29. Duck Feet

A beautifully written coming-of-age novel or a maddeningly hard read? Hannah and Paris break down Duck Feet by Ely Percy, the Scottish Booker Prize winner that divides readers with its phonetic dialect and emotionally devastating final stretch. If you’ve ever wondered whether a book can be both clever and exhausting, this episode is for you. Hannah falls hard for the immersive working-class Scottish voice and Kirsty Campbell’s quietly observant perspective, while Paris wrestles with the pace, the dense vernacular, and the feeling that some of the biggest moments rush by too fast. You’ll hear them unpack what makes the prose so distinctive, why the first-person Scottish spelling either pulls you straight into Kirsty’s world or slows you down completely, and how the novel handles everything from class, friendship, sex, teen pregnancy, grief, body image, and early social media to the strange way growing up can feel both ordinary and life-altering at once. They also dig into Kirsty’s relationship with Wully, the heartbreak of his death, the book’s unexpected ghostly turn, and why the final pages hit so hard even after a long, uneven build. Along the way, they compare notes on girlhood, schoolyard slang, Bebo nostalgia, and the kind of teenage dynamics that feel painfully real the second you hear them.This is a thoughtful, funny, spoiler-heavy conversation about a novel that is as ambitious as it is divisive. Perfect for readers who love literary coming-of-age stories, book club debates, and hearing two very different reactions to the same unforgettable book. Let us know what you think of the book on our instagram @chattingchapterspodcast You can also email us at chattingchapterspodcast@gmail.com