Review: The Outrun by Amy Liptrott

The Outrun first entered my life by way of the film of the book. I watched it without knowing anything about the story and was very impressed. The two hours of the film wasn’t enough, I wanted more and so read the book.

This is a memoir, the tale of a young woman from the Orkneys who wanted to escape the confines of island life to find excitement amongst the bright lights of London. Except it didn’t work out like that. There was plenty of excitement, but it was fuelled by increasing amounts of alcohol. Nights out became more and more disastrous, days were eaten up with apologies and hangovers. It all went wrong and Liptrott had to admit to herself and her peers in therapy that she was now an alcoholic.

She returned home, to what she knew, to her separated and erratic parents and the community of Orkney. We see this island and its people through her older, sadder, wiser eyes and we share her journey, not just to recovery, but to life. Recovery from alcoholism is not just avoiding drinking, it’s also about recovering a life in which alcohol is not the focus.

This is hard. The parts of a person modelled by alcohol cry out to be satisfied. Lapsing back into drinking is pretty much normal. Recovery takes time, determination and an infusion of new energy. Liptrott found her energy in the simplicity of island life and its proximity to nature.

What had seemed small-town and limiting to the younger Liptrott, now became open fields of possibility. We join her as she discovers the beauty of the heavens, the enormity of storms and the complexities of birdlife. The noise and sweaty closeness of London parties is exchanged for the peace of solitude and the pleasure of reflection. Liptrott plugs into the forces of nature and rebuilds her life.

This is an inspiring story, it offers hope for people whose life has gone astray. It’s about alcohol abuse, but not just about that. This story is about finding the creative energy to rebuild a life. Lives have to be rebuilt for all sorts of reasons. After illness, after loss, after break up, after addiction. Sometimes a phase of life just comes to an end and a new beginning is required. The lesson of The Outrun is that the low point in your life is an opportunity to rebuild and that the resources of community and nature are available to help you do that.

Moreover, the Outrun is beautifully written. It is a very interior book, Liptrott allows you into her head. You share her doubts and joys through elegant prose. The writing is direct, intimate and beautiful. Inner worlds, the reader’s and the writer’s, merge with the big sky, pounding sea and resilient nature. Liptrott is renewed by welcoming the powers of nature into her life. She invites us all to do likewise.

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