
Well written, occasionally deeply insightful and overall rather bleak, Sammy Wright’s debut story Fit skewers social inequality in young contemporary Britain. With its protagonist landing a modelling career in London, there’s a focus on physical attractiveness that wilfully contrasts inner voices and outside events, while certain characters are portrayed as irreversibly broken – which I found sat uncomfortably. (I’m often a little sceptical of school-life fiction, which often feels judgemental of bad decisions, dark thoughts and the emotional impact that these formative years have on young minds.)
Fatalism appears and disappears on a whim in Sammy Wright’s Fit. An Instagram filter narrative is dealt with, snapshot-like; a gang rape-related subplot simply escapes from view. So much touched on in this book deserved a better treatment – not necessarily more optimistic, less grim or more detailed, and certainly not more explicit, but just woven together in a way that treated Fit’s characters as individuals, not sacrificial pawns.
Fit, Sammy Wright (And Other Stories)
Price: £10/£6.99 Ebook. Info: here
words BILLIE INGRAM SOFOKLEOUS