Constance BriscoeRessenyes

Uplifting story of a girls' ability to overcome an appalling childhood

This is the sequel to Ugly about a girl who is so abused by her mom who always tells her how ugly she is.
This book is about Constance trying to become a lawyer.

Maybe because of the translation but sometimes I thought her very weird but can you blame her. It seems she still takes abuse from other people. Her doctor her co workers. To me the writing and the story was all a bit weird,parts you would think would be very important were skipped and unimportant stuff was talked about a lot. I did discover that I still am much quicker reading Dutch than English. Read it in half a day.

The book was magnificent. I read stories like this and wonder why some people bother to have kids. I'm glad that she was able to write her story.

Well I finished it last night and in the beginning of the book I thought it would be really hard to read, it was, but not as bad as i thought it would.

I was shocked that a young girl is treated in a hospital has to stay there at least 5 days, nobody visits her and no questions are asked?
The same with the school, she comes at school clearly being beaten up, she even tells them who did it but all they do is think about themselves? weird.
I did think this girl was a fighter, look at the other sisters, they were not as abused as she was but they did every thing for their mother, were scared of her shitless, but this girl was abused terribly but did try to stand up. I hope this witch of a mother will be punished. Someone in a review said this girl was not a fighter, I disagree.
Must say I would love to know what happens next but not so much that I am going to buy the sequel :)

Ugly by Constance Briscoe is a very chilling true story of child abuse that will thug at the very core of your being and make you stop and ask yourself just how many children are out there going through life with unknown scars like Constance did.

Beaten, abused and scared on a almost daily basis by her Jamiacan born mother, Constance went personally to a childrne home, asking to be admitted just to get away from the daily abuse, but they refuse to accept her.

She was forced to bare the brunt of the sad abuse metted out to her by her own mother, even in her teenage years, but persevere and kept her focused on ehr dream to be a barrister and succeeded against all the odds.

This is a book truly worth reading.

Sam Bailey and Elizabeth Johnson are former prostitutes. Encouraged by their probation officer, to move on with their lives and make their money legally, they set up a private investigation business together. The agency is still in a fledgling state when Elizabeth….nicknamed Icey… is arrested for murder. The victim has been tortured and died from a throat laceration whilst attending her local Catholic church. Icey had been drinking too much of late and had gone to the church to confess her sins and ask for God’s guidance. Having been knocked out, she awakes, with the murder weapon in her hand, covered in the victim’s blood and a rosary bead is discovered in the pocket of her coat. That bead is believed to belong to the murdered woman. The evidence is overwhelming, her solicitor is hopeless and Icey is tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sam believes in her best friend and sets about proving her innocence. Her feelings seem totally justified when there is a further murder with religious connotations……followed by yet another one. Yet Sam’s fight seems fruitless when the police and judicial systems remain unconvinced. Even hiring the smartest lawyer in the City fails to win an appeal for Icey. Despite the system being set against her, Sam refuses to give up on her friend and believes that justice will prevail.
The plot of this book is a good one. However, it was a slow burner and didn’t really warm up until half way through. I also found the writing a bit tiresome. Too much emphasis was placed on what characters were wearing and the ordinary little things which did not enhance the story in any way. When I read a précis of this book, I was expecting a great courtroom drama. Apart from a short visit at Icey’s original trial, we didn’t even enter a court until page 368. That was disappointing as Constance Briscoe is a barrister and part time judge. I also found the book overlong….it has 117 chapters….albeit short ones… and I did struggle to get through it, almost giving up at one point. In summary, less finicky details and more legal/courtroom action would be great in the sequel, which I understand Ms Briscoe has in the pipeline.
This book was made available to me, prior to publication, for an honest review.½

Ugly is a jaw grinding novel. It takes you into the moment of the scenes...It is a very detailed novel which makes it easy to visualize what’s going on. This book is a very well written book on the devastating childhood of a girl 'Constance Briscoe'

amazing book. very sad but realistic. thought provoking.

I enjoyed this, and read it really quickly, but I don't know if it was as good as Ugly. Although I'm glad I read it - it was nice to see where Constance went next!

I am honestly astounded. I am at a loss to understand how a mother can treat just one of her children like this, and nobody intervenes! Even when that child goes to school, visibly beaten up, and says that she will not go home, nobody does anything?

Granted, this is not today. It was thirty odd years ago, so I can only hope that today someone would step in and do something. Just how loud does a child have to cry for help before she's heard? Does she have to get killed first? Constance didn't, of course, but she's lucky. Lucky that all she had to suffer were beatings, so severe that her young traumatised breasts developed breast cancer, so severe that her hair fell out. And that was just the physical abuse. I don't know which is worse. The physical abuse or the emotional abuse. Just how bad can a child feel that she feels so worthless, and such a germ that she drinks bleach, because bleach kills all known germs, and she doesn't want to live any longer. And even suffering the effects of drinking bleach, nobody calls a doctor for her!

What sort of people are they?? I just can't imagine.

Did not enjoy the writing at all.½

Calling it an enthralling read but only giving it 4 stars may seem strange but all will be revealed! This was a fabulous text to read, written with the child writer in mind I felt. Looking at situations how they were presented to her, rather than trying to address from the adult she now is.

I do not know how a single adult outside her life did not push for further investigations - one day she turned up at school with her face a mess at having been beaten up. There is more to it than simply how I state it but I don't want to spoil the plot for someone.

Getting to know Constance through the situations she faced was quite harrowing - particularly the incident where she had to go to hospital. Her parents called her by another name and again, it was revealing when she found out what her real name was, although I felt more may have been revealed to the reader at this point.

She had clearly detached herself from her family, but who wouldn't - however this came across in the book as making her seem very cold. I wouldn't have wanted to know why the mother abused her daughter - as this is a different book entirely, but I am surprised in this book why she didn't question her father's responsibilities.

And so to why I put 4 stars. I felt one more chapter was needed. Not to necessarily 'put the world to rights' but to just delve into her adulthood slightly. Although the book did come to a natural end and I felt this was fine, I just would have liked to know a touch more. A 'complete' book, talking about her childhood, that I am pleased I read.

An autobiography, about her horrible childhood. I found it hard to believe some of the things, and it wasn't very well written... I didn't really enjoy it.

Brilliant bio. of a childhood savaged by a despicable mother. Shows the despair and hopelessness of the author and the tentative growth of acceptance of self and later triumph.

Poorly written, sometimes unconvincing... not that great. I wouldn't personally say it's worthy of the acclaim.