Janet Frame: An Autobiography; Volume One : To the Is-Land, Volume Two : An Angel at My Table, Volume Three : The Envoy from Mirror City/ 3 Volumes
by Janet Framepublished
February 1991
by george braziller
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binding
Paperback
isbn
0807612596
(isbn13: 9780807612590)
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Read in August, 1995
You've seen Jane Campion's brilliant film, not read the book. This autobiography is a fascinating look into the life and development of poet and author Janet Frame. Frame's sweet and sour life seems to have been plagued with all of our innermost terrors - growing up in misunderstood and frightened, watching your siblings drown, being institutionalized and barely escaping a lobotomy! More than a literary autobiography, Frame's recollections inform us about life and love and the pain inherent in b...more
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a brilliant, sad, compelling and beautiful story. this is one of the best autobiography's i have ever read.
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Read in January, 1997
To the Island and Angel at My Table are both autobiographical portrayals(I read them over 10 years ago). Angel at My Table, I believe, is the one that explores her childhood, and To the Is Land is a moving tale of her mental breakdown and long term hospitalization. It has a very New Zealand flavor, in that the prose is honest, stark, and fresh. She is highly esteemed in New Zealand. There was an excellent film made of Angel at My Table.
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Read in June, 2007
Anyone who thinks they'd like to be a writer will get something from this book. Ms Frame's constant self-doubt is somehow heartwarming, given her prolific and quality output. The story of her misdiagnosed schizophrenia is disturbing and distressing, and her descriptions of the poverty she grew up in are astonishing, mostly due to her never mentioning how appalling it must have been.
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It's interesting that the film is what struck me as most fantastic; the writing and autobiography, mediocre and just. I guess that's the power of Jane Campion because I am like most snobbish types who claim that films do not do justice to a good story. Oh well, there are plenty of people who would disagree with my take on this piece of writing by Frame.
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This book is lyrical, poetic, heartbreaking, uplifting, and true. The story of Janet Frame's life is one of a quiet, misunderstood genius who was first punished, then rewarded for being herself. (Also, this was made into a brilliant film by Jane Campion.)
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"...and on a more domestic level, of the icing set with which she would some day write (the ultimate domestic literacy) words and phrases on the Christmas and New Year cakes she baked each year. Words and phrases that could be eaten!"
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Read in July, 2007
Janet Frame was so shy and had a lot of personal problems but dedicated her life to writing and really made an impact. I was inspired and love her way with words. I'm sad she had already passed on before I discovered her.
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i read all of her novels, borrowing them from a friend, and had previously read Michael King's biography of Frame, but I just didn't get to her autobiography. I must!
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