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A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle
We grew up with the same parents in the same castle, but in many ways we each had a moat around us. Sometimes when visitors came they would say, 'You are such lucky children;' 'it's a fairytale life you live.' And I knew they were right, it was a fairytale upbringing. But fairy tales are dark and I had no way of telling either a stranger or a friend what was going on; the ...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
October 16th 2007
by Thomas Dunne Books
(first published 2006)
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This is a gem of a book! Liza Campbell has written a beautifully composed book of her growing up in Scotland's Cawdor castle (the setting for Macbeth) and the the downward spiral of her father the 25th Thane. This memoir is several years removed from the year of her father's death which lends a mature aspect to her writing. I usually don't read much memoir because sometimes it seems too rushed or lacking in retrospection. Not in this though. The father and his wide appetites for alcohol, women...more
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I'm still reading this book--I'm enjoying it but it's a bit flowery & could use a stricter editor in bits...she's overly sentimental in paragraphs that I'd have cut out of the novel all together. I've found I can become quite bored & distracted with the over-done depictions & descriptions--she goes too far in some passages with imagery & details (hence "flowery") & you learn all-to-quickly whom the author intends for you to love & despise..(this is the main problem, in my opinion, is ...more
Part swinging sixties memoir, part family analysis, part literature...but how could you not want to read about living in the Thane's digs?
Don't judge a book by its cover (or title). Extremely well written, i laughed out loud, i was taken by how honest and earnest she wrote about her unconventional upbringing - and despite that related to her embarrassing tales of growing up & having parents. Plus the Scottish history is very interesting (inspired me to read up on my heritage). It's one of those books you can't put down even though you don't want it to end. I hate/love those books!
At first, I admit, I found myself thinking, "What do I care about the life of this privileged young Scottish girl?"
She goes to private school, lives in a fine home, her grandfather is Thane of Cawdor (being a theatre freak, this was the most interesting part to me and why I picked up the book), and her family vacations at Cawdor Castle, MacBeth's home.
Of course, her father is a drunken philanderer who sleeps with all her nannies and anyone else he can lure, and her ...more
She goes to private school, lives in a fine home, her grandfather is Thane of Cawdor (being a theatre freak, this was the most interesting part to me and why I picked up the book), and her family vacations at Cawdor Castle, MacBeth's home.
Of course, her father is a drunken philanderer who sleeps with all her nannies and anyone else he can lure, and her ...more
The author of this book wants you to know right off the bat that MacBeth was slandered. He was actually a fair and beloved king. Unfortunately, he appears to have been the exception rather than the rule in a family with plenty of murderous insanity to go around culminating in her childhood spent with a father who was unfit to use one of the kindest words possible.
Campbell would make an excellent dinner party guest. She's full of witty asides. On the subject of her family's castle'...more
Campbell would make an excellent dinner party guest. She's full of witty asides. On the subject of her family's castle'...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I noticed this book a year or so back, and because of my fascination with Scotland in general (thanks to my father's background) and Macbeth in particular (my favorite Shakespeare play), I mentioned to a friend I'd like to read it eventually. That friend's mother read it, and then passed it on to me. I'm glad she did, and I'm glad I made it part of my TBR Challenge list for 2011.
Liza Campbell's memoir of growing up in, and associated with, Cawdor Castle in Scotland is not an easy read,...more
Liza Campbell's memoir of growing up in, and associated with, Cawdor Castle in Scotland is not an easy read,...more
The only thing that kept me going was the author's sense of humor which was wonderful, typically English, dry wit. The way she tells her story, while at times amusing, is very disjointed. She often digresses into stories about her family crest and history that at times, seem tedious. The book focuses on her relationship with her verbally and physically abusive, alcoholic, drug-addicted father who happened to be a British Thane who inherited a ton of property and extreme wealth. He is not so fasc...more
According to the prologue, when Liza Campbell sent an early excerpt of her book to a writer friend of hers, he told her she "must work out her angle." He told her she needed to make a clear decision on what the book was about, and be able to boil this idea down to a single sentence.
Solid advice.
Unfortunately, Campbell chose not to take it. While she did settle on a sentence ("Papa was odd, but I got even"), the reader quickly finds out that this sente...more
Solid advice.
Unfortunately, Campbell chose not to take it. While she did settle on a sentence ("Papa was odd, but I got even"), the reader quickly finds out that this sente...more
A unique non-fiction story written by the last child to be born in Cawdor Castle in Scotland. The author does a supurb job of weaving Scottish history and the historic properties of land ownership/inheritance with the modern world. A true story of one of Scotland's more important families historically as it move thru time- not ever learning how to work for a living in the bigger world, but learning of the responsibilites and burdebs of maintaining massive estates with no learned skill sets to d...more
My wife gave me this book knowing that it would be of particular interest to me for two reasons. The most obvious to most people would be my affinity for Shakespeare and the fact that this memoir follows the story and history of family members in Cawdor castle...the same location/family that figures in Shakespeare's Macbeth. That in itself makes this interesting enough. Even more fun to me is that (supposedly), I'm a distant descendant of an early Thane of Cawdor...or at least a member of the...more
Liza Campbell certainly weaves an interesting account of growing up in an unconventional setting - Cawdor Castle, the setting for Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Initially starting off slow, the memoir's pace picks up 1/3 through when her relationship with her father, Hugh Campbell, Thane of Cawdor, begins to rapidly unravel. I enjoyed much of the sharp humor she injects into otherwise heartbreakingly poignant recollections, and found myself absorbed her use of historical events as a framing ...more
I got this book from someone in my bookclub who reads a LOT. I don't think it's something either of us would have been interested in if it weren't such a quick read.
I don't generally enjoy memoirs as much as fiction because they don't have the same justice a fictional account does. This one was no exception. There were several characters who really deserved a comeuppance that didn't come, and I found that frustrating and sad.
One thing I quite liked about the book, though, ...more
I don't generally enjoy memoirs as much as fiction because they don't have the same justice a fictional account does. This one was no exception. There were several characters who really deserved a comeuppance that didn't come, and I found that frustrating and sad.
One thing I quite liked about the book, though, ...more
What a haunting book. I can't believe this woman was able to survive all the hardships placed on her and her siblings because of her fathers reckless behaviors. Good for her though, she has made it to the other side to aptly depict her life in a nutshell. It does not seem as if she over-exaggerates as I believe every horrid detail she brought forth.
Although I don't think the subtitle should have been linked to Macbeth because the story was less about the maddness of Macbeth and ...more
Although I don't think the subtitle should have been linked to Macbeth because the story was less about the maddness of Macbeth and ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A fascinating look into the life behind the walls of the Cawdor Castle. I was immediately drawn into this well written, moving and disturbing look at "the charmed life." Memoirs are a dime a dozen anymore but this one definitely sets itself apart. Liza Campbell does an excellent job of not only exposing her own life, but also educating the reader about the history of the Campbell family, and sharing some of the stories and myths that have surrounded them. Interesting, gripping...more
Again I'm kind of torn between a three and a four but went with the four because I really did enjoy reading this. It really gave a lot of insight into what it's like to be a girl growing up in a family that follows male primogeniture who is older than the heir. It definitely shows that the arbitrariness of that kind of system can lead to a family's ruin. And Campbell also shows that growing up in such a family can really lead one to be a bit ignorant of the social norms of the dominant culture.
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First, I liked the quotes before each chapter. They summarized each chapter well, and were such an interesting assortment. The book starts out dry and wordy, but it gets better. It is tragic and sad, but Liza is witty, and able to almost come out of the pages and sit next to us and tell us about the train wreck of events with some humor. I don't think I could have gotten through this book otherwise. I enjoyed her use of words and her extensive vocabulary. I had to stop and remember what cre...more
Maybe two-and-a-half stars. Liza and her four siblings are the children of Hugh, who becomes the twenty-fifth Thane of Cawdor. Hugh is bright, good-looking, and, with the death of his father, inherits hugely--an immense amount of money, three stately homes, and 100,000 acres of land (with various industries operating on them). Alas, Dad drinks, sleeps with the ever-coming-and-going nannies (over 30 nannies are employed over the years), wrecks numerous Jaguars, becomes addicted to drugs, and b...more
I so wanted to love this book, which is a woman's account of living in a Scottish castle throughout the late 60s and early 70s. Although it is well written from a technical standpoint, it failed to capture me on a storytelling level. Yes, it's a memoir, but the characters felt two dimensional and moved around the book like so many paper dolls.
A Charmed Life is ironically titled, since the author's father, the 26th Thane of Cawdor, was a raging alcoholic, womanizer, drug abuser, and w...more
A Charmed Life is ironically titled, since the author's father, the 26th Thane of Cawdor, was a raging alcoholic, womanizer, drug abuser, and w...more
I can't help but compare this to Dead End Gene Pool, and this is infinitely better. One can't help but notice the similarities between the peculiar downfall of such powerful and affluent families written by a particularly cognizant and observant daughter. DEGP is more laugh out loud funny, but also significantly more disingenuous than Liza Campbell's work here. I fell in love with the characters in Liza's story and found it somehow more enchanting and relatable. Her stories involving her fat...more
The historical references to the last Thane of Cowdar Castle were interesting, as were the author's account of growing up in various Scottish castles. Harder to understand were the horror stories of a life of abuse. It was hardly a "charmed life," and hardly compares to our expectation of the royal life style. In many ways it reads like a personal diary and I am sure it was very cathartic for the author. I recommend it only for the history and not the story.
A very well written and enjoyable memoir by the daughter of the heir to Cawdor Castle, the historical seat of the Campbell clan in Scotland. The family has title and privilege, but is torn apart by a maniacal, hard-drinking father. The world is very interesting and the story is told without self-pity or melodrama, plus there is a total jaw-dropping moment at the end that spun around in my head for days after I finished the book. Highly recommended.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, although it was at times sad to read. This is a very good study of what alcoholism and addictions do to families, no matter how many titles or how much money you have.
There is also a fair bit of history in here for those interested--it's mostly a memoir, but she also does a good job of discussing the long history of her family and country. She clears up the slur on MacBeth (I'm happy about that even though I'm descended from Duncan), and she also get...more
There is also a fair bit of history in here for those interested--it's mostly a memoir, but she also does a good job of discussing the long history of her family and country. She clears up the slur on MacBeth (I'm happy about that even though I'm descended from Duncan), and she also get...more
Mary
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review of another edition
Recommended to Mary by:
Bernye Ayer
Shelves:
great-falls-bookclub
I really enjoyed this book and it was made even more enjoyable by meeting the author today at the Great Falls Library as part of our authors series in the Great Falls Women's Club. She is very approachable and very knowledgeabe about British History as well as forthcoming about her own familial triumphs and tragedies. I am especially happy that I now have a personally signed copy of this book. She mentioned that she has just finished a fiction book based on her time in Africa and I can hardly...more
I was really interested to read this book, but I had to force myself to finish it. She strays off her story line to into a lot of ancient historical detail, which is unnecessary to the story. While it is a memoir, I think it was mostly written to help her come to terms with her very dysfunctional father and family. Had I not been trapped in a car with nothing else I think I would have stopped reading!
Type of book: biography
Interest in this book: growing up in MacBeth's actual castle sounds interesting
Ideas/ Message/ Plot: Charmed or cursed? Rich & unadjusted. Finding oneself. Loving and hating your father. Detachment.
Favorite Characters: None
When I finished this book, I felt: Indifferent
Comments: interesting-ish; not memorable
Interest in this book: growing up in MacBeth's actual castle sounds interesting
Ideas/ Message/ Plot: Charmed or cursed? Rich & unadjusted. Finding oneself. Loving and hating your father. Detachment.
Favorite Characters: None
When I finished this book, I felt: Indifferent
Comments: interesting-ish; not memorable
A very interesting & attention-holding memoir, its only fault is a sudden & abrupt ending. After so much written intricacies & explanations, the sudden end to the book leaves the reader confused & wishing there were a few more pages of details & explanations. All in all a moving, wry & well-written memoir.
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