Book Review - Amy Liptrot – The Out-run

 

An audio version of this is now out on the July 2022 book review Podcast – Reading in Bed. Available on all of the usual networks

BLURB:

When Amy Liptrot returns to Orkney after more than a decade away, she is drawn back to the Outrun on the sheep farm where she grew up. Approaching the land that was once home, memories of her childhood merge with the recent events that have set her on this journey.

Amy was shaped by the cycle of the seasons, birth and death on the farm, and her father’s mental illness, which were as much a part of her childhood as the wild, carefree existence on Orkney. But as she grew up, she longed to leave this remote life. She moved to London and found herself in a hedonistic cycle. Unable to control her drinking, alcohol gradually took over. Now thirty, she finds herself washed up back home on Orkney, standing unstable at the cliff edge, trying to come to terms with what happened to her in London.

Spending early mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, the days tracking Orkney’s wildlife—puffins nesting on sea stacks, arctic terns swooping close enough to feel their wings—and nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy slowly makes the journey toward recovery from addiction.

The Outrun is a beautiful, inspiring book about living on the edge, about the pull between island and city, and about the ability of the sea, the land, the wind, and the moon to restore life and renew hope.

STRENGTHS:

This is a heart rending book straight from the start and is not for anybody that is for sure straight away.

I’ve not being to the Orkneys which is of course at the top of Scotland, but I knew about London and the path Amy fell into at the start of the book and that part of the book is incrediablly harrowing with the damage she did to herself, ruining a relationship and realising the similities to her father who trend down a similar path in Scotland.

When she came back to Orkney to recover, it took me into a way of life I certainly haven’t experienced it in great depth but still find it very enjoyable still.

The second part of the book which covers the bulk of this very short book is fairly simple as the Author returns to the Orkneys and attempts to live with the mistakes she has made of her life.

In less skilled hands, this book could have being very, very slight considering the length but the book is beauitfully told with her recovery mirroring her increasing love and understanding of the island.

WEAKNESSES:

I’ve read some criticism of the boom saying in places it is little more than a tourist guide to the Orkneys and certainly I did enjoy the parts in London more it has to be said but the further the book went on, I did find it a little repetitive.

The narrative also jumps around between the Orkneys and her times in London which did jar in places a little but thankfully didn’t ruin my enjoyment but I do think it could put some people off.

CONCLUSION:

It’s not for everybody but I did find a harrowing and stirring book of recovery and learning to live again.

Look forward to seeing the film version too which has started shooting.

8.5/10