5 stars rounding up.
It reminded me of two other books I've loved: Bellevue Square and Crackpot. I know I will miss Bina the way I missed the women in those two books.
This would be a fantastic book for a book club to read. I would love to have a group of people to chat with about it!
It reminded me of two other books I've loved: Bellevue Square and Crackpot. I know I will miss Bina the way I missed the women in those two books.
This would be a fantastic book for a book club to read. I would love to have a group of people to chat with about it!
May 26, 2019
Well that was powerful. It’s essentially one long oral monologue with a few stylistic tricks thrown into the mix. Schofield really nails the ranting iterative voice — I was mesmerized. Also a totally incongruous and totally charming David Bowie cameo. It’s almost a 5, and I’m trying to figure out what’s keeping me from moving the score up. I think it’s this: with a 5 book you walk around for days afterwards with the protagonist’s voice in your head, but my memory of Bina is already fading 12 hours after I finished the book. Not sure why, but there we are.
June 12, 2019
The book has a strange structure and is confusing at first, but once I got comfortable with the narrator's voice it was wonderful. It covers female friendship, male violence, aging, assisted death in a very unique way. I'm going to read her previous books.
May 2, 2019
Bina––pronounced Bye-na, not Bee-na––is the latest non-traditional story by Giller nominated Schofield. Told as a series of warnings scribbled on the backs of old envelopes and receipts, the titular septuagenarian bluntly describes her dangerous encounters with men. Because Bina’s convinced that he’s largely to blame for ruining her life and turning her into an emotional wreck, her main focus is the abusive freeloader, Eddie, though she also warns us about a mysterious Tall Man who recruits her into his secret group and subsequently gets her into a whole heap of trouble with the law.
While Bina’s unique style could come across as gimmicky in the hands of a less capable author, Schofield shows that she understands the confines of her narrative enough to make it compelling. She starts up close, showing off Bina’s hilariously coarse personality before stepping back and giving us a sobering view of a tragic life. And I’m interested in discussing deeper aspects of the story after this movement takes place, but the effectiveness of the movement itself makes me hesitant to do so. Quick glimpses into the nature of Bina’s work with the Tall Man through offhand remarks, for example, sent me off speculating in all sorts of wild directions, engaging me strongly in the process. Thus, as spoiling this seems reasonably likely to be able to hurt enjoyment, I’ll hold off doing so in this instance. (Contrast this against my handling of Terry Fallis’ The Best Laid Plans, where I felt the risk of ruining things through this kind of discussion was much lower.)
Though the sometimes repetitive nature of Bina’s warnings bog things down a bit in the middle, this is admittedly a small gripe when held up against everything I liked about the book. Her story is ultimately thoughtful and nuanced, though you may want to approach it cautiously if you usually find yourself preferring stories told in more standard ways.
While Bina’s unique style could come across as gimmicky in the hands of a less capable author, Schofield shows that she understands the confines of her narrative enough to make it compelling. She starts up close, showing off Bina’s hilariously coarse personality before stepping back and giving us a sobering view of a tragic life. And I’m interested in discussing deeper aspects of the story after this movement takes place, but the effectiveness of the movement itself makes me hesitant to do so. Quick glimpses into the nature of Bina’s work with the Tall Man through offhand remarks, for example, sent me off speculating in all sorts of wild directions, engaging me strongly in the process. Thus, as spoiling this seems reasonably likely to be able to hurt enjoyment, I’ll hold off doing so in this instance. (Contrast this against my handling of Terry Fallis’ The Best Laid Plans, where I felt the risk of ruining things through this kind of discussion was much lower.)
Though the sometimes repetitive nature of Bina’s warnings bog things down a bit in the middle, this is admittedly a small gripe when held up against everything I liked about the book. Her story is ultimately thoughtful and nuanced, though you may want to approach it cautiously if you usually find yourself preferring stories told in more standard ways.
May 14, 2019
I loved Malarky, but Bina (Bye-na, not Beena) did my haid in.
Her voice enthralled me --"I am a modern woman with modern thoughts on modern things. I'm not a young person so I am used to being ignored. I expect you won't listen."
Her warnings entertained me -- "If you ever see a person lying in a ditch, drive straight past them as fast as you can."
Her overall life as it was slowly revealed in her stream of conscious voice intrigued me. She had been landed with Eddie, sometimes referred to as the Son of Satan, after he landed in her ditch. Then there was the other fella. She had opened her door to the Tall Man and ended up part of a group participating in illegal activities.
Then there was her friend Phil.
Bina is one angry woman. Bina has had enough, what with Crusties camped out on her property and the lawyer not coming to visit her and angry messages on the phone. She takes to her bed. And thinks.
It is the thinking that did me in. By the time I finished the tale, I was in Bina's head.
While this is a tribute to Anakana Schofield's writing, it was not a comfortable place to be. I felt like I was losing it. Perhaps I am.
Her voice enthralled me --"I am a modern woman with modern thoughts on modern things. I'm not a young person so I am used to being ignored. I expect you won't listen."
Her warnings entertained me -- "If you ever see a person lying in a ditch, drive straight past them as fast as you can."
Her overall life as it was slowly revealed in her stream of conscious voice intrigued me. She had been landed with Eddie, sometimes referred to as the Son of Satan, after he landed in her ditch. Then there was the other fella. She had opened her door to the Tall Man and ended up part of a group participating in illegal activities.
Then there was her friend Phil.
Bina is one angry woman. Bina has had enough, what with Crusties camped out on her property and the lawyer not coming to visit her and angry messages on the phone. She takes to her bed. And thinks.
It is the thinking that did me in. By the time I finished the tale, I was in Bina's head.
While this is a tribute to Anakana Schofield's writing, it was not a comfortable place to be. I felt like I was losing it. Perhaps I am.
May 22, 2021
I am always looking for novels that are written in a strong, distinctive voice. Anakana Schofield’s latest novel, Bina, has that in spades.
It’s a bitterly funny and completely bonkers tale about an elderly Irish woman called Bina — “That’s Bye-na not Beena” — who gave shelter to a man who later refused to leave.
He’s now in Canada, but she’s worried he might return. It’s not clear what the man has done to upset her so much, nor why he’s now abroad. It’s also not clear why she has protestors in her front garden and medical waste in her back garden.
It’s written in such a way that nothing is really clear at all.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
It’s a bitterly funny and completely bonkers tale about an elderly Irish woman called Bina — “That’s Bye-na not Beena” — who gave shelter to a man who later refused to leave.
He’s now in Canada, but she’s worried he might return. It’s not clear what the man has done to upset her so much, nor why he’s now abroad. It’s also not clear why she has protestors in her front garden and medical waste in her back garden.
It’s written in such a way that nothing is really clear at all.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
September 28, 2021
Bina is a 74-year-old woman who is not going to make her story palatable for you. She will take her time laying out her warnings (most of which revolve around "don't trust men") in a way that insists on taking up the space women are routinely told not to take. I'm always amazed by people who take their time telling a personal story - my method is typically to tell it as quickly and efficiently as possible, so as not to bore the listener who I'm convinced doesn't want to hear about my life in the first place. Bina is fed up with that shit, and the book's form reflects that, talking around the story instead of telling it straightforwardly.
Come to this novel with tolerance and patience for form as a character in the story, or don't come at all. But come to it, because all women need the kinds of warnings Bina has learned about the hard way. It seems like much of her life was spent extending herself to men, and her willingness to help them ruins her life. You see over and over the ways in which women allow men to latch onto them and how impossibly hard it can be for those women to then detangle themselves from the messes the men have made. For this, Bina has warnings, her generosity continuing to show.
The novel's odd structure left me feeling I didn't grasp every plot element there was, and it seems like a book that needs a second read. But it goes quick and would probably be a fun reread, if new things are revealed each time.
Come to this novel with tolerance and patience for form as a character in the story, or don't come at all. But come to it, because all women need the kinds of warnings Bina has learned about the hard way. It seems like much of her life was spent extending herself to men, and her willingness to help them ruins her life. You see over and over the ways in which women allow men to latch onto them and how impossibly hard it can be for those women to then detangle themselves from the messes the men have made. For this, Bina has warnings, her generosity continuing to show.
The novel's odd structure left me feeling I didn't grasp every plot element there was, and it seems like a book that needs a second read. But it goes quick and would probably be a fun reread, if new things are revealed each time.
January 5, 2020
Atypical writing style, but it works really well to slowly reveal the conflict. Not suitable for picking up and putting down over weeks but good to read in stretches. Bina's distress and grief over Phil commands a lot of sympathy. I felt so sad for her. You can't blame her for taking Eddie in or letting herself be trained by the Tall Man. (is it a coincidence that Tallman is also a reference to labelling protocol in pharmaceuticals?) The stream of consciousness style is great, but I am unsure of the purpose of the sporadic third person narrator. To ground the story? Stop it from flying away? Reassure the reader that someone else is also watching Bina and knows her? Is it the Tall Man? The Crusties help the reader, let's us know Bina does have people supporting her even if she feels utterly alone and helpless.
November 18, 2019
This is a love it or hate it kind of novel. Story of Bina, 74, told through warnings on how to live life. Highlights include you will know when you've had enough and if you ever see a person lying I a ditch, drive straight past them as fast as you can. It's hilarious and sad and since I had the pleasure of hearing Anakana Schofield read, I could hear it all in her lovely accent.
I've never read anything like it. Its confusing, disjointed and fabulous. Basic plot is Bina is on trial for counselling/assisting euthanasia cases. Subplots include the hippies who try and prevent her arrest, the death of her best friend, and her border the abusive Eddie who refuses to leave once he's in the door.
So very good.
I've never read anything like it. Its confusing, disjointed and fabulous. Basic plot is Bina is on trial for counselling/assisting euthanasia cases. Subplots include the hippies who try and prevent her arrest, the death of her best friend, and her border the abusive Eddie who refuses to leave once he's in the door.
So very good.
May 21, 2019
I received this book as a goodreads fist-read giveaway. I am very sorry, but I couldn’t get past the first 20 pages or so. I tried twice. The style used is that of a woman writing on The backs of envelopes. Her thoughts are scattered. I am sure that the reason for her scattered thoughts and writing this way will become clear later on, but I couldn’t make it far enough to find out. I found the style very disjointed and jarring
June 24, 2019
Well this is certainly a unique way to write a book. It was more like journal entries. There was a lot of things I didn’t understand, like who were the Crusties? It is a book with no real plot. However the style of writing, and the turn of a phrase was occasionally entertaining. It was an easy read because the words didn’t fill up each page. It’s good to try new things, but this book showed me that I like books with beginnings, middles, and endings, lol.
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