Unputdownable. The first part pulls you in. The narrator is adorable. It is brilliant to get down to a 4 year old's level and see the world through her eyes. It is something we should all do more often. Thoroughly recommended

Very well written and hard to keep reading because of the subject matter of abuse. Definitely leaves it's mark on you.

Home is a tough book to read let alone review due to some horrifying topics. It is told from the perspective of an innocent four year old girl Jesika who lives in a flat which the landlord does not maintain, with her loving Mum Tina and little brother Toby. Jesika is a sweet trusting girl and is delighted to make a new friend in Paige at playschool. However Paige has a secret that is hard to read about let alone get my head round that is made even more horrific and emotional when told through the words of children. Although throughout I knew this is a story of fiction I couldn’t stop my mind wandering to the dreadful knowledge that these events are happening right now to vulnerable ones all over the world – just heart-breaking.

It was the hope that will be a happy ending that spurred me on when some pages were particularly difficult to digest. This is a tale of trusting innocent children dealing with lives that they should not have to, often living in fear that if they speak out they will be separated from their loved ones.

My thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy , this is my own honest review.

So being totally honest here, I almost gave up on this book. Not once but twice. Yet I've given it 5 stars, that doesn't really make sense though does it? So let me explain.
The narrator of this book is four year old Jesika. To begin with this was more than a little jarring. At four Jesika doesn't have the same understanding of words as an older child or adult would, and Berriman takes advantage of this. This book is Jesika, spelling mistakes, mispronunciation, misunderstanding, four year old. After a little while you barely notice the "errors".
My second reason... one of the harder issues in this book is sexual abuse of a child. Now I know I don't often put spoilers but I felt like this needed to be said, its hinted at in the blurb (and for some reason I didn't pick up on that when I chose this book), however we the reader also find this out fairly early, although our narrator is not as reliable as we are and is unable to translate what she sees the way an adult might. The only reason I was able to continue reading this was because Berriman doesn't actually show us, I couldn't have read that and in fact throughout the book I was on the verge of walking away if it actually became the full focus of the scene.

All of that aside, this was incredibly well written. Told from Jesikas perspective was a very clever choice, because as the adult reading I felt like I needed to be there for Jesika, needed to protect her. On more than one occasion I could feel the lump in my throat form and had to blink back the tears because dammit Jesika needed someone to be strong for her.
So well written, and so compelling that I picked this up this afternoon just to get a quick feel of it before I had to do the school run, only to find myself utterly engrossed and finishing it in just a few short hours.
I look forward to reading more from Berriman in the future.

Move along Edward (Craig Lancaster), Ove (Frederik Backman), Leon (Kit de Waal) and you others up there on my favourite shelf of unique first person voices, and make room for Jesika, the four year old narrator of Home. The cadences and vocabulary of her language will resonate with anyone with any connection with small children. Her visits to the ‘hopsipal’ through the ‘busy-rushy streets’ and the irritation of the frequently non-functioning ‘rainy-haters’ in their dump of a flat make the reader see the world through her 4-year old eyes: mysterious, confusing and sometimes frightening. Adults are inconsistent and baffling ‘Grown ups do a lot of pretending to be cross when they’re not really. Why don’t they just be cross or not be cross?’
By turn heart-warming and heart-breaking, I defy anyone to be unmoved by the world seen through the eyes of this irresistible brave and caring little girl. And my response to the ending? To turn back to page one and begin it all over again!

This book is not an easy read. It tackles the subject of child abuse written from the point of view of four year old Jesika. Jesika lives with her mum Tina and little brother Toby in a hazardous flat which is damaging their health. She goes to pre school and meets a little friend called Paige who has bad things happen to her. The ensuing story is about the things that happen next.
Although this story is quite a depressing topic, the fire in little Jesika’s belly is all consuming. She’s a fighter, just like her mama.
This book had me screaming at the pages, just wanting the grownups to see what was right under their noses.
Throughout the book, the theme of friendship is underlying. The friendship between the two girls, the friendship between Tina and her old school friend Lorna who is Paige’s mum and ultimately the friendship from the people in the community who rally round and help Tina when she needs friends - the people who Tina describes at the start as, “ not really being our friends but just very kind people who like to help others.” It does make you question what friendship is and how we could all offer the hand of friendship to someone in need, “not just because they feel sorry for you.”
The innocence of childhood is written in every word and is refreshing to read, but also a reminder that as adults how quick we can be to dismiss their thoughts.
I raced through this book and would urge you all to read it, especially in these times of slating those single parents on benefits, supposedly living the high life. This book paints a very different picture, one that none of us would want to be in. Jesika’s story is happening in real life in a street near you.

Narrated by four and half year old Jesika, Home makes for uncomfortable reading at times. As an adult, the reader understands what is happening, wants to step in and help Jesika, but has to watch the story unfold from behind the pages of the book. Both heartrending and heart-warming, Home deals well with the issues it tackles. I would recommend this novel, particularly to fans of Room.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I can honestly say I’ve never read a novel that’s written in a child’s perspective before and I wasn’t sure that I would like it really but after reading the first few chapters I was compelled to continue and it took me 3 hours to do so.
Jesikas story really moved me it was sad and shockingly awful at times but it shows how resilient kids really are....being a mom is hard and in Tina’s current situation it is worse, I really felt for them.
This book was so beautifully written and with some of the things Jesika would say made me think of my children when they were young made me giggle, it may touch on a taboo subject but sometimes it needs to be written about no matter how hard it may be to read...we need to listen to our kids more.
Wonderful book one that I will have no hesitation in recommending.

Four-year-old Jesika, the narrator of Home, lives with her mummy Tina and little brother, Toby, in a flat which her mother calls, accurately, a “dump”. It’s the only life Jesika knows, though, and she’s mostly happy, even though Mummy gets cross when she touches the black spots on the walls or goes near a discarded needle in the stairwell.

Things change when Jesika makes a new friend, Paige, at her preschool, whose mother Lorna happens to be an old friend of Tina, though they’ve been out of touch for years. But Paige has a big secret, and it’s not a good one. When Jesika’s mummy and Toby are admitted to hospital, life becomes alarmingly more dangerous for Jesika.

Everything is seen through Jesika’s eyes and because she’s only four, she doesn’t understand most of it. As readers, though, we understand all too well and it makes for very difficult reading at times.

Home is an incredible emotional rollercoaster which had me in tears on several occasions , and on one occasion I had to actually put the book aside because I just couldn’t cope with the tension about what was going to happen. Jesika’s voice is powerfully compelling, loveable and heartbreaking - her vulnerability is terrifying. The end was both tear-jerking and satisfying.

Reading Home, I was initially reminded of Sara Gethin’s (also excellent) Not Thomas, which is also written from the perspective of a young child - Tomos - in very difficult circumstances. But Jesika’s mummy is very different from Tomos’s and as a result, Jesika’s situation is far more hopeful. My heart went out to Tina who has endured a lot of adversity and is under tremendous stress, but continues determinedly doing her best for her children and actually does a pretty amazing job, even if she needs to learn to sometimes accept help when it’s offered.

There are some great supporting characters too - Nandini and Emma from the launderette, Ade from the corner shop, Jesika’s teachers from preschool and more.

A powerful story which will stay in my mind for a long time. I loved it.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

 

 

In ‘Home’ Amanda Berriman manages to combine several things I have only the most tenuous tolerance for in literature and do it in such a way as to make me absolutely love the result. I generally dislike present tense narrative but I was halfway through the book before I even noticed it was in present tense – always a sign that the author is in full control and you as a reader are safe in her hands. I'm also not very fond of inadequate narrators. I don’t mean unreliable narrators - I love an unreliable narrator. Inadequate and Unreliable narrators are both tricky to pull off realistically, although in my opinion managing the former requires feats of creative skill rarely possessed by those who attempt it. Both conceal things from the reader but an unreliable narrator intends to do this since they have an agenda of their own or a mindset that will not allow them to communicate the story more accurately. An inadequate narrator communicates faithfully but at the level at which they themselves understand the events - think Room by Emma Donahugh or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.  In fact while I acknowledge that those two examples are excellent books, where inadequate narration is done well even, I hated both of them intensely. Not so with ‘Home’ which is narrated by four year old Jesika. It takes a bit of an adjustment to get used to four year old speak but it is so authentic and emotionally honest you get drawn in before you even realise it. I honestly haven’t enjoyed an inadequate narrator so much since I reread ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. I loved ‘Home’ and I fell in love with Jesika.

 

Like the aforementioned books, ‘Home’ uses a child’s point of view to explore some very difficult issues. It’s a mark of Berriman’s skill that we are kept close enough to care deeply about the events as they unfold but we are in many respects protected by Jesika’s lack of full understanding. I think this is the mark of a truly great inadequate narrator. An adult narrator is unlikely to have as much power to make us consider the issues presented, and challenge our preconceptions, as a bright and engaging four year old, whose imperfect understanding and unoccluded vision take complex problems and make them simple enough for us to really focus on. We lose so much of the simplicity and sense of justice innate in children as we grow up – and we should in many ways because we have to function as adults – but the privilege of seeing the world through Jesika’s eyes makes you ask yourself whether you haven’t really lost something you should have tried to hold on to. Couldn’t we add things as we become adults rather than just subsume our child selves? But I digress. One of the strongest points in the novels favour was the pitch perfect portrayal of what it’s like to be a four year old. Home will make you feel things, people. I don’t necessarily even mean bad things - although let’s face it, much of Jesika’s reality is a grim one. Reading the book, I found myself remembering things I thought and felt at that age that I hadn’t thought of for years; remembering, in short, what it was like to be utterly reliant on someone else and the terror at the thought of that person going away; remembering the comparative powerlessness of being a child and the inherent sense of injustice that often went with it; remembering how it was to really be in the now almost all the time, because time was way too long and now was full of good things, and how simple things could be the most important things of all. I especially remembered checking the emotional weather forecast in adult faces and acting accordingly as Jesika does, how people shouting could seem to make the world shake. I think we forget these things as we grow up and they become trivial or inconsequential but from a four year old’s POV they are incredibly important. Berriman’s ability to put herself in Jesika’s shoes to tell us this story is breath taking.

 

Another strong point for me was how the story unfolded. There are many ways to tell a tale but there seem to be two main ways of getting your readers to turn the pages – the trick and the art. The ‘trick’ involves forcing your reader to continually ask questions. What happened then? Who killed the victim? etc etc. Most thrillers and crime novels employ this to great effect. The ‘Art’ is when an author leads you using the character as a lure. Instead of asking questions, the reader experiences what the character does as the author forces the character to react to sudden changes of situation. John le Carre uses this method. So does Jane Austen. And so too, does Amanda Berriman in Home, to great effect. It is utterly seamless and makes the book, which in many ways should be a challenging read, completely effortless. An experience, not merely entertainment. Twice I found myself reading an hour longer than I intended! ‘Home’ is unputdownable.

 

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2018 and it didn’t disappoint. I think we can expect great things to come from the author. Can’t recommend the book ‘Home’ highly enough.

Written from the Jesika's 4 and a half year old perspective HOME tells the story of a Jesika, her baby brother and her single mother, struggling to cope alone with very little money, but something sinister thing appears to be going on. Actually made an interesting change to read the story in the small child's voice and words but the story wouldn't have worked otherwise. Held my interest and definitely one to read, if only for the novelty but because it is a really good read.

Wow, what an emotional, but at times heartwarming, read! Told from the perspective of four year old Jesika, with everything seen through her eyes and conveyed in her lovely and oh-so-innocent voice, (pronunciation mistakes and all!), you really get a feel for what life in a disadvantaged family must be like for a young girl who doesn't understand how hard things really are for her mum.

There were times when I found Home really difficult to read, as often you know what's coming with a sense of building dread. I felt myself wanting to shout through the book at her to warn her. Saying that, nothing in this book is overly dramatic or ridiculous; it's worryingly realistic. You can imagine only too well it happening - things which I won't give away here - and the idea of a family struggling and falling through the cracks when it comes to housing and support is all-too common in today's society.

Home for me was a real mix of emotions, but regardless of how I was feeling, I didn't want to stop reading...even though I often did want to stop reading! See, a mix?! It's an absorbing, heartbreaking, and quite original read. It will certainly stay on my mind for a long time.

This book is so compelling that it immerses you completely into the story, honestly if I did'n't have to work I would of read it it one sitting, it is narrated by Jesika who is 4 and she lives with her mum in a rundown flat that her mum can barely afford from her sleazy landlord, she makes tadpoles from moles and her mummy shouts at her and that makes her sad, so does the fact that mummy and Toby cough a lot. I was so engaged with the story that I found my heart in my mouth as Jesika is so sweet and brave and as with your own child you don't want anything to happen to them. Its a sad picture of how some children have to live in today's world. A brilliant read.

Home by Amanda Berriman is an emotional tale, told by 4-and-a-half-year-old Jesika. The story tells of her life with her mum Tina and her younger brother Toby and going to Pre-school. They live in a dump of a flat, with a broken window and a boiler that keeps breaking down and Tina with little, or no money. And the scary man that comes trying to evict them. They survive with the help of some friends.
I was gripped from the very first page. I thought it was expertly written and the author was very good at showing what is going through a child’s mind when living on the property line, dealing with illness. And also the separation of a parent and the sensitive subject of having to keep a secret for a friend Paige who was being abused by her Uncle. I loved the different characters in the book, especially Ade with his magic strawberry. This is an excellent debut novel which I really enjoyed. I can’t wait to see what the author has next instore.

*thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

5 stars.

*warning: this book contains sexual abuse of a child*

From page 1, I was already hooked. This book was so emotional and so magnificent. The narrator is a 4 year old girl and this is her story. It is heartbreaking but it is also beautiful as it shows just how much the kidness of strangers and friends can make such a powerful impact on our lives no matter how small or big that help is. This book is by far not an easy read. It will rip your heart to shreds. I can not stress enough that if you have been through sexual abuse and have ptsd that you need to be quite cautious while reading this. It is rather triggering. But that aside. This is one book that will leave marks on your heart and be well remembered. I really really liked that this was written from the 4 year old girls point of view as we get to experience the world through her eyes and at times it was very adorable. I found the little girl's bravery to be very inspiring. It amazed me how strong she was because she wanted to help her friend. I won't go into it because there will be spoilers but if you have read this, you will probably know what I mean. I think some people may get distracted by the fact that some words are spelt like a 4 year old would spell them, but for me, that added positively to it. It made it so much better. I absolutely loved this. Its one of those that will be stuck in my heart forever.

Authors confound and amaze me. How can one person be so many different characters?
Amanda Berriman is a single mother of two. She is a middle-aged greengrocer. She is pre-school teachers who are different with children than with adults...and she is all those children too...especially Jesika.
Jesika reminds me of me. No one notices little girls being quiet in a corner, or colouring under the table. Adults assume they are not listening that they won't understand or remember. How wrong they are.
Unfortunately for those adults only two things tell the absolute truth - small children and leggings.
Fortunately Tina knows that Jesika tells the truth.
Amanda Berriman has written a book that highlights the inequalities in life. The differences that a little money can make. She introduces obvious baddies (Darren) sneaky baddies and many more good people (Ade, Leon, Sarah, Nandini amongst others).
Her head must be full.

What an absolute riveting and addictive read this book was, so original in the way the story was told from the viewpoint of a sassy little four year old.
Following the exploits of Jesika and her poverty stricken little family, told by Jesika in a really endearing way, this book opened up a whole new world for me, hard to read in some places but sensitively handled, Home describes how the world looks and sounds to a child.
I really sympathised with Tina, and realise unbelieavably how things can spiral out of control.
Not all serious though, there were a couple of lighthearted laugh out loud moments and I will definitely read more by this author.

A thought-provoking story and one which kept me reading throughout.
This story of abuse, poverty and a child's confusion and frustration at the world she lives in, is a book like no other. I read this in a few days. Part of the reason it was so gripping was a result of the perspective it's written from.
This book could have been a very difficult read and, while it still was in some places, the young narrative perspective removed some of this difficulty.
The book ultimately carries with it a message:
It's extremely important to allow your children to feel that they can tell you anything in order to erase any uncertainty or unnecessary problems early on.
A moving and original novel. I'm looking forward to more from this author.

Very clever and a little bit different
Interesting portrayal of a single mum and her two children told from the angle of the four year old daughter. Written in the daughter’s voice, this mostly felt authentic although there were instances/ whole scenes which felt more adult-led in style.

Handles several sensitive topics well and vividly... I can imagine the struggles that Jessika’s mother went through which are very real for many.

Although I hated Room which was also told from the child’s perspective, I really enjoyed Home. The title really resonated at the end whereas previously it hadn’t really been clear to me why it was chosen as the title.

As mentioned earlier, some of the passages didn’t feel as child-led as others. Perhaps it was the lack of childlike spelling in some sections which left me a little underwhelmed in places.

4*ish, rounded down from 5*
Well worth a read!

I loved that this book was narrated through the voice of four and a half year old Jesika. As a reader you understood what was going on in the adult world, but you were experiencing it through a child’s world. At times I felt I wanted to shake the adults and say listen to her. I found it to be a fast paced book and I loved it 10/10.