Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self-belief by Katriona O’Sullivan. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links were used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Dr Katriona O’Sullivan is a lecturer at Maynooth University, where her work in MU’s Department of Psychology Assisting Living & Learning Institute focuses on digital skills and social inclusion. O’Sullivan grew up in abject poverty and deprivation as one of five children raised in the UK by parents who both lived with addiction issues. The chaos of O’Sullivan’s home life as her parents cycled through active addiction, periods of sobriety, and back to active addiction meant that she and her siblings were left essentially to fend for themselves.
In Poor, O’Sullivan takes us back to her childhood as she shares her memories of the neglect and abuse, including sexual abuse by a family friend, she experienced. I use the word memories deliberately because early in the book, Katriona states that there are memories she wants to keep and is happy to talk about, and there are memories she wants to let go. She writes, “I want to tell you about these too, so I can leave them here and move on from them.” What follows is a matter-of-fact recounting of her childhood and teenage years, including becoming homeless and a single mother at 15, her own experience with addiction, and attending university as an adult while raising her young son.
The thing about memoirs is that it is impossible to cover everything about your life in one book, so choices are made about which aspects to focus on the most. The latter section about O’Sullivan attending Trinity College Dublin through the Trinity Access Programme and continuing to obtain her PhD felt rushed compared to the earlier section. That said, Poor is a testament to Katriona’s determination, the power of education, and the lasting impact of teachers who go out of their way to support their students who have otherwise fallen through the cracks.
Poor can be a challenging read, subject-wise. We shouldn’t shy away from the realities and consequences of poverty and addiction, so I recommend picking up a copy. O’Sullivan has written a memoir full of compassion and empathy towards herself and her parents. But also the compassion and empathy Katriona received from the teachers and care workers who helped shape her life.
Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self-belief by Katriona O’Sullivan is published by Sandycove, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Poor is available in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.
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