Somewhere Towards The End
Diana Athill
Somewhere Towards The End
Diana Athill
Paperback
|
English
€14.50
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Description
Included in the BEST OF GRANTA series: the Costa-award winning memoir on what it means to grow old.
There is a sense throughout Athill's work that you are making a new friend as much as reading a new story ... a delight to read
The book is a moving and humorous account of old age, unsparing about its indignities, unflinching from the inevitability that the end can not be many years away, but full of joy at the way life keeps on, at the most unexpected moments, renewing itself
Part exposé, part treatise on old age, the book is a ruminative read
Her brilliant book is entirely lacking in the usual regrets, nostalgia and Hovis-ad recollections of old-timers. It is a little literary gem, penned by a marvellous, feisty old character ... What a treasure
What sets her apart is the flagrancy and wit of her writing ... her memoirs display a vivacious appreciation of the life she has lived and what is still to come
Exhilarating and comforting, so much good sense, candour and liveliness of spirit in such clean, clear prose
[She has] a cold eye for reality and no time for sentimental lies
A candid look at getting near the inevitable
Informative, honest and lacking in the usual sorrow over old age. A remarkable woman
An honest joy to read
Captivating
Her eye is unflinching, her prose as clear and graceful as ever; her honesty is inspiring
Brave, amusing and graceful
Full of clarity and wit, original thought and understated insight
[An] honest, clear-sighted book
Vive la Athill!
Invigorating
This is an inspiring book
Memoirs are many. This one is singular ... Her prose is practiced, clear and crisp. Epitomising what she preaches, the book is beautifully balanced in its brevity and well produced. Athill is refreshingly candid, but never prurient ... This book should encourage the old to speak up and the young to listen to what their elders have to say
Oddly uplifting ... Her sharp-witted musings on friendship, sex, sore feet, religion and death are infused with a curiosity for all that life brings and are a captivating read, whatever stage one is at
So deftly drawn and perceptive that one feels better simply for having read them...It is impossible not to be engaged by Athill's vigorous reflections on such unlikely topics as sore feet, septuagenarian sex and the business of working out whether one is too old to drive a car ... a very funny book
Diana Athill was born in 1917. She helped André Deutsch establish the publishing company that bore his name and worked as an editor for Deutsch for four decades. Athill's distinguished career as an editor is the subject of her acclaimed memoir Stet. She is the author of seven further volumes of memoirs, Instead of a Letter, After a Funeral, Yesterday Morning, Make Believe, Somewhere Towards the End, Alive, Alive Oh!, A Florence Diary, and a collection of letters, Instead of a Book, all published by Granta. Her only novel, Don't Look At Me Like That, was first published in 1967. In January 2009, she won the Costa Biography Award for Somewhere Towards the End, and was presented with an OBE. She died in January 2019.
There is a sense throughout Athill's work that you are making a new friend as much as reading a new story ... a delight to read
The book is a moving and humorous account of old age, unsparing about its indignities, unflinching from the inevitability that the end can not be many years away, but full of joy at the way life keeps on, at the most unexpected moments, renewing itself
Part exposé, part treatise on old age, the book is a ruminative read
Her brilliant book is entirely lacking in the usual regrets, nostalgia and Hovis-ad recollections of old-timers. It is a little literary gem, penned by a marvellous, feisty old character ... What a treasure
What sets her apart is the flagrancy and wit of her writing ... her memoirs display a vivacious appreciation of the life she has lived and what is still to come
Exhilarating and comforting, so much good sense, candour and liveliness of spirit in such clean, clear prose
[She has] a cold eye for reality and no time for sentimental lies
A candid look at getting near the inevitable
Informative, honest and lacking in the usual sorrow over old age. A remarkable woman
An honest joy to read
Captivating
Her eye is unflinching, her prose as clear and graceful as ever; her honesty is inspiring
Brave, amusing and graceful
Full of clarity and wit, original thought and understated insight
[An] honest, clear-sighted book
Vive la Athill!
Invigorating
This is an inspiring book
Memoirs are many. This one is singular ... Her prose is practiced, clear and crisp. Epitomising what she preaches, the book is beautifully balanced in its brevity and well produced. Athill is refreshingly candid, but never prurient ... This book should encourage the old to speak up and the young to listen to what their elders have to say
Oddly uplifting ... Her sharp-witted musings on friendship, sex, sore feet, religion and death are infused with a curiosity for all that life brings and are a captivating read, whatever stage one is at
So deftly drawn and perceptive that one feels better simply for having read them...It is impossible not to be engaged by Athill's vigorous reflections on such unlikely topics as sore feet, septuagenarian sex and the business of working out whether one is too old to drive a car ... a very funny book
Diana Athill was born in 1917. She helped André Deutsch establish the publishing company that bore his name and worked as an editor for Deutsch for four decades. Athill's distinguished career as an editor is the subject of her acclaimed memoir Stet. She is the author of seven further volumes of memoirs, Instead of a Letter, After a Funeral, Yesterday Morning, Make Believe, Somewhere Towards the End, Alive, Alive Oh!, A Florence Diary, and a collection of letters, Instead of a Book, all published by Granta. Her only novel, Don't Look At Me Like That, was first published in 1967. In January 2009, she won the Costa Biography Award for Somewhere Towards the End, and was presented with an OBE. She died in January 2019.