Amy Liptrot

Very compelling memoir. Liptrot grew up on Orkney, came down to London where her life was overtaken by her alcoholism, and then eventually recovered her sobriety back up in Orkney. There is a clear-headed detachment to her writing, and she seems very self-aware (without being too solipsistic), which is an enjoyable quality. The descriptions of Orkney — even bleak and isolated as they are — make me long to see the islands. Some of the tales of her existence in London are less compelling than her descriptions of her home, though at the same time I remember feeling like she was holding some stuff back. Overall, though, the balance between the purgatory/redemption in the book is pretty good. Fascinating, brave, clear-headed writing.… (mais)

This is about the author's alcoholism. She's from Orkney and returns there for a year when she's in her 30s or thereabouts and her life has been destroyed by alcohol. Orkney, off the northern tip of the Scottish mainland, is small and isolated to begin with, and she spends a winter on one island that is particularly small and isolated, living alone in a cottage. This is the part of the book that most appealed to me, having Hermit Envy. The descriptions of Orkney only made sense to me because I've seen Iceland.… (mais)

Written primarily about the period from October 2014 to October 2015 when Liptrot lived in Berlin, this book of memoirs and reflections is very much a sequel to Liptrot’s The Outrun, which I really enjoyed.
Liptrot has an easy style and although the stories are temporally disjointed, this is because they are following a theme, allowed them to flow for me.
There is much reflection, asides, and factual information about Liptrot’s interests woven into her story, which builds up her exploration of personal loneliness, which has been necessary to allow her to rebuild herself following alcohol addiction, but which is now unwanted. There is joy and sadness, and a painful learning.

An ultrafast event is something that's over almost as soon as it's started. Its impression lasts far longer than the event itself. We can never catch a moment in time. We have to surrender to the instant, open to experience it as it happens with no expectation of permanence.… (mais)