THE PLOT: ‘Learning to Think’ by Tracy King is a memoir about religion, faith and grief. Growing up on a council estate outside Birmingham in the 1980’s, Tracy’s childhood was marked by her father’s alcoholism and her mother’s agoraphobia. But when her father died in their estate, her mother sank deep into born-again Christianity. The religion became the focal point of Tracy’s life, until she began to uncover what really happened to her father and learned to think for herself.

SUMMARY: This was an enjoyable memoir that I listened to on audio alongside reading the proof copy. The audio narration is very engaging and Tracy is a skilled author as she relates her life in clear language with a strong narrative structure (often hard to do in memoir since you’re having to edit your life into a coherent story). Given the blurb and prologue, I expected the meat of the book to focus on Tracy’s experiences as a born-again Christian. However, the religious aspect was not touched upon in detail and I would’ve preferred more specific stories about the church. The focus is by far Tracy’s grief after her father’s death and trying to piece together evidence about what truly happened to him. While not as sensational as the blurb suggests, I found Tracy’s story moving and it gave me a lot to think about in regards to the UK housing, care and justice systems.

GOOD BITS:  Tracy introduces a lot of backstory, including the details of her parents economic status, their housing situation and her sister Emily’s brush with the care system due to school refusal. As a civil servant, I found this context extremely interesting because I was able to think about government policy during the 80’s and how this would’ve affected Tracy’s family. This context was also a good way to frame the lead up to her father’s death, as the book focuses on the impact of his passing on the family and the vulnerabilities that made them susceptible to joining such a radical church.

NOT SO GOOD BITS: The focus of this memoir is very much Tracy’s father’s death, so the tone was not what I expected. I personally would’ve liked more details about the church and, because Tracy’s so-called “demonic possession” was highlighted in the prologue, I expected to understand more about the lead up to her “exorcism”. In the final few chapters, the book becomes quite contemplative and repetitive as Tracy recounts the details of her father’s final moments, searching for answers.

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of ‘The Tidal Year’ by Freya Bromley and ‘Crying in H Mart’ by Michelle Zauner.

This book was published on 7^th March 2024 and is available to purchase on my bookshop.org account. Thank you to Doubleday for my #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.