Reviews for Somewhere Towards the End

The average rating for Somewhere Towards the End based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-05-12 00:00:00 Paul Ondo I enjoyed a television documentary I saw about Athill recently. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eye when she gave answers. I'd never heard of her and the documentary seemed to suggest this was a major shortcoming in my reading life. She was Jean Rhys' editor and then, late in life, took up writing herself. I can see why she made a good editor but I'd describe her prose as hygienic - too much detergent applied and too much scrubbing. It was a struggle for me to reach the end because I found much of this memoir incredibly dull and, occasionally, even annoying. I was left baffled why she merited a BBC documentary. I can think of dozens of much more important British authors the BBC ignores. Now and again she comes up with a decent quote - "Sex obliterates the individuality of young women more often than it does that of young men, because so much more of a woman than a man is used by sex." (Though that "obliterates" is a poor choice of words; I'd replace it with muddies or even muddles.) But more often we get banal platitudes - "I am not sure that digging in our past guilts is a useful occupation for the very old, given that one can do so little about them. I have reached a stage at which one hopes to be forgiven for concentrating on how to get through the present." I'm sorry but this has to go down as a waste of my time.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-04-18 00:00:00 James Keller Diana Athill, a top British editor, wrote this short reflection on life and how it might end for her when she was 89. The writing is stunning, every sentence is perfectly-crafted and thoughful. Short as it is, however, its not short enough: the brilliance of the writing is not enough to overcome the tedium of the subject illuminated only occasionally by the witty recounting of stories and unusual characters. I don't often feel disappointed in myself if I didn't enjoy the book, but here I feel there is something in me that is lacking, that I should be able to appreciate this beautifully-written and poetic memoir more. But I didn't. Edit I came across this piece by Diana Athill, now 96, written in 2010 when she made a decision to move into an Old Age Home. It is as beautifully-written as the memoir and I enjoyed reading it much more. So I've upped the rating to 3.5 stars from 2. And I wish her many more years of enjoying life. Originally reviewed 14 April 2009