Reviews for Life of Thomas Carlyle

The average rating for Life of Thomas Carlyle based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-04-02 00:00:00 Jennifer Sheldrup I was hoping for something more personal from Print of a Hare's Foot -- something that let me get under Rhys Davies' skin. But as Simon Baker suggests in his introduction to this book, Rhys Davies keeps his secrets pretty close. We learn more about other people than about the man himself: about D.H. Lawrence, and his wife; about 'Caerphilly' Jones, a friend of Rhys'; about Esther, a maid for Rhys' family in his childhood... Rhys Davies himself remains elusive, circumspect. I was hoping to understand more about him, maybe hear in his own words about his sexuality, but there was nothing completely overt. The one thing that does become clear is the inspiration for a few of his stories, which he tells here. The woman who had eight sons and a husband to feed, for example. Rhys Davies had an interesting view on the sufferings of the miners in the Rhondda valley, growing up there without much fear of having to go in the pits, as the son of a shopkeeper. There are some descriptions of that perspective, so it's interesting in that way, too. And there's some good descriptions in general -- Rhys Davies was good at writing stories, after all. But overall, I'm a little disappointed with this autobiography. I didn't get to know Rhys Davies at all, really.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-09-27 00:00:00 Steven Stukes I found this a delightful book, typical of the man who wrote such marvellous short stories. However, my old friend, the late Fred Urquhart, who knew Davies well, warned me that I should take much of what he wrote in the autobiography with a pinch of salt!