Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
If you’ve ever been on a night out where you got blackout drunk and have laughed the next day as your friends tell you all the stupid stuff you said, that’s what being autistic feels like for me: one long blackout night of drinking, except there’s no socially sanctioned excuse for your gaffes and no one is laughing.
In this book, Fern uses her voice as a neurodivergent, working class woman from Scotland to bring her experiences with sex work, abusive relationships and her time spent in a teenage mental health unit to the page. Written with unflinching honesty, Strong Female Character is a game-changing memoir on sexism and neurodiversity.
About the author
Fern Brady is a woman. She is also autistic. She was born in Scotland (no, not Glasgow). She has no presets for being a ‘good woman’ - she never hated her body or indulged in messy millennial shame. She now lives out of wedlock in London. She has zero children.
Fern’s caustic wit, exceptional writing and electric stage craft has made her one of the UK’s hottest comedy stars. As seen on Live from the BBC, Live from the Comedy Store, The Russell Howard Hour, and Live at the Apollo. She regularly writes for The Guardian and her career has gone stratospheric in the last 18 months. She’s had viral success with her BBC Life Lessons, stormed the Australian comedy scene and supported Frankie Boyle and Katherine Ryan on tour. She can currently be seen on Taskmaster on Channel 4.
Review
I picked up this book up one afternoon last week and only put it down to basically eat and have a pee! It was captivating, funny, heartbreaking, laughter inducing, tear enducing, educational and uplifting in a way. I feel as if Fern Brady is now a close friend and I just want to give her a hug and congratulate her on a wonderful book.
This is a very brave book. As someone who was frightened to mention that they might need a light turned off above them whilst at work because I suffer from chronic migraines, I understand in a way how by saying something it becomes your whole identity. For me it is a disability - I’m currently bedridden again with over 25 migraine days a month and when something like that becomes all-consuming it does become a fight with yourself both physically and mentally. Even with friends and family it can be isolating when something takes over your life and they can't understand what’s happening. I once had a friend say they couldn’t cope with me cancelling and get in touch when I was well! Bitch please I have two neurological disorders that ain’t disappearing anytime soon. So now I don’t talk about stuff they might not understand. That’s why the section where Fern talks about how she doesn’t tell people about her meltdowns really resonated with me. You do get scared that by telling people that they will run off and end your relationship, or not respect you at work as they don’t get you and your situation anymore. That’s why this book is brave. Fern is basically turning her soul inside out and showing everyone that this is who she is and if you don’t like then f@ck off.
There is so much about this memoir that I loved that I am going to recommend it to everyone and all my book groups, especially my Scottish bookclub! It deals with parts of Scotland you don’t normally see in memoirs or literature. It’s only really been in the last say five years that we are seeing a bloom in books being published that deal with areas of working class Scotland that haven’t had the gaze placed on them before. Yes, of course there is Douglas Stuart and ‘Shuggie Bain’ but there is also Ely Percy, Kirkland Ciccone, Elissa Soave, Emma Grae and now Fern Brady putting the focus on areas of adolescence and trying to find their place in the worlds of small Scottish towns like Bathgate, Clydebank, Falkirk etc. I would have read a book that only dealt with a teenage Fern, or even a book that only dealt with her uni years.
What I also loved about this book was how educational is it. Someone could pick this book up and if they didn’t know anything about autism and the wide wide spectrum of experiences that comes with that is definitely going to know a lot more about it by the time they finish this book. Not just from Fern’s personal experiences which are documented with unflinching honesty but also from the studies, articles and many resources which are quoted by Fern. Also, bonus points for the use of footnotes btw! But the important thing is that if someone feels as if they are in Fern’s situation of not coming to a diagnosis until adulthood, they could pick this book up and feel reassured, comforted and ultimately helped by reading it. Imagine if this book helped just one person figure out what the hell is happening to them then it’s done it’s job. However, I have a feeling that it is going to help a lot more than one person. It’s going to be instrumental in a lot of people's lives.
On another note, it was an outrage you weren't allowed coronation chicken for the ice cream task as that's curried!!! In a way, I hope that Taskmaster and this book end up working in combination to show that Fern is a nuanced creature that is the result of her autism, her upbringing, and her trauma but also her joy, creativity, empathy and love of others. She is a talent that needs to be watched and for sure will be doing that!
Let me know if you pick this wonderful book up!
