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moominmama_11's review against another edition
4.0
Biography can sometimes be dry but this zipped by! So well written and researched and a wonderful portrait of a fascinating man
krobart's review against another edition
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/day-776-patrick-leigh-fermor-an-adventure/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/day-776-patrick-leigh-fermor-an-adventure/
orangemulli's review against another edition
I liked some of this. But I don't think bios are really my thing.
cimorene1558's review against another edition
5.0
Fabulous. If you've ever read and enjoyed any of PLF's books, you must read this. If you have any interest in travel, writing, or the history and culture of the 20th century, you might also want to read it. And if you like a good biography, you should definitely read it!
fourtriplezed's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read and a well written biography. Certainly worth the time of any one who admires the written words of Patrick Leigh Fermor. A book in two halves for me though. The excitement of the youthful walk and the Cretan WW2 adventures was captivating. The final half that consisted of upper middle class bludgeing ( a fine Australian word to describe a life of "Using" others) was a little too overbearing for my tastes. Is Leigh Fermor one of the best writers I have ever read? Absolutely. Would I have found conversation with him interesting? Of course! Will I read and reread him. Yes. Would I have liked him? Not sure. He may have been far too overbearing after a while.
susanlawson's review against another edition
3.0
I had read and re-read Fermor's books, 'A Time of Gifts' and 'Between the Woods and the Water' where he described the first great adventure of his young life when he walked across Europe a few years before the outbreak of WW2. This biography fills in the blanks of the life of this extraordinary man who, through intelligence and charm, led an amazing life of travel and discovery. Although the biographer clearly admires Fermor, there are moments where a slightly less likeable character emerges. He appears to have spent most of his life with little or no personal income, but has depended on his wealthy friends to support his lifestyle. Having said that, his immense interest in others, no matter their background, is obviously at the root of his great ability to write in such a vivid and compassionate manner.
persey's review
4.0
For the PLF fan. Others will be better served by reading his works first. For the fan, this fills in the cracks, but I think you end up liking him a little less. What’s charming in an 18-year old afoot is less so in a middle-aged perennial mooch with writer’s block. Still, he was a wonderful writer and obviously provided value received; the author (who was one of the charmed) does an excellent job of presenting both sides. He also knew how lucky he was.
sohnesorge's review
5.0
Obviously written by a friend of Fermor's, but Cooper manages to be objective about him and his life, a stance probably not easily achieved by people who knew him. A fascinating, funny, and inspiring biography, just like Fermor himself.
nwhyte's review
4.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2844587.html
I really knew Patrick Leigh Fermor only for his teenage odyssey; I had forgotten, if I had ever known, that he was a very well-known travel writer already before A Time of Gifts was published, winning awards for his accounts of the Caribbean and Greece. This all came after an extraordinary incident in the war, immortalised in the film Ill Met By Moonlight, where he mastermninded and carried out, at huge personal risk, the kidnapping of the German general in charge of the occupation of Crete. He swam the Hellespont at the age of 69.
Cooper is the daughter of John Julius Norwich and grand-daughter of Lady Diana Cooper, who were close friends of Leigh Fermor's, but she maintains a critical distance from her subject - notably, his inability to take orders which meant that he never successfully worked for anyone else (apart from his military career, though even that was constant chafing with authority) and his complex love life, which eventually settled down into a long-term open relationship with Joan Monsell, who he finally married after more than twenty years together. He seems to have been very happy, and generally charming (though there is a horrendous account of a disastrous set of exchanges with Somerset Maugham, in which Leigh Fermor was clearly at fault), and lived doing the things that he loved doing, leaving the world generally a better place for his existence.
I really knew Patrick Leigh Fermor only for his teenage odyssey; I had forgotten, if I had ever known, that he was a very well-known travel writer already before A Time of Gifts was published, winning awards for his accounts of the Caribbean and Greece. This all came after an extraordinary incident in the war, immortalised in the film Ill Met By Moonlight, where he mastermninded and carried out, at huge personal risk, the kidnapping of the German general in charge of the occupation of Crete. He swam the Hellespont at the age of 69.
Cooper is the daughter of John Julius Norwich and grand-daughter of Lady Diana Cooper, who were close friends of Leigh Fermor's, but she maintains a critical distance from her subject - notably, his inability to take orders which meant that he never successfully worked for anyone else (apart from his military career, though even that was constant chafing with authority) and his complex love life, which eventually settled down into a long-term open relationship with Joan Monsell, who he finally married after more than twenty years together. He seems to have been very happy, and generally charming (though there is a horrendous account of a disastrous set of exchanges with Somerset Maugham, in which Leigh Fermor was clearly at fault), and lived doing the things that he loved doing, leaving the world generally a better place for his existence.
booktwitcher23's review against another edition
3.0
I found the beginning of the book which coincided with his youthful travels more interesting. However, as the book progressed , I found him to be selfish.