Pa`nop´ti`con ( noun). A circular prison with cells so constructed that the prisoners can be observed at all times. [Greek panoptos 'seen by all']
Anais Hendricks, fifteen, is in the back of a police car, headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can't remember the events that led her here, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and there is blood on Anais's school uniform. Smart, funny and fierce, Anais is a counter-culture outlaw, a bohemian philosopher in sailor shorts and a pillbox hat. She is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met.

The residents of the Panopticon form intense bonds, heightened by their place on the periphery, and Anais finds herself part of an ad-hoc family there.

Much more suspicious are the social workers, especially Helen, who is about to leave her job for an elephant sanctuary in India but is determined to force Anais to confront the circumstances of her birth before she goes. Looking up at the watchtower that looms over the residents, Anais knows her fate: she is part of an experiment, she always was, it's a given, a liberty - a fact. And the experiment is closing in.

Received in ebook format from the publishers via www.netgalley.com

This is not what I expected it to be, and in a good way. Set somewhere in Scotland, the 15 year old Anais is on her way to the Panopticon, a children's unit, whilst a police woman is in a coma in hospital, having been koshed around the head. Everyone belives that Anais did it and it's just a case of proving it.

Anais has been a damaged child from the beginning, having been born to an unnamed mother, who promptly fled the scene. She's been in care ever since and has been from pillar to post, rarely finding stability and friends. She has however, found drugs, drink, prostitution, underage sex, and violence, and her most frequent boyfriend is in jail, desperate for cash to pay off some debts.

In the Panopticon she finds some of what she needs, in the friendships she finds there, mainly in the other girls, all of whom are as equally damaged. Every step of the way however, Anais feels she is being watched by those in the Watchtower and being followed by those performing the Experiment. Her struggle to make some sense of her world means she attempts to reinvent herself, with her ideal of living in Paris one of her favourites.

This is not a book for the easily offended or of a nervous disposition. There is a LOT of swearing (including words I'd never heard before in those chosen combinations). There are "trigger" situations that some people may struggle with. The book is a 1st person narrative of a 15 year old Scottish lass, so an understanding of Scottish (Glasgow?) dialect will make it easier to read.

I rarely give 5 stars to any book, but I cant think of a reason not to give it one.
( )

I went into this book expecting it to be so much more than it ended up being. I feel like something is missing from it. I just couldn't get into it, even though I finished it. I will definitely not be reading this again.

If you like stream of consciousness and books on the line of HBO's 'Euphoria' then you'd probably enjoy it. Mostly, though, it's just really sad. ( )

The Panopticon is the debut novel by Jenni Fagan and stars a very unreliable narrator. Fifteen year old Anais has spent her life in and out of foster homes or locked up in supervised care. She is smart, funny and carries an intense anger inside herself. She has been let down by every adult she has ever come into contact with. The story opens with Anais being placed in the Panopticon, a young offenders home. The police are convinced that she has placed a female police officer in a coma but although she has blood on her clothes, she also had enough drugs in her system that she can’t remember.

Anais tells her story in a rough, raw manner that is both lyrical and spirited. She is full of quirks and curiosity. The descriptions of institutional life paint a bleak picture and this story acts as an indictment of the care system in which Anais and her fellow inmates have been placed.

I knew right from the start that this was going to be a dark read as I couldn’t see how such a damaged child engulfed in such a broken system could possibly be anything else. The author has written the book in Scottish street brogue which took me a few pages to get the feel for, but once I did, I realized that the writing is superb. I would add a caution for those who dislike extremely earthly language and a lot of swear words, this may not be the read for you. This is an electrifying, intense story that can make you smile and break your heart in the space of one paragraph. I will definitely be looking for more by this author. ( )

The NY Times Book Review last July positioned this book as a critique of the foster care system and its perils. It was a very hard book to read: lots of f-bombs, lots of Scottish slang, substantial drug abuse causing the reader to wonder what was real or imagined, significant time shifting between present and past events, us versus them with them being social workers, the police, etc. During the book, I sometimes empathized with the main character, her plight and her moral compass, but found her misguided, self-destructive, and utterly loathsome at many turns too. I liked some of her friends at the Panopticon facility (and did not like what happened to two in particular) and her social worker Angus who stood up for Anais. At times, this book was only a 2, with occasional times a 4. Overall 2.75. ( )

I found this a very honest, chilling and endearing portrayal of a young woman who has had an incredibly difficult life, has not given up in spite of all the horror and tragedy she has encountered (and sometimes caused), and is still seeing beauty in the world. Yes, the language is rough, and part of this book are very disturbing - so are the lives of many children who grew up without parents, surrounded by and addicted to drugs. ( )