I found it hard to put this book down and finished it in two sittings. It's written with raw energy and humour and yet I was left feeling depressed. The author made her voice heard, but she is in a minority and the country continues to vote conservative and brush poverty under the carpet.

While this is in parts an interesting read it's also quite disturbing knowing people live this life.
It can make for upsetting readings knowing it's not a fictional story. Human beings should not be struggling to feed themselves, relying on foodbanks, handouts. Living in slums, facing domestic abuse.
Had this been written as a fictional story I think it would have sat a little more comfortable knowing it was just made up.
This didn't take me long to read and while it was interesting I struggled in parts with it and found it felt a little rushed or a little repetitive in parts.
It must have been quite difficult I think for the author to write this book.

Skint Estate should never have been written.

Skint Estate should never have been written because no-one in Britain should have to experience the circumstances described by the author. Food banks, zero hours contracts, extorting landlords, domestic abuse - none of these should be a part of our society. The stark reality is that there is no social justice for people like the author, who writes with an alternating sense of desperation and resignation.

If you want to know what poverty is really like, read this book.

This is the memoir of a woman who is not a stain on society. She’s not a shameful secret, stealing money from the government. She’s not lazy, or greedy. She’s a single mother, raising a child in a city she loves, with no support network and a history of domestic abuse. Cash Carraway is just one voice in millions that we never hear. Forgotten and ignored. This is her story, her life - but unfortunately it’s far from unique.

I finished this in one day. Cash has a brash, sometimes aggressive writing style that is both compelling and jarring to read. She can certainly get her point across, and it’s an important one at that. She talks of a violent childhood, leading to a violent adulthood and pregnancy. Alone, scared - but excited to finally have somebody to love, and be loved in return. She talks about being ignored and stigmatised throughout her time as a single mother - people just don’t listen to women like her. I knew going in this would be dark at times, bleak and depressing, but I wasn’t expecting it to raise so much anger in me. Anger at these women being overlooked, abandoned when they are at their most vulnerable by a government that doesn’t care. The shame and despair, relying on zero hour jobs and food banks to survive. Living below the poverty line, stealing sanitary towels because you can’t afford them, and thinking of suicide as your only escape from this life. At times it was devastatingly heartbreaking.

The main positive I took is the absolute love Cash so clearly has for her daughter. Together they are a formidable team and have bonded in a way that only their shared life experiences could bring. Also, the chapter surrounding the dilapidated women’s refuge and subsequent (if brief) unification of the women, and their solidarity to bring about change showed a small glimmer of hope on an otherwise desolate landscape. These women need a voice, they need an opportunity to voice it, and I applaud Penguin for giving Cash the stage to do it on.

The reason I can’t rate this higher is really down to the structure of the writing, which gets a bit messy towards the end of the book. A few chapters seem to loose steam, or have a strange writing style to them, and the chronology goes a bit haywire. Sometimes I also found the writing a bit too ‘out there’. I didn’t mind the swearing (although after a while it felt a bit gratuitous) but I’d have preferred some context with the strange porn style scene I got near the end - which goes made me feel uncomfortable and felt entirely out of place. It lessened her important message.

Ultimately, this is an honest and harsh memoir from a voice that needs to be heard. They’re all voices that need to be heard. The women. The survivors. Those living but not thriving. Those slowly dying due to a government that wants to erase their existence. Given the way the UK voted recently, this should be required reading.

Skint Estate by Cash Carraway isn't for everyone, numerous bodily functions are ,described in detail , scatological, gynaecological, menstrual and sexual. Cash tells it like it is and some will be offended. More offensive to me was hearing about the way vulnerable people are being "cleansed" from rich London Boroughs to make room for the more affluent side of society and the way women are treated that makes them seek the shelter of Refuges.
Cash, and I'll use her first name as I felt I knew her very well by the end of the book, has certainly seen a lot of life, from her abusive childhood ,working in the sex industry from her teens , alone and pregnant in a Woman's Refuge through life as a social media "Influencer" then back down to earth again with a bang and yet another Refuge before life finally began to work out for her.
The book is brutally honest and Cash admits to her many mistakes and unwise relationships but through it all she keeps going, with a fairly major blip along the way, despite the knockbacks for the sake of her Daughter. Her love for her Daughter probably saves her life and she movingly tells us of finding unconditional love for the first time when she becomes a mother.
This is a moving book,a shocking book ,a political book and often an angry book ,Cash's writing is very much stream of consciousness and she certainly speaks her mind. In the latter part of the book she tells us that she realises that telling people things about her life that others would probably not admit to she's opening herself up to a lot of public criticism. I'm sure she will from some quarters but hopefully more will listen to her message and realise quite how much of a struggle life is for the working classes in this country, not least women. There is quite a lot of political comment but it's all relevant to her story and that of increasing numbers of others in this country..
It's not all doom and gloom and there are many acts of kindness from often unexpected quarters shown in the book.
I read this book from start to finish on a day when I was supposed be doing other things but I was gripped by Cash's story and what she had to say about the reality of life for those often vilified in our glorious gutter press and exploited by cynical TV Executives happy to use life's less fortunate as a freak show. It says a lot about this country that if Cash hadn't had the price of a Taxi fare her daughter might well be dead,that's the reality of being poor.
Great book,amazing woman.
Big thanks to Cash Carraway, Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the AFC in return for an honest review.