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.