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agmaynard's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
He’s a treasure! From the early novellas zfound, to the poignant memoir of his parents, I’m a sucker for Alan Bennett’s writing, whether diary entries , essays, sketches. Another omnibus volume that I’d missed between the one I picked up inOxford, and the earlier. Very little fails to interest at least a bit.
“For a writer, nothing is ever as bad as it is for other people because, however dreadful, it may be of use.” And such moments are indeed included.
“For a writer, nothing is ever as bad as it is for other people because, however dreadful, it may be of use.” And such moments are indeed included.
loubraryoftheforest's review
4.0
I’ve only read part 1 but it won’t let me pick the right one. At times difficult to hear as it mirrored so much of my own experiences with dementia and mental illness, but this is a raw honest account of a sons relationship with his parents and family, especially through his mothers mental health episodes and eventual decline. It really spoke to me and at times took me right back to where I’ve been in the same situation with both my parents, and those times you now look back on with guilt and regret that you put your own needs first. Honest, raw, and delivered in the way only Alan Bennett can, touches of humour, but always tinged with sadness.
xsparky126x's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
nwhyte's review
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1418941.html
I don't know Alan Bennett's work all that well, but it doesn't really matter; these are memoirs of a shy English writer born in Leeds in the mid-1930s and looking back on his life from the years around the turn of the century. Bennett has become something of a national institution, though he would hate to be described as such, and writes here about why he turned down a knighthood in 1996 ('it didn't suit me').
The two most effective pieces in the book are the very long opening piece about his mother's mental illness and the rest of his extended family, particularly her sisters (one of whom died after wandering out of a mental hospital; Bennett himself found her body), and the rather shorter closing piece about his own, so far successful, battle with bowel cancer, a legacy of his father's side of the family. In between are long, amusing extracts from his diaries between 1996 and 2004, and various other pieces mostly about the arts in Britain and his own work which didn't appeal to me as much but are, as usual with Bennett, engaging and often bitterly funny. Recommended.
I don't know Alan Bennett's work all that well, but it doesn't really matter; these are memoirs of a shy English writer born in Leeds in the mid-1930s and looking back on his life from the years around the turn of the century. Bennett has become something of a national institution, though he would hate to be described as such, and writes here about why he turned down a knighthood in 1996 ('it didn't suit me').
The two most effective pieces in the book are the very long opening piece about his mother's mental illness and the rest of his extended family, particularly her sisters (one of whom died after wandering out of a mental hospital; Bennett himself found her body), and the rather shorter closing piece about his own, so far successful, battle with bowel cancer, a legacy of his father's side of the family. In between are long, amusing extracts from his diaries between 1996 and 2004, and various other pieces mostly about the arts in Britain and his own work which didn't appeal to me as much but are, as usual with Bennett, engaging and often bitterly funny. Recommended.
larrys's review
4.0
I probably would've given this five stars had I been English, but many of the people mentioned and politics discussed were unfamiliar to me, which hindered my understanding a little.
Alan Bennett is a genius. I've thought this before, and still think so after reading this book.
Alan Bennett is a genius. I've thought this before, and still think so after reading this book.
booktwitcher23's review
4.0
A good observational read, although at times a bit repetitive, Bennett writes a lot about what the ordinary man in the street might feel, and in fact he was chosen as a trustee of the National Gallery for that very reason.
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