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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
boundsie's review against another edition
3.0
Hillary was not a great writer when he completed this, his only book; and the unevenness of the narrative and the artificiality of some of the scenes is due to his immaturity. However, the longevity of this book is not only its subject — the Few — and the confessional nature of Hillary’s journey, but the passion and compassion with which he describes the formation of Battle of Britain pilots and then the daily casualties which whittled them away. His journey to a new self-understanding is counterpointed with his experience as a ‘Guinea pig’ in the care of Archibald MacIndoe, and he handles this with some skill and humility. By no means a redeemed character after his surgeries, it is remarkably sad that he insisted on returning to flying while clearly unfit and died in what was probably an inevitable accident, leaving one to speculate on what a further volume of autobiography might have said.
leemac027's review against another edition
3.0
It takes a while to adjust to something that was written back in the 1940s. The social norms, practices and beliefs of that time were quite different to what we have today.
Putting that aside, this is a wonderful recollection of Hillary's experiences as an RAF pilot during WWII. He is from a very privileged background and over time comes to realise how sheltered and fortunate he has been.
However he has to face reality with the hardships of the war, together with the harsh truth about the dangerous conditions they were flying in every day. Hillary lost many friends and colleagues and he himself was very badly injured when his plane went down in the sea. His rehabilitation journey at times brings a smile as he vividly recounts his nurse and their ongoing battle about what he can and can't do while in the hospital.
It's a journey back to a long gone era but a fabulous read to see this situation through the eyes of someone who lived it.
Putting that aside, this is a wonderful recollection of Hillary's experiences as an RAF pilot during WWII. He is from a very privileged background and over time comes to realise how sheltered and fortunate he has been.
However he has to face reality with the hardships of the war, together with the harsh truth about the dangerous conditions they were flying in every day. Hillary lost many friends and colleagues and he himself was very badly injured when his plane went down in the sea. His rehabilitation journey at times brings a smile as he vividly recounts his nurse and their ongoing battle about what he can and can't do while in the hospital.
It's a journey back to a long gone era but a fabulous read to see this situation through the eyes of someone who lived it.
pixieauthoress's review against another edition
5.0
Read for EN4413: Reading the 1940s, 2011-2012.
This was one of the set texts on my Reading the 1940s course, and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect in reading the auto-biography of a WWII RAF pilot. When I was discussing this course with my family my dad brought out my Grandpa's first edition of this book, which was a nice surprise! My dad loved this book, but me and my dad don't always share the same taste in books, so it was pleased to find that I enjoyed this book a lot more than I had expected. The last chapter didn't completely fit with the rest of the book (although according to the introduction Hillary fabricated part of this section) but the rest of the memoir was fascinating. A great insight into the life of RAF pilots in WWII, which was far from glamorous. It was really interesting observing Hillary as he grew from a lazy, self-centered Oxbridge boy into a man with life experience and understanding of the world. I found myself musing over this book for several days afterwards. 9/10
This was one of the set texts on my Reading the 1940s course, and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect in reading the auto-biography of a WWII RAF pilot. When I was discussing this course with my family my dad brought out my Grandpa's first edition of this book, which was a nice surprise! My dad loved this book, but me and my dad don't always share the same taste in books, so it was pleased to find that I enjoyed this book a lot more than I had expected. The last chapter didn't completely fit with the rest of the book (although according to the introduction Hillary fabricated part of this section) but the rest of the memoir was fascinating. A great insight into the life of RAF pilots in WWII, which was far from glamorous. It was really interesting observing Hillary as he grew from a lazy, self-centered Oxbridge boy into a man with life experience and understanding of the world. I found myself musing over this book for several days afterwards. 9/10