Yup

Today I’m joining the blog tour for A Complicated Woman. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Sometimes when I drink wine out of a globulous glass with the thinnest of rims, blocking out the fact it’s billed at £14 a pop, I think of baby Becky.

Hair so blonde it’s neon white, cheeks so chubby you can’t see her eyes. What must she think right now? She must think she made it.

We’re a great big adult person.

That was always the plan, right?

In her extraordinary debut, with her trademark lyricism and razor-sharp wit, Ivor Novello Award-winning musician and artist Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka SELF ESTEEM) takes us on a journey through womanhood – whatever the hell that means.

Through the notes, lyrics and biting observational prose for which Taylor has become renowned, A Complicated Woman offers itself up as a subversive anti-Bible for any woman who has ever cracked under the weight of impossible expectation; who has done unto others the damage that has been wrought upon her; and who has discovered deep within herself a resilience that surprised her.

A Complicated Woman is a cathartic scream of a book that gets to the heart of being a woman in the world today, and cements Taylor as one of the most exciting voices of her generation.

Review:

I must admit before I write this review that I knew very little about Rebecca Lucy Taylor or her work as Self Esteem, but A Complicated Woman has definitely encouraged me to find out more. Her poetry and lyrics as they appear in this book are both beautiful and powerful and it is clear that she is an incredibly talented and articulate wordsmith. I’m a similar age to Rebecca Lucy Taylor and I really resonate with many of her thoughts and experiences, especially the sections entitled ‘I Do This All The Time.’

Rebecca Lucy Taylor is very rarely explicit about her experiences in relationships and with mental health difficulties, but it is clear that she has been through some difficult times. These sections are raw and often quite uncomfortable but I felt touched by her words and felt they provided a deeper understanding of her thoughts, feelings and personality.

In between the longer sections of poetry, there are some short, mostly dated, journal entries. These are often funny and usually poignant and they really complement the rest of the writing.

I found this book really interesting and I look forward to listening to more of Self Esteem’s music.

A Complicated Woman is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: