Girl on a Stick

3.8/5 ( ratings)

A floating blue apparition of the Virgin Mary. That's what Clementine Logan, jaded American, sees from the window of her No. 38 bus in London. This is the first in a series of alarming religious visions, triggered by her new relationship with fellow foreigner Per, a green-eyed Norwegian undergraduate. Set against a backdrop of gritty East London streets and post/pop-everything academia, Clementine's relationship with Per grows more twisted, the miracles grow weirder, and soon something's gotta snap. A young teenager, she was abused by her local priest, a priest whose joy lay in tormenting Clem through word-games, puzzles, and rebuses. As the story progresses, the reader realizes that Clem's religious visions add up to the greatest rebus puzzle of all -- as Clem finds herself in a world built on codes she never will crack. Break-ups, nervous breakdowns and breakthroughs feature here, yet the novel is also about the aftermath of a break: what happens after the cracking and splitting; how you can grow new skins or maybe even extra legs. Both blasphemous and reverent--and ostensibly an account of a troubled relationship--the real target of this novel is not only patriarchal institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church, but also mindless masochism. Sassy, clever, bright, dark, true, and, most importantly, alive. A huge book, and full of goodness. -- Ali Smith, author of Booker Prize-shortlisted novels Hotel World and The Accidental