Union Street & Blow Your House Down

by Pat Barker

Book Overview

Union Street, Pat Barker's first novel, concerns seven neighboring women near a factory in northeast England. Life for these women is trying: some of them are married to alcoholics, some are victims of abuse; one is old and near death, another is still a child but has the experience of an adult; all are struggling to survive. First published in 1982, it was made into the film Stanley & Iris by MGM in 1989, starring Robert DeNiro and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312240899
• ISBN13: 9780312240899
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Barker's Earlier Work Impresses

Pat Barker's earlier work impresses the reader with the same fearless vision that brought her fame with "The Regeneration Trilogy." Her compassion, and respect, for the tough lives of the British working class never flags. She sees her characters, whether they are admirable or not, as complex people with challenges in life that would make most of us shake our heads and give up. But they don't give up, they persevere to do the best they can for one another and especially for their children. Her honest writing drives right through the depressing aspects of their lives, not avoiding them for a moment, and comes out on the other side with real understanding and admiration for the human spirit they embody. I have now read all of her work to day, and continue to count her among my most admired living writers.

Blow your concepts down

'Blow your house down' by the wonderful Pat Barker, handles working class, northern women in such a non-judgemental, fragile fashion, it is ever so difficult to perhaps judge them from your own point of view. Rather than portray these women, as sad, desperate and dirty, Pat barker has written about strong, determined, inderpendant working mothers, lovers and friends. 'Blow your house down' recognises the dreary, miserable, mangled environment these women are forced to work in as a result of their own situations, which life has left them in. The main story line tells us of a murderer who kills one of the prostitutes. It establishes the fact that no matter how much danger is lurking in and out of these women's lives, they still carry on working the streets, earning their living. Still haunted by their friends murder, they don't reject their own lives- they risk them. A truly good, honest and disturbing read from one of my favourites.

Hard-hitting Slices of Life

Pat Barker's _Union Street_ and _Blow Your House Down_ are hard-hitting, gritty novels about the lives of working-class women in northeast England (_Union Street_) and prostitutes living in fear of a serial prostitute murderer (_Blow Your House Down_). These novels are not for anyone already taking Prozac; _Union Street_ in particular is unrelentingly depressing, with rape, physical abuse, unwanted pregnancies, and other unpleasantness. Both novels contain scenes that are deeply, shockingly horrible.So why read these two novels? Barker skillfully makes the lives of these women come alive for the reader: the tedium of their jobs, all the sensory attributes of their homes, the nature of their relationships with their husbands, boyfriends, children, and women friends. She allows us to look in at defining moments in these women's lives: moments that shape their lives, moments where they are forced to make choices, moments where they come to terms with their circumstances.Neither of these novels are exactly what you'd call fun reads, but they are thought-provoking, absorbing, well-achieved, and memorable. I prefer _Blow Your House Down_ to _Union Street_, perhaps because it is a bit more unified. The accumulation of different horrible circumstances in _Union Street_ can be a bit overwhelming. Both books impress you with these women's ability to survive despite extraordinary hardships, but neither book ever waltzes into the potentially mawkish territory of triumph over circumstances. These women are survivors, not victors.Pat Barker is one of the greatest contemporary British writers. If you are a fan of her better-known later work, I recommend this volume.