Why a Booktrail?
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing is to plunge inside its narrator’s head, experiencing her world at first hand. This isn’t always comfortable – but it is always a revelation.
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
What you need to know before your trail
Eimear McBride’s novel tells the story of a young woman’s relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour.
It’s a journey into the mind of a young Irish woman raised by her deeply religious mother, how their father could not cope with the stress and how he left the family home before the girl was even born.
Travel Guide
Ireland
Eimear McBride was born in Liverpool in 1976 to Irish parents. The family moved back to Ireland when she was three and she spent her childhood in Tubbercurry, Sligo, and Mayo. Then, at the age of 17, she moved to London to begin her studies at The Drama Centre.
The family at first live in a very remote part of Ireland – they live with their mother driving her to distraction at times and their life is tricky due to the brother’s disability. But despite this, and the whispers from neighbours, they carry on.
They then move to the town and this time the challenge is for them to find their place in the city – their new home and their new way of life.
While the locations are vague, this introduction from Eimear herself help to place her inspiration for the story:
“The starting point was the quote from James Joyce: ‘One great part of human existence is passed in a state which cannot be rendered sensible by the use of wideawake language, cutanddry grammar and goahead plot.’ ”
Eimear McBride.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
Author/Guide: Eimear McBride Destination: Ireland Departure Time: 2000s
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