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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I read this one because I liked her other so much, but she ends up sounding more like a cantankerous old woman in this one.
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
I wanted to read this memoir...book of essays...by a 98?-yo because I love memoirs and because I live with a 94-yo. lol
Unfortunately, it was just ok for me. The writing was fine, I just wasn't that interested in what she talked about in the book.
Because she IS a great writer, I want to try some of her other books.
Unfortunately, it was just ok for me. The writing was fine, I just wasn't that interested in what she talked about in the book.
Because she IS a great writer, I want to try some of her other books.
Alive, Alive, Oh! is a collection of memories that matter most to Athill as she draws nearer to her 100th birthday.
I was drawn to this after reading a review which mentioned Athill's thoughts on moving herself into a retirement/care home. It was a point of view I'd never considered before, that such a move can be a positive one for everybody concerned.
Many chapters surprised me in the same way she seemed to have always been ahead of her time. Some stories really made stop and think about my own attitudes towards certain things.
I did skip over the odd paragraph, particularly the chapter about her grandparents' garden but that's just because I'm not really into a lot of description.
I really feel I could learn a lot from Athill. This volume is too small.
I was drawn to this after reading a review which mentioned Athill's thoughts on moving herself into a retirement/care home. It was a point of view I'd never considered before, that such a move can be a positive one for everybody concerned.
Many chapters surprised me in the same way she seemed to have always been ahead of her time. Some stories really made stop and think about my own attitudes towards certain things.
I did skip over the odd paragraph, particularly the chapter about her grandparents' garden but that's just because I'm not really into a lot of description.
I really feel I could learn a lot from Athill. This volume is too small.
I absolutely idolise Diana Athill, her stories resonate with me on so many levels and for someone who is 98, her brain is as sharp and witty as it ever was.
A series of short chapters, each from a different area of her life (all true) from her childhood at her Grandparents home, to the time she nearly died, and, moving into her current home, DA touches on subjects many of us can relate to.
DA is truly inspiring and the five stars are well deserved.
A series of short chapters, each from a different area of her life (all true) from her childhood at her Grandparents home, to the time she nearly died, and, moving into her current home, DA touches on subjects many of us can relate to.
DA is truly inspiring and the five stars are well deserved.
Fantastic read. Extremely readable, meaning the words flow beautifully as though you were speaking them yourself. Content also very interesting in a rather quiet way. A book that has stayed with me for a while after reading it. Will definitely pick up more by Athill.
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
If you love memoirs and have not read Diana Athill, I highly recommend all of her work.
Born in Norfolk, England in 1917, she worked during the war at BBC Overseas Service in the News Information Department. After the war she worked as an editor, first at Allan Wingate and then at André Deutsch, until her retirement at the age of 75 in 1993. As an editor, she worked with authors such as Jean Rhys, V. S. Naipaul, Norman Mailer. In between, she has traveled the world and lived and loved and beautifully set her feelings and observations about life on paper.
She didn't write her memoirs chronologically, and you don't have to read them chronologically (though you mostly could). The first of her books I reads was Somewhere Towards the End, her musings on life as she entered her 90's, and this book, Alive, Alive, Oh! is filled with her reflections on being well over 90 (as of this writing, she will turn 101 at the end of the year). If you are young, Diana Athill will make you reexamine your preconceptions about those who are older; if you are middle age, she will remind you that your life is only yet half lived; if you are entering the "twilight years", she will reaffirm that you are still a vibrant, thinking, feeling person of a value in a totally non-saccharine way. In Alive, Alive, Oh!, her essay "Oh, tell me, Gentle Shepherd, where..." is an astounding rumination on colonization and traveler complicity.
Try Yesterday Morning for her memories of childhood, After a Funeral for her clear record of a very messy relationship that ended in suicide, Make Believe for the story of her friend and lover Hakim Jamal, Stet for her publishing recollections.
To quote another reviewer quoting another reviewer:
There is an introduction to one of her memoirs (Instead of a letter) by Andrea Ashworth, who puts it better than I could:
"Her language combines immediacy, ease and precision of expression"
Hers is a rare kind of candour, she addresses her readers with a strikingly modern lack of squeamishness and secrecy about personal experience, but is never gratuitously shocking or cloyingly confessional."
Born in Norfolk, England in 1917, she worked during the war at BBC Overseas Service in the News Information Department. After the war she worked as an editor, first at Allan Wingate and then at André Deutsch, until her retirement at the age of 75 in 1993. As an editor, she worked with authors such as Jean Rhys, V. S. Naipaul, Norman Mailer. In between, she has traveled the world and lived and loved and beautifully set her feelings and observations about life on paper.
She didn't write her memoirs chronologically, and you don't have to read them chronologically (though you mostly could). The first of her books I reads was Somewhere Towards the End, her musings on life as she entered her 90's, and this book, Alive, Alive, Oh! is filled with her reflections on being well over 90 (as of this writing, she will turn 101 at the end of the year). If you are young, Diana Athill will make you reexamine your preconceptions about those who are older; if you are middle age, she will remind you that your life is only yet half lived; if you are entering the "twilight years", she will reaffirm that you are still a vibrant, thinking, feeling person of a value in a totally non-saccharine way. In Alive, Alive, Oh!, her essay "Oh, tell me, Gentle Shepherd, where..." is an astounding rumination on colonization and traveler complicity.
Try Yesterday Morning for her memories of childhood, After a Funeral for her clear record of a very messy relationship that ended in suicide, Make Believe for the story of her friend and lover Hakim Jamal, Stet for her publishing recollections.
To quote another reviewer quoting another reviewer:
There is an introduction to one of her memoirs (Instead of a letter) by Andrea Ashworth, who puts it better than I could:
"Her language combines immediacy, ease and precision of expression"
Hers is a rare kind of candour, she addresses her readers with a strikingly modern lack of squeamishness and secrecy about personal experience, but is never gratuitously shocking or cloyingly confessional."
Mixed feelings about this one. Positives: I love it that a 97 year old wrote this very emotionally honest book and reveals how people and lives have and have not changed; I love being taken back in time to see her grandparents' country estate, where I can almost smell the ripe fruit and beautiful flowers they grew; and she gives me hope for a long, healthy life and acceptance of growing older.
I didn't always feel like I completely understood her experiences, because she didn't always reveal as much about herself as I might've liked. I did enjoy her practical, honest voice and wanted more stories from her life. It was worth the read.
I didn't always feel like I completely understood her experiences, because she didn't always reveal as much about herself as I might've liked. I did enjoy her practical, honest voice and wanted more stories from her life. It was worth the read.