The panopticon

a novel

282 pages

English language

Published Nov. 2, 2012

ISBN:
978-0-385-34786-0
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
813539764

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Like everyone else in the Panopticon, 15-year-old Anais Hendricks has been in and out of foster care practically since birth. "[B]orn in a nuthouse to nobody that was ever seen again," she had her only successful foster placement with a prostitute later stabbed to death (Anais found the body). She's been sent to this facility, where the inmates are under constant surveillance, because she had a bad history with a policewoman who has been bludgeoned into a coma, and Anais--almost permanently whacked on whatever drug she can lay her hands on--can't explain why she has blood on her skirt. Amid the institution's crescent-shaped buildings and all-seeing watchtower, Anais befriends a group of ragtag ruffians and delves into her past, endlessly stoned and concerned she's being watched by an entity she calls "the experiment."

4 editions

Review of 'Panopticon' on 'Goodreads'

Trigger Warnings (and they are strong warnings, I found this book quite upsetting) for pretty much everything. Violence, rape, anorexia, HIV, bestiality, paedophilia, abduction, miscarriage, drug use, self harm....



I took The Panopticon on holiday as a holiday read. It is not. It's a great well written book, don't get me wrong, but the subject matter is grim and for anyone working in the care of young people it would probably be even more depressing.

The book tracks a slice of life of one girl in the social care system. The care system is not portrayed kindly. The young people in the care system are shown as damaged, in some cases beyond repair. There are lesbian characters in the story and (spoiler) I should listen to my daughter, who always sighs and says "they only put lesbians in stories to kill them".

So if you fancy a dark …

Subjects

  • Foster children
  • Teenage girls
  • Fiction