Review: Little Scratch by Rebecca Watson
Published earlier this month, Little Scratch by Rebecca Watson has been universally praised. In this debut novel we follow a day in the life of a young woman who works in a mundane office job. We’re in her head from the moment she wakes up, to the moment she drops off to sleep.
She’s extremely self-conscious, suffering ever-present anxiety and impulses to self-harm, troubled by a recent trauma. The memories often break through, but of course she hasn’t the time (or possibly the inclination) to fully process the experience. She is assaulted by constant distractions – email, WhatsApp, Twitter and colleagues making small talk, but those intrusive, traumatic thoughts are always there under the surface.
‘I cannot get through the day, if everything brings up something else.’
Watson breaks the mould of standard literary form in a few ways here – firstly it’s a stream of consciousness, but this inner monologue is presented in an entirely unique way, with words scattered across the page as different thought processes happen simultaneously and overlap. On some pages there are two (or even three) columns – reading each column makes sense in its own right, but to understand the whole you must cross-reference the columns with each other. It’s certainly not an easy read, but the form successfully reflects the fragmented state of a traumatised mind. I was gripped from the start and raced through the book within an afternoon.
I could empathise with the main character as her experiences mirrored my own in many ways, and I’m sure many young office workers in big cities will feel the same. Frantically getting ready for work with a hangover, battling the morning commute on a packed train, facing the constant scrutiny of an open plan office, dealing with office predators and intrusive bosses, the constant stream of emails, finding brief moments of solace in supportive WhatsApp messages, gulping down bland, hot soup for lunch. Going out for drinks, then doing it all again the next day.
For this woman, the office is a place of fear and hostility that must be endured. She experiences very little positive human interaction during the day, aside from a few encouraging but superficial comments from other women – ‘nice shoes,’ ‘I like your dress’ etc. In a recent article for the FT, where Watson is now Assistant Arts Editor, she admits the novel would be very different if it was set today when many of us are working from home. The traumatic event at the centre of the novel is itself a product of such a toxic office environment.
When we all return to the office, will those old ways and power structures continue on as before?
Let’s hope not..
Little Scratch by Rebecca Watson is available now.
