hoellerlinda's review against another edition
3.0
Schöne Geschichten aus dem Leben der Autorin, was sie in ihrem Leben gelernt hat, woran sie noch zu arbeiten hat, welche Schwierigkeiten sie gemeistert hat,...
eine schöne Erzählung, gut und schnell zu lesen. Nichts weltbewegendes aber doch schön.
eine schöne Erzählung, gut und schnell zu lesen. Nichts weltbewegendes aber doch schön.
yangyvonne's review against another edition
1.0
This is a memoir from a 60ish Irish woman. It picks up from where her 1st book left off and details much of her current love life and the reaction to her tell-all book that talked about her somewhat wild past (including a lengthy lesbian relationship with a prominent political figure) and much of her dysfunctional childhood. Here we see that she has many problems being in real relationships and even with "sharing" her man with his young child! She also tells of how some of her siblings have not fared well and recalls her parents' many problems and failures.
Who thought there was a market for 60 year old sex lives? Not me. Those candid parts of the book were a bit TMI for me. Given all the references back to her prior memoir, it would probably have helped to have started there. Without the background, I am left with many "holes" and questions about her past. The story about the married trucker was just sad; seemingly with no point. Her jealousy over an 8 year old's relationship with her father was also sad and highlighted the damage done to her in her own childhood.
Overall, unsettling and indulgent.
Who thought there was a market for 60 year old sex lives? Not me. Those candid parts of the book were a bit TMI for me. Given all the references back to her prior memoir, it would probably have helped to have started there. Without the background, I am left with many "holes" and questions about her past. The story about the married trucker was just sad; seemingly with no point. Her jealousy over an 8 year old's relationship with her father was also sad and highlighted the damage done to her in her own childhood.
Overall, unsettling and indulgent.
estherd1's review against another edition
4.0
Just like her first memoir, Are You Somebody?, this book leaves you feeling somewhat overwhelmed with contradictory emotions and thoughts. Nuala is very honest about the demons that have haunted her from her childhood and how that affected her. The ending is haunting and the feeling of it being unfinished is both confusing, but also gives one hope that perhaps her ending will be ok.
camperk's review
4.0
A great read when you're melancholy, or pensive about the in-between state of your life.
lorrainelowereads's review
4.0
4.5 stars
I read Nuala O’Faolain’s first memoir Are You Somebody? (published in 1996) earlier this year and it blew me away, for so many reasons, not least of which was that she was such a trailblazer for Irish women in the man’s world of TV and journalism and a staunch feminist (frequently railing against society’s treatment of women in her Irish Times pieces), but yet I had never heard of her until I picked up her memoir second hand. She has been forgotten in the space of one generation, it seems.
Are You Somebody? absolutely fascinated me and I can say the same about Almost There, her second (and last) memoir, written about 6 years later. In it she describes writing her first memoir, what she got from the experience and the response to it (it ended up #1 on the NY Times bestseller list). She also describes her three winters in Manhattan writing her first novel and the risks/benefits of fact vs fiction.
But there is so much more to Almost There than that. Seeping through every page, every sentence, is Nuala’s loneliness and the lasting detrimental effect her mother’s lovelessness had on her (and her eight siblings). But this book is much more hopeful than the first, as Nuala starts taking steps (in her late fifties and early sixties) to taking care of herself, finding joy in animals and nature, re-connecting with her siblings and trying to come to terms with what her mother was. And she writes towards the end of the book with such honesty about a new relationship she was having, writing that makes the reader aware of how difficult Nuala might have been to live with or be friends with. She begins to see her mother in herself.....
Almost There is made all the more poignant by the fact that Nuala writes about hoping to live well into her seventies, almost so she can make up for lost time, but she sadly died in 2008, at the age of 68. I think Nuala’s memoirs are a must read for anyone interested in social history, feminism, journalism and writing, or anyone interested in the story of an extraordinary ordinary life brilliantly told.
I read Nuala O’Faolain’s first memoir Are You Somebody? (published in 1996) earlier this year and it blew me away, for so many reasons, not least of which was that she was such a trailblazer for Irish women in the man’s world of TV and journalism and a staunch feminist (frequently railing against society’s treatment of women in her Irish Times pieces), but yet I had never heard of her until I picked up her memoir second hand. She has been forgotten in the space of one generation, it seems.
Are You Somebody? absolutely fascinated me and I can say the same about Almost There, her second (and last) memoir, written about 6 years later. In it she describes writing her first memoir, what she got from the experience and the response to it (it ended up #1 on the NY Times bestseller list). She also describes her three winters in Manhattan writing her first novel and the risks/benefits of fact vs fiction.
But there is so much more to Almost There than that. Seeping through every page, every sentence, is Nuala’s loneliness and the lasting detrimental effect her mother’s lovelessness had on her (and her eight siblings). But this book is much more hopeful than the first, as Nuala starts taking steps (in her late fifties and early sixties) to taking care of herself, finding joy in animals and nature, re-connecting with her siblings and trying to come to terms with what her mother was. And she writes towards the end of the book with such honesty about a new relationship she was having, writing that makes the reader aware of how difficult Nuala might have been to live with or be friends with. She begins to see her mother in herself.....
Almost There is made all the more poignant by the fact that Nuala writes about hoping to live well into her seventies, almost so she can make up for lost time, but she sadly died in 2008, at the age of 68. I think Nuala’s memoirs are a must read for anyone interested in social history, feminism, journalism and writing, or anyone interested in the story of an extraordinary ordinary life brilliantly told.
chaydgc's review
4.0
It doesn't get any more honest than the bit about the too-real imaginary lover taking out his teeth. I watched the NYPL Live memorial broadcast after finishing the book. Sorry I missed it then, glad it was recorded.
jenfaze's review
3.0
Lovely writing. Depressing story. Nuala O'Faolain takes challenging topics of family life, sexuality, alcoholism and in particular, loneliness and honestly addresses her own situation. This is not an uplifting memoir but a very heartfelt one.
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