Laurie Lee's famous book might mention cider, but here he makes a bid to be pipe-smoker of the year
The Tyneside Book Club regressed to childhood in it's June meeting, though it was Laurie Lee's they were immersed in rather than their own.
Cider with Rosie, Lee's memoir of growing up in the Cotswolds in the early 20th Century, got a mixed reaction from readers.
There was some appreciation for his lyrical writing and descriptive powers. Members felt he vividly conjured up the time and community, and there was a poetic power to his prose. Some though felt he was a little too flowery, and that a more pared-back style might have kept their attention from wandering.
There was a sense of creative licence at play as not everybody was convinced he could remember so many details of life as a young boy. But there was a feeling that precise details mattered less than a general sense of truth. There was certainly a value to chronicling a community and way of life that has been lost.
Many members though were taken aback about the darkness of some of the detail. There was some sense of nostalgia, but overall this was not a romanticised view of rural life. Instead, as well as community, there was incest and murder. There was a sense though that this was a true portrait of all facets of life in a village.
There was much discussion of one episode in particular in which Lee and friends plot to rape a local girl. Although the attack is abandoned, members found it a disturbing episode which tainted their view of the author and changed their perspective on the book. Some felt they would be reluctant to read further volumes because of its inclusion.
Some felt the episodic nature of the memoir also failed to compel them, even if Lee did draw some compelling images of characters and incidents in his early life. There was a sense of melancholy and of an era coming to an end, although some members felt this was a theme that might have been developed further.
Cider with Rosie, Lee's memoir of growing up in the Cotswolds in the early 20th Century, got a mixed reaction from readers.
There was some appreciation for his lyrical writing and descriptive powers. Members felt he vividly conjured up the time and community, and there was a poetic power to his prose. Some though felt he was a little too flowery, and that a more pared-back style might have kept their attention from wandering.
There was a sense of creative licence at play as not everybody was convinced he could remember so many details of life as a young boy. But there was a feeling that precise details mattered less than a general sense of truth. There was certainly a value to chronicling a community and way of life that has been lost.
Many members though were taken aback about the darkness of some of the detail. There was some sense of nostalgia, but overall this was not a romanticised view of rural life. Instead, as well as community, there was incest and murder. There was a sense though that this was a true portrait of all facets of life in a village.
There was much discussion of one episode in particular in which Lee and friends plot to rape a local girl. Although the attack is abandoned, members found it a disturbing episode which tainted their view of the author and changed their perspective on the book. Some felt they would be reluctant to read further volumes because of its inclusion.
Some felt the episodic nature of the memoir also failed to compel them, even if Lee did draw some compelling images of characters and incidents in his early life. There was a sense of melancholy and of an era coming to an end, although some members felt this was a theme that might have been developed further.
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