Born Free [Paperback]

Laura Hird (Author)

Book Description

Series: 'rebel Inc' S. | Publication Date: July 10, 2001

Punchy, acerbic, sharp-witted, and above-all, acutely observed, this novel tells the story of an ordinary family who are all trying to escape from something—and each other. The interactions between Jake, Joni, Angie, and Vic reveal a hellish cocktail of adolescent ad mid-life crises, the savagery of sibling rivalry, the waking nightmare of a marriage gone cold, and, naturally, the unbridgeable, infernal chasm between the generations. It's a story of everyday life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Laura Hird's first novel sizzles with brio, gusto, disgust and many other vital signs . . . The situation and the dark humour might recall the work of Mike Leigh, but Laura Hird's writing, which is reminiscent of Irvine Welsh (for style) and Iain Banks (for pace), also has the tenderness of James Kelman's early work."  —Times Literary Supplement

"A tremendous energy carries the reader on, and despite the grimness of the subject matter it is leavened with a kind of black humour that some people simply won't get, and sharp little moments of poignancy—Laura Hird thinks for herself and toes no lines."  —Guardian

About the Author

Laura Hird's debut novel, Born Free, was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and nominated for the Orange Prize. She is the author of Hope and Other Urban Tales.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Canongate UK (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841950483
• ISBN-13: 978-1841950488
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,519,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sad but True, September 11, 2002

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Born Free (Paperback)

I first came across Laura Hird through her story "The Dilating Pupil" in the Children of Albion Rovers collection. In this, her first novel, she tells the depressing story of a wreck of a family living in Edinburgh. The chapters alternate between the voices of Vic, Angie, Jonie, and Jake (father, mother, 15-year-old, and 14-year-old), as they each seek escape from the shell of domestic life. Vic and Angie are going through agonizing midlife crises and a marriage that's totally dead. He's a bus driver on Prozac struggling to be decent and win the love of his family, she's a bitter, contemptuous bookie's assistant who's having a blast falling off the wagon. Meanwhile, their two teenagers are caught up in their own selfish angst of sex, friendships, drugs, and avoiding their parents.

The book is like a Mike Leigh film, brilliantly put together, but totally depressing. There are many moments of humor and recognition throughout, but ultimately there's not a whole lot of hope to be found anywhere. Given how awful the women act, it's hard to imagine a man being able to write this book without getting attacked as a misogynist. In any event, Hird's obviously got loads of talent, and this book should put her right there with her male Scottish peers like Welsh, Warner, McLean, Legge, and the like.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mining the Depths of Family Misery, October 2, 2003

By 

Lori L. Lake "Author of Like Lovers Do, Buyer... (Portland, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born Free (Paperback)

As she did in many of her short stories in the collection entitled NAIL, Laura Hird has once again mined the depths of a dysfunctional family. Vic and Angie, a bus driver and bookie's assistant respectively, have two kids, Joni, 15, and Jake, 14, neither of whom is happy. The story of this family, who live in Edinburgh, Scotland, is told from all four characters' points of view, and Hird captures their voices perfectly. Jake's longings, Joni's petulance and savagery, their mother's alcoholic binges and affair, and their father's resignation to his empty life are all rendered flawlessly.

The prose is energetic and cutting; the story, by turns, ugly and bleak. But the novel is also darkly comic, rising up into moments of hilarity. You can't resist laughing while at the same time feeling appalled and uncomfortable by the events and attitudes of the characters.

Hird's take on this Scottish family is a frightening look at the characters' failure to connect with one another, to escape their dismal situations, or to even imagine rising above the circumstances they face. They are alienated, angry, and unable to see any alternative solutions. In that way, there is a universality in the theme Hird is illuminating: that of the desperation and lack of hope some families face and the destruction and misery that follows in their wake. ~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review