This short novel is a treatise in the dangers of obsession and psychological trauma. The main character is nameless as is the town in which she lives. There are paragraph breaks but no quotation marks. The reader lives in this woman’s head with her, and any reasonable person is alternately disgusted by her and pitying her.

She becomes so immediately swept up with a man she knows nothing about who treats her like an object, an annoyance, a means to other ends. He disappears for weeks at a time, and she thinks about him constantly. She is sexually attracted to him and obsessed with getting him to love her. As time goes on, she is more and more willing to prostrate her body and her mind to his whims.

Eventually she loses everything - her friends, her parents, her job, her health, her money, even her furniture. Yet she still craves his attention and affection. It is sad and sick and frustrating. Both of them treat her without respect.

In the end, she decides her only way to be finished with him forever is to put an end to him.

True Things About Me by Deborah Kay Davies is a novel about a self-destructive young woman. The unnamed protagonist is an intensely self-involved and unstable woman who becomes involved with a man she meets in the benefits office where she works. It's a terrible relationship with a dangerous man, and both her parents and her best friend are unable to keep her from seeing him. Her behavior becomes increasingly erratic as the novel progresses and it's clear that she's even less in control of herself than her exterior behavior indicates.

This isn't a book for everyone. Told from inside the head of the protagonist, the novel is disturbing and, as her behavior and thought patterns become less and less reasonable, the reader is forced to endure her disequilibrium right along with her. The writing is good and the author's willingness to dive into dark places was impressive. ( )

I heard about this on John Mullan's Culture Show special for World Book Night and was intrigued by what they had to say. In particular, I was interested in the way they all seemed hugely impressed with it, and yet also that there was something not quite right about it.

This novel has been called 'The Bell Jar' for the 21st century. I know the 'Bell Jar' apostles out there are having trouble with this comparison but, personally, I think this is a really apt and useful comparison.

The narrative is essentially the first person narrative of a young woman who is quietly (at first) coming unraveled. We meet her at the point when things are starting to seep out and be noticed by others, and at the point where she falls madly (with a capital madly) in love with an unsuitable Svengali figure, and it's pretty much all downhill from there.

In many ways, this novel does a much better job than The Bell Jar, of conveying the sense of an alienated and isolated character spiraling out of control. Unfortunately, this means that as a reader, you can sometimes feel alienated and isolated from the character. At the same time, Davies manages to convey the worry and shock of those around the narrator, even though this is all filtered through her obliviousness to how far things have gone wrong.

The main problem for me was that, unlike the Bell Jar, no real thesis is advanced as to the how/why of what's happening - although, the more I thought about it, the more it struck me that perhaps, in a post-Bell Jar world, we don't need telling twice.

This novel is ambitious, technically brilliant, insightful, disturbing but not an easy read. But I am off to see what else she has done, and am very much looking for what she does next. ( )

This is the graphic and violent story of a fragile young woman's descent into madness at the hands of an abusive boyfriend. I found it gripping but hardly revolutionary. The best part about it is that the victim is the narrator so it feels quite authentic and immediate. ( )

I am not sure if this is a book that anyone enjoys. It is frustrating, jumpy, unfocused and fragmented, however I suspect that is deliberate style choice. It is a short book which is just as well because I could not put it down. You often want to scream at the unamed lead and I would certainly not call her brave.

It is uncomfortable but gripping reading and I cannot wait to read her next book. ( )