Maggie O’Farrell has chronicled seventeen near-death experiences in this most unusual memoir. The most traumatic and the one which brought her closest to actually dying was a bout of encephalitis which left her unable to walk for a year at the age of eight. She has quite remarkably clear memories from this time although, of course, it was such a shattering event that it has probably been discussed by her family over the years, keeping the details of it alive to her. I broke my leg at age seven and I can remember how the accident happened, looking up at the grown-ups standing around me, being in hospital and the smell of the plaster as it was put on my leg, and mostly howling for my mother when she and my dad left me at the hospital. I don’t, however, have any greatly detailed recollections from such an early age but then again it was a broken leg, not a life-threatening illness, and Maggie O’Farrell also has an author’s gifts of recall and imagination as well as a legacy of problems which emanated from the illness.
There are sixteen more brushes with death following this one. This is a fascinating life story filled with adventure, romance, pain and heartbreak, and happiness. Maggie O’Farrell has written some very good books, the first of which, After You’d Gone, was beautiful, haunting and has stayed with me for many years. She has been very brave here and shown great generosity in allowing her readers to see into her personal life and to get a true sense of the writer behind the words. I have never read a memoir like this one and it was brilliant of her to approach her story in this way.
I intend to read Maggie O’Farrell’s latest book, Hamnet, soon and I wonder how I will interpret her fiction now, having been given these insights into the author’s personal history. 5 out of 5 from me.
Published by Headline Publishing Group.
No comments:
Post a Comment