lucym80's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
3.75
leannep's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
NZ author Janet Frame writes the first volume of her autobiography. Her childhood growing up in New Zealand through the 1930s as the daughter of a railwayman. Many similarities to Ruth Park's childhood in NZ. I preferred Park's writing.
Was interesting learning about her siblings, and how her brothers diagnosis of epilepsy was dealt with in those open times.
Lots of talk about her ragging, songs, poetry remembered and
how these interacted with her life experiment to help her developing imagination.
I have pegboard read the next volume of this autobiography 'An Angel at my Table'. However I don't remember much and would like to reread it now. However it is not on my bookshelf...
Was interesting learning about her siblings, and how her brothers diagnosis of epilepsy was dealt with in those open times.
Lots of talk about her ragging, songs, poetry remembered and
how these interacted with her life experiment to help her developing imagination.
I have pegboard read the next volume of this autobiography 'An Angel at my Table'. However I don't remember much and would like to reread it now. However it is not on my bookshelf...
katewilltryherbest's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.25
Interesting book...
The first few pages made me giddy with excitment, with its beautiful, introspective and prose that seems to collide together in that on-brand Janet Frame brilliance. But after that I found it slightly... labourous and I cannot recall much of the book meaning either I wasn't paying attention or it wasn't very memorable.
The first few pages made me giddy with excitment, with its beautiful, introspective and prose that seems to collide together in that on-brand Janet Frame brilliance. But after that I found it slightly... labourous and I cannot recall much of the book meaning either I wasn't paying attention or it wasn't very memorable.
chlai42's review against another edition
4.0
I read this for a speech exam quite a while ago, but I did actually enjoy it much more than I expected.
octavia_cade's review against another edition
4.0
It has a pretty slow start, but this first volume of Janet Frame's autobiography improves as it goes along... until you find that you've finished it without actually stopping for dinner. There's a sort of gentle mesmerising effect that's heightened by the familiarity of the natural world - to New Zealand readers at least. And I might have experienced Otago and Southland some generations on from Frame, but it's still very recognisable even over distance. In fact, the point where I felt closest to her was in Frame's schoolgirl insistence that what she wanted to write about were the subjects of her home - the little native wax eyes instead of those flashy foreign nightingales, for instance.
Place should have an influence on writing, and Frame's realisation of her place, and how it affected what she wanted to write, is the central theme of this book I think. It was certainly, for me, the most interesting.
Place should have an influence on writing, and Frame's realisation of her place, and how it affected what she wanted to write, is the central theme of this book I think. It was certainly, for me, the most interesting.
emilyclairem's review against another edition
3.0
Right at the end of this book, I realized why I wasn't loving this book as much as I had hoped from a Frame work. The authorial Frame steps in and reflects on how the memories of her adolescence are confused and nonlinear in comparison to the neat memories of her childhood and I thought - ah, there is the Frame I know. I remember from reading An Angel at my Table (which I read first) that her autobiographical writing is quite different, but I had forgotten just how dry it is in comparison to her fiction texts. I think I enjoyed this less than An Angel at my Table due to caring about the subject matter less - as she says a few times, her childhood wasn't all that interesting. Reading this book was fine but I would have given up on it if it wasn't for research. It definitely reads as the introduction to her autobiography and I don't think stands alone very well on its own. That being said, I think Frame has a wonderfully fascinating mind and I did somewhat enjoy learning more about her (what she wants us to learn about her, at least).
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