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This book tore at old wounds.

I grew up in "Wakey" Wakefield, not "Donny" Doncaster, which is the setting of We Pretty Pieces of Flesh, but this could easily have been my town, my school, my classmates. The book is written entirely in Yorkshire dialect, which will probably be a challenge for some, but was easily recognisable to me.

I can’t imagine how this book will be received by those not from Yorkshire, but as Trainspotting and Shuggie Bain managed to cross barriers of language and culture, perhaps this one will also.

This book felt very personal to me. I was also young in the early 2000s (the blurb says the '90s, but this is not really accurate) and I experienced all of this. Yes, the references; yes, the music. Also, yes, the tidal wave of misogyny. I remember that acutely confusing feeling of fury at being objectified, yet at the same time to be objectified was to be desired, and to be desired was better than to be rejected.

What a horrific, miserable feeling.

I remember girls starving themselves, girls bending over backwards to find that sweet spot that evades being "frigid" or a "slag", kids losing themselves in alcohol and drugs. I remember getting out, going to uni, and it being like escaping to a different world. I remember being shocked that there were people who were shocked at underage teens having sex.

This book captures all of this, a very specific time and place, and it captures it well. The characters, especially Shaz, are dazzling and memorable.

For a while I really wanted to rate this 5 stars but it did get a bit long. In the middle it became a bit of a repetitive sea of dancing, boozing and bad choices� probably intentionally so, to create the effect of a kaleidoscopic whirlwind, but I would have preferred less of it.

Still, it was really powerful, and Brown's writing in the dialect was fantastic. I could hear their voices speaking in my ear... sounded a lot like the family and friends I grew up with. I'll be looking out for this author's future work.