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A review by wendoxford
Mermaid Singing by Charmian Clift
4.0
It is 1954 when writers Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston leave London with their two young children. It felt imperative to keep in mind expensive smog filled post-war London, nannies with prams, stringent standards of behaviour when contextualising their decision to move to Greece for a year.
Greece conjurs up so much for the modern reader but the couple had to chase the stories they could earn a living from and went to rugged Kalymnos. A place where livings were scraped by the harsh career of sponge diving with most families sending their men off to sea for months deep-sea diving and crippling or killing many of the male population.
This is far from a Greek idyll. A harsh landscape,deprivation everywhere, groups of ragamuffin children, derelict buildings, food scarcity and an abundance of alcohol. The couple with their blonde, London clad kids enter this other world and begin to live without running water, electricity or furniture. Privacy is non-existent, with local villagers treating everyone’s houses as common property. Another writer may have focused on a primitive way of life.
However the soul of the island and its people relatively quickly seep into them as both adults and children adapt and experience the traditions of this small community. The writing, which is so evocative and colourful tells of their lives - suggestive of how adaptable we can be, the opposite to the culture of London wanting to get back to normal.
This is so different from a modern story of leaving the rat race. This is an escape but an escape with a need to earn a living and whilst finding huge cultural differences they embrace the experience, join the community, as the children learn to play without toys, run with the gang, learn Greek and have a youthful independence.
I did really enjoy the book. Whilst much of the writing about traditions and the people is done with forensic detail there is also much that is unsaid as the reader can intuit the between the lines content. I did love how effusive Clift is about her neighbours and their attitudes all told in her expressive prose.
Greece conjurs up so much for the modern reader but the couple had to chase the stories they could earn a living from and went to rugged Kalymnos. A place where livings were scraped by the harsh career of sponge diving with most families sending their men off to sea for months deep-sea diving and crippling or killing many of the male population.
This is far from a Greek idyll. A harsh landscape,deprivation everywhere, groups of ragamuffin children, derelict buildings, food scarcity and an abundance of alcohol. The couple with their blonde, London clad kids enter this other world and begin to live without running water, electricity or furniture. Privacy is non-existent, with local villagers treating everyone’s houses as common property. Another writer may have focused on a primitive way of life.
However the soul of the island and its people relatively quickly seep into them as both adults and children adapt and experience the traditions of this small community. The writing, which is so evocative and colourful tells of their lives - suggestive of how adaptable we can be, the opposite to the culture of London wanting to get back to normal.
This is so different from a modern story of leaving the rat race. This is an escape but an escape with a need to earn a living and whilst finding huge cultural differences they embrace the experience, join the community, as the children learn to play without toys, run with the gang, learn Greek and have a youthful independence.
I did really enjoy the book. Whilst much of the writing about traditions and the people is done with forensic detail there is also much that is unsaid as the reader can intuit the between the lines content. I did love how effusive Clift is about her neighbours and their attitudes all told in her expressive prose.