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The Panopticon
by
Jenni Fagan
Alt cover image for ISBN 9780434021772
Pa'nop'ti'con (noun). A prison so constructed that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times, without being seen.
Anais Hendricks, fourteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for The Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led her here, but across town a policewoman lies in...more
Pa'nop'ti'con (noun). A prison so constructed that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times, without being seen.
Anais Hendricks, fourteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for The Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led her here, but across town a policewoman lies in...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
May 3rd 2012
by William Heinemann
(first published December 13th 2011)
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does the word "fuck" make you uncomfortable? if so, you will not like this book.
this is not a YA novel. i am embarrassed at how long it took me to clock that. pages and pages of densely-crowded and repetitious "fucks" and "cunts" and wanking, prostitution, rapes, drugs, graphic violence, suicide, and my only thought was "wow, european YA is so progressive..."
but no. not every book with a teenage protagonist is a YA book. lesson learned.lesson should have been learned after Pure and The God of An...more
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A darkly entertaining first-person narrative about Anais Hendricks: a lively, intelligent, witty fifteen-year-old girl who has spent her life in and out of care homes, has been arrested hundreds of times, has been doing every drug possible and having sex since she was a child, and may have put a police officer in a coma. At the beginning of the book, she's being transferred to the Panopticon, a home for young offenders housed in an old, gothic building. This is a good read - energetic and funny...more
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I read this book quite quickly and found it mostly easy to get through, perhaps that is because I am from Scottish stock? I wonder if the transcribed dialect may be off putting to those who have no links or experience of Scotland or the Scottish however? I did find the prevailing use of 'umnay' a bit distracting if I'm honest but understand that this is Anais' voice in the novel. The swearing is prevalent throughout the book so if you're are slightly squeamish about bad language, or find it dist...more
I received my copy from Windmill Books through Nudge.
Anais Hendricks is only fifteen years old when she finds herself in the back of a police car on her way to the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can’t remember how the blood got on her school uniform but she is almost certain that she didn’t beat a police woman into a coma, as she has been accused of doing.
To say Anais’ life hasn’t been easy would be the ultimate understatement. She has never known her mother or her father an...more
Anais Hendricks is only fifteen years old when she finds herself in the back of a police car on her way to the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can’t remember how the blood got on her school uniform but she is almost certain that she didn’t beat a police woman into a coma, as she has been accused of doing.
To say Anais’ life hasn’t been easy would be the ultimate understatement. She has never known her mother or her father an...more
Anais is 15 and has cycled through the Scottish social system, foster homes, group homes and jail, literally her entire life, since she was born in a mental institution where her mother was an inmate. She questions whether she was ever actually born at all and suspects that she was really grown in a petri dish as an experiment and she feels that she is being watched by the shadowy designers of this experiment all the time. As the book opens, Anais is being driven in handcuffs to her latest placi...more
A strong debut from Fagan, I enjoyed this book immensely thanks to the brilliantly realized voice of the protagonist, first person narrator and teenage tearaway Anais. Her reflections on being an identity-less down and out, systematically failed by the care system, are vividly and stylishly realized which may come as no surprise; although this is Fagan's first foray into fiction, she is a published poet.
And there are moments of exquisite joy and abject horror, both rendered with Fagan's tender i...more
And there are moments of exquisite joy and abject horror, both rendered with Fagan's tender i...more
Anais age 15, no known parents or relatives, believes she is a specimen created in a petri dish and refers to herself as "the experiment". That's how alone she is and her detention in the Panopticon only confirms her conviction that she is watched every moment of every day.
But although damaged, Anais forms strong bonds with other children and teenagers in this place where social workers and police make little impression and mostly show dispassionate indifference to the emotional and human needs...more
But although damaged, Anais forms strong bonds with other children and teenagers in this place where social workers and police make little impression and mostly show dispassionate indifference to the emotional and human needs...more
Mar 15, 2013
Cassandra Lewis
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
read-again
As someone who has lived in a foster home, a children's home and an adolescent unit, I found this story and most of the characters and situations it described incredibly realistic. Yet, despite the book's generally depressing themes, I laughed my way through much of it, thanks to the protagonist's witty observations and comments and the general hilarity of some of her escapades.
Being ill-treated by adults (particularly those who were supposed to care for you), and going through the care system,...more
Being ill-treated by adults (particularly those who were supposed to care for you), and going through the care system,...more
I had difficulty actually enjoying the story after reading a few chapters so I decided to see what others thought of 'The Panopticon'. I saw that the majority of readers really enjoyed the book so I decided to give it another read and try to get into it. Thankfully, this was a good decision as shown by my 5* rating.
Fagan brings forth a strong, opinionated but underprivileged teenager called Anais who has been in foster homes and care homes since she was a young girl. I loved her character becau...more
Fagan brings forth a strong, opinionated but underprivileged teenager called Anais who has been in foster homes and care homes since she was a young girl. I loved her character becau...more
This is a hard book to describe. It gives a harrowing and bleak account of the life of 15-year-old Anais Hendricks, a chronic (to put it mildly) offender in the UK, and those of the handful of friends/co-inmates she lives with at The Panopticon, a "home" for troubled youth. Not for the faint of heart, this descriptive account of Anais' troubled life and her struggle to make something of herself is told in colourful and, often, harsh prose that somehow manages to create vibrant & sympathetic...more
The title ‘Panopticon’ refers to an institutional building designed by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th Century. It allowed staff to monitor inmates without them being able to tell that they are being watched. Anais feels that she is part of the ‘experiment’ and is always being watched.
This novel is written in the language that Anais and her fellow ‘inmates’ of the Panopticon care home would use to speak to one another. Although the language was colourful at times this helped you get inside her head a...more
This novel is written in the language that Anais and her fellow ‘inmates’ of the Panopticon care home would use to speak to one another. Although the language was colourful at times this helped you get inside her head a...more
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Anais Hendricks is a serial child offender, aged 15 and has spent her life moving from care home to care home after her foster mother died suddenly. Currently she is under investigation for an (alleged) assault on a police officer which she denies carrying out although her record goes against her and as such she is in danger of being sent to a secure unit until she is 18. The care home she is sent to has a central watch-tower – the Panopticon of the title – where unseen watchers could reside. On...more
This is the most gripping and beautiful book I have read in years. I knew the authour when she was a teenager and that's what drew me to read this, her first novel. Her skills as a poet are evident in the stunning prose in this book. She captures, with empathy and honesty, her young characters and the adults who have failed them. I was particularly impressed by the way she conveys the inner thoughts of the characters as they try to make sense of the world and how their perceptions are influenced...more
Anais has lived her life in foster care, bounced from homes and institutions dozens of times in her short life. She knows all about rooms without any windows or doors, and she knows about a lot of other things she shouldn't have to know. She has been in trouble with the law over and over and over. Caught with her skirt covered in blood and a police officer down, it is assumed that she is responsible, and she is put in yet another institution, The Panopticon, pending charges and trial. But what i...more
I finished reading this a couple of days ago but have been waiting before writing this review to see if my first impressions were going to change. They have not.
The other reviews I’ve read (which is why I read the book in the first place) seem to be universally glowing. The solitary one-star review on Amazon seems to be an error as the reviewer raves about the book.
It has been this feeling that I’m clearly out on a limb which has made me wait before committing myself. Have I really missed someth...more
The other reviews I’ve read (which is why I read the book in the first place) seem to be universally glowing. The solitary one-star review on Amazon seems to be an error as the reviewer raves about the book.
It has been this feeling that I’m clearly out on a limb which has made me wait before committing myself. Have I really missed someth...more
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This book was great! But it doesn't pull any punches. It's raw and it felt real. From the author bio: "Jenni works as a writer in residence in hospitals and prisons." I think she definitely pulled from that experience while writing this book.
Anais is a great character. I rooted for her.
The Scottish dialect writing style tripped me up for the first little bit. But it was well worth pushing through that and getting the rhythm of the writing -- I think it added to the story.
Recommenede for anyone w...more
Anais is a great character. I rooted for her.
The Scottish dialect writing style tripped me up for the first little bit. But it was well worth pushing through that and getting the rhythm of the writing -- I think it added to the story.
Recommenede for anyone w...more
"The Panopticon is the first-person story of Anais Hendricks, a fierce and irrepressible narrator with a vivid and original voice, like going on a joyride with Irvine Welsh‘s teenage sister while off your face on amphetamines. Her predicament and personality alone are enough to keep you turning the pages, but as you might expect from the subject matter, there’s a dark heart to The Panopticon." (Excerpt from full review of The Panopticon at For Books' Sake)
May 13, 2013
Suzie Hopkins
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who relishes good fiction
This is a wonderful book, and for a first novel it’s one in a million. Anais is as unreliable a narrator as narrators get: she didn’t put the woman PC in a coma (or did she?); the blood on her clothes is from a squirrel (or is it?); she has no idea who her birth mother was (or does she?) Fagan is in complete control of her material from the first page to the last sentence. The ending had me in tears. I’m not going to say what the ending is, or whether the tears were happy or sad, because I don’t...more
Anais is the teenage first-person narrator of this novel, and Fagan manages to create a wonderfully unreliable air in her. As a reader you are never sure if Anais is able to see what others can’t, or if there is something amiss with her mental state. Fagan infuses the dialogue with whiff of Scottish phonetics which does not annoy but help establish the characters and place.
A significant amount of characters are introduced to the reader and not all of them are wholly successful. However, particul...more
A significant amount of characters are introduced to the reader and not all of them are wholly successful. However, particul...more
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan
When it comes to deciding which book to read next I don’t follow a list nor do I try to work through a stack of books. I tend to read whatever type of novel catches my interest at the time.
After browsing through a few reviews of The Panopticon on GoodReads I decided this story was intriguing, strange and quirky enough to suit my taste in books… so I ordered a copy.
I’m very glad I did!!
This book is a debut novel for Scottish author Jenni Fagan. It is very different t...more
When it comes to deciding which book to read next I don’t follow a list nor do I try to work through a stack of books. I tend to read whatever type of novel catches my interest at the time.
After browsing through a few reviews of The Panopticon on GoodReads I decided this story was intriguing, strange and quirky enough to suit my taste in books… so I ordered a copy.
I’m very glad I did!!
This book is a debut novel for Scottish author Jenni Fagan. It is very different t...more
I’m not sure I was quite as bowled over as I could have been by this undoubtedly astonishing novel, published earlier this year with great fanfare. I was interested to see that the book is recommended as “Perfect for readers of Pigeon English”; having just read that for my book club, I can understand the link but if I were Heinemann, I’d be trying to distance this from Kelman’s Booker-nominated offering. It may have been up for a prize but, in my view, it failed to do anything of merit in terms...more
Really enjoyed this.
It wasn't what I expected - I thought it would be more Kafka-esque, surreal and paranoid. The setting of the panopticon, while interesting, is really underemployed, and she could have used it much more effectively to explore her ideas about being examined and endlessly watched, while not being cared about. There is also a mystery at the beginning, of how Anais came to be covered in blood and accused of a policewoman's assault, which is carried through about two-thirds of the...more
It wasn't what I expected - I thought it would be more Kafka-esque, surreal and paranoid. The setting of the panopticon, while interesting, is really underemployed, and she could have used it much more effectively to explore her ideas about being examined and endlessly watched, while not being cared about. There is also a mystery at the beginning, of how Anais came to be covered in blood and accused of a policewoman's assault, which is carried through about two-thirds of the...more
'Some day, aye, you will walk into a room, or a car, or an aeroplane, or a toilet, and you won't know it right then - but you will never get back out again. Exit only. Fact. You might go home and put your shopping down and turn on the telly, and all the time you dinnae realise that the next time you go back through your front door it will be in ambulance, or a body bag.'
On a sunny and hot May day, reading in my garden, snippets such as these sent shivers through me. I read this largely in one si...more
On a sunny and hot May day, reading in my garden, snippets such as these sent shivers through me. I read this largely in one si...more
Mar 14, 2012
Joseph Ridgwell
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Every once in a while, a book appears in literature whose effect is immediate. Jenni Fagan’s remarkable debut novel, The Panopticon, is I feel, one such candidate. Due for publication in May 2012 by William Heinemann, the novel charts the adventures of its heroine, Anais Hendricks, as she battles her way through the Kafkaesque like environs of a corrupt and failing Scottish care system. With a penchant for Dior hats, vintage erotica, Class A drugs, 1920′s fashion, non-conformism, Paris and solit...more
I really enjoyed parts of this book but I felt the endings for some of the characters quite abrupt, and some of the characters were also created in 2D instead of 3D if that made sense... I think she does however give a good insight into the experiences of young people in care and the challenges they face. It was touching and depressing at times but I guess that is testament to the power of her writing. Oh and I did have issues with her use of 'Scots' which I felt unnatural and forced.
I thought that this was a very successful first novel and everything about it screamed original. I was nearly crying at the end simply because it was such an emotional journey with a girl who was only fifteen, I felt every emotion as though they were my own and enjoyed the ride. I was wondering how the end would come about and what happened shocked me I'm not sure whether she really should've been in the institute or whether I thought she should've got out in the end.
Received in ebook format from the publishers via www.netgalley.com
Fifteen-year old Anais Hendricks is smart, funny and fierce, but she is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met. Sitting in the back of a police car, she finds herself headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders where the social workers are as suspicious as its residents. But Anais can't remember the events that have led her there, or why she has blood on her schoo...more
Fifteen-year old Anais Hendricks is smart, funny and fierce, but she is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met. Sitting in the back of a police car, she finds herself headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders where the social workers are as suspicious as its residents. But Anais can't remember the events that have led her there, or why she has blood on her schoo...more
I thought this sounded great, even the title.
The panoptican-A circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be observed at all times.
I found the book heavy going and depressing.The language was choice,although i appreciate that is how people speak-i just got fed up with it.
I couldn't get to grips with what was going on,however i did feel for the main character Anais.
This gets 5 star reviews on Amazon, i feel i must be missing something?
The panoptican-A circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be observed at all times.
I found the book heavy going and depressing.The language was choice,although i appreciate that is how people speak-i just got fed up with it.
I couldn't get to grips with what was going on,however i did feel for the main character Anais.
This gets 5 star reviews on Amazon, i feel i must be missing something?
A unique, challenging read. It's not what I'd call accessible, in fact I'd go so far as to say it's rather esoteric. The writing style is much like that of Irvine Welsh, in that the narrator's voice is colloquial Scots. However, it's broken up with random punctuation in order to convey the the main character, Anais' way of talking. It is not what I'd describe as an enjoyable book. There are parts that are quite harsh and hard-hitting. I can tell though, that it's the kind of story that stays wit...more
I thoroughly enjoyed this daring debut novel. Fast-paced, gritty and not for the faint-hearted, Fagan gripped me from the start.
This is the remarkable story of 15 year-old Anais, the feisty lead character whom I felt engaged with from the first page. Highly intelligent, but badly damaged, Anais faces many struggles in fighting back against a troubled care system that has failed her for most of her life. But will she find a way out?
Yes, as other reviews point out, this book has some severe langu...more
This is the remarkable story of 15 year-old Anais, the feisty lead character whom I felt engaged with from the first page. Highly intelligent, but badly damaged, Anais faces many struggles in fighting back against a troubled care system that has failed her for most of her life. But will she find a way out?
Yes, as other reviews point out, this book has some severe langu...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| The Readers: Book #8; The Panopticon – Jenni Fagan | 2 | 24 | Apr 05, 2013 01:41pm |
Jenni Fagan was born in Livingston, Scotland, and lives in London. She graduated from Greenwich University with the highest possible mark for a student of Creative Writing and won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway MFA. A published poet, she has won awards from Arts Council England, Dewar Arts, and Scottish Screen among others. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice and shortlisted f...more
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“I dinnae get people, like they all want to be watched, to be seen, like all the time. They put up their pictures online and let people they dinnae like look at them! And people they’ve never met as well, and they all pretend tae be shinier than they are – and some are even posting on like four sites; their bosses are watching them at work, the cameras watch them on the bus, and on the train, and in Boots, and even outside the chip shop. Then even at home – they’re going online to look and see who they can watch, and to check who’s watching them!”
—
1 person liked it
“As specimens go, they always get excited about me. I'm a good one. A show-stopper. I'm the kind of kid they'll still enquire about ten years later. Fifty-one placements, drug problems, violence, dead adopted mum, no biological links, constant offending. Tick, tick, tick. I lure them in to being with. Cultivate my specimen face. They like that. Do-gooders are vomit-worthy. Damaged goods are dangerous. The ones that are in it cos the thought it would be a step up from an office job are tedious. The ones who've been in too long lose it. The ones who think they've got the Jesus touch are fucking insane. The I can save you brigade are particularly radioactive. They think if you just inhale some of their middle-classism, then you'll be saved.”
—
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