Reviews

All of these stories are loosely or tightly autobiographical. The issue of true memories is explored in the last of the stories, an abridgement of Mantel's full autobiography, Giving up the ghost.

maxxreads's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

lavrendy's review against another edition

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1.0

boring :/

I only finished this bc I’ve given up on too many movies and books lately and needed the quick dopamine hit from finishing something lol

dswhite's review against another edition

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3.0

A few short stories about being a child in Ireland. An okay book, but not my type of read.

jacklynruth's review against another edition

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5.0

Creative stories with an autobiograohical bent. Some are true memoir and some are just influenced by memories. But all are descriptions of how Hilary Mantel survived an unconventional arrangement of having two fathers in the same household.

anarag's review against another edition

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I enjoyed these stories and she certainly knows how to write evocative, literary, emotional scenes. But these "stories" adhere so closely to her autobiography--as evidenced in the final selection in the book, which is essay and not fiction--that I wonder whether or not to regard these as fiction. They seem more like memory pieces. This doesn't take anything away from her writing skills, but I wonder why she insists on defining them as fiction. What's the difference? Well, the overlay of imagination, for one thing. In fiction, one can start with memory and then create a different outcome, new characters, changed lives. But Ms. Mantel seems not to have chosen that path and I'm left puzzled.

lisalotte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

2.75

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