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When Did You Last See Your Father?: A Son's Memoir of Love and Loss
Soon to be a major motion picture, directed by Anand Tucker and starring Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent
And when did you last see your father? Was it last weekend or last Christmas? Was it before or after he exhaled his last breath? And was it him really, or was it a version of him, shaped by your own expectations and disappointments?
Blake Morrison's subject is universal: th...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
May 13th 2008
by Picador
(first published 1993)
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When did you last see your father? Was it when they burnt the coffin? Put the lid on it? When he exhaled his last breath? When he last sat up and said something? When he last recognized me? When he last smiled? When he last did something for himself unaided? When he last felt healthy? When he last thought he might be healthy, before they brought the news? The weeks before he left us, or life left him, were a series of depletions; each day we thought ‘he can’t get less like himself than this,’ an...more
May 08, 2007
woody guthrie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Read it before your parents pass away.
I picked up this book after a review on radio 4, it charts the relationship of father and son through the sons eyes {Blake Morrison}. It was not a subject I would normaly read but it has become one of my favourite books. I found lots of simalarities with my own father and son relationship even though we come from a completly different background to the author. I still dip in now and again and its still a good read. It is a sad tale of a dying father and a sons last attempt to tie up loose ends a...more
Oct 04, 2010
Natasha Borton
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
university-reading-list
This book was recommended to me for my Creative Writing course, we're currently focused on life writing. In the past I haven't paid too much attention to the abundance that is 'real' writing. With that in mind I put my prejudice behind me and fell head-first into an amazing journey.
If you have ever lost someone close to you (which I hope is not the case, but sadly often is) then this book could be the fine line between reliving the pain and hearing a sympathetic narrative. I found the writing...more
If you have ever lost someone close to you (which I hope is not the case, but sadly often is) then this book could be the fine line between reliving the pain and hearing a sympathetic narrative. I found the writing...more
Oct 15, 2007
Rebecca
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fathers, sons and bereavement counsellors
Shelves:
sadbooksaboutdeathandloss
Captures a 50s childhood and embarrassing father perfectly. Having seen the film, I think the father was endearing despite his more irritating habits. Both the film and the book made me think the author himself might be a somewhat irritating and prissy son to have, but he does write well and movingly about the last stages of terminal illness, and the sometimes predictable reactions of those around. Recommend both!
Morrison's book is partly a book about death/bereavement and partly a memoir of his father. His Dad was clearly a larger than life character and he has portrayed lovingly without saccharin: charmer, busybody, bargain hunter, queue-jumper, pillar of the community, adulterer, husband, father and doctor. The book jumps between episodes in his father's decline in health to his funeral, interspersed with episodes/memories of him. I have always felt Morrison's strength as a writer is his ability to "m...more
Finally got round to savour this whilst on holiday this year. Saw the film a couple of years ago (much love for Colin Firth) and wanted to know more. I've lost my father recently and my mother is in poor health so resonates completely with my state of mind.
The book reads like a daydream - a time in limbo - and is amazingly honest. Morrison's father is by no means perfect and would probably drive me absolutely mad, as he did his own family. But they Continued to love and respect him for his own...more
The book reads like a daydream - a time in limbo - and is amazingly honest. Morrison's father is by no means perfect and would probably drive me absolutely mad, as he did his own family. But they Continued to love and respect him for his own...more
There were similarities between Arthur Morrison & my own Father, another queue jumping, forceful personality, who was so well known in our community it was hard to be treated as an individual in school.
I found it a very moving book & since my own Father died I feel I should re read it. The depiction of the final illness is very true to life & revealing, it shows how illness & death are great levellers.
I can recommend this for children of Fathers everywhere.
I found it a very moving book & since my own Father died I feel I should re read it. The depiction of the final illness is very true to life & revealing, it shows how illness & death are great levellers.
I can recommend this for children of Fathers everywhere.
This book came highly recommended and I guess it was OK. I was just expecing more. It seemed to skip around too much and the storyline was hard to follow. Even so, I persisted and made it to the end. Not exactly a page turner, unless you're turning the pages to see how much more you have to read until it's over. The best chapter was the last chapter.
I enjoyed this very much. The mixture of love and irritation this man felt for his father, felt poignant and familiar. Now I want to see the movie, though I can't imagine Jim Broadbent being old enough to play Colin Firth's father.
I was somewhat disappointed. I had heard an interview with the author and was expecting better. With that said, its still a good book. He examines his relationship with his father as well as his feelings during the short time his father was ill and after he eventually died. I found the style of writing a little difficult to read, so I tended to skip through some sentences.
Mooi boek over de herinneringen van de schrijver aan zijn vader. Als reactie op het boek kreeg hij veel brieven van lezers met hun laatste herinnering aan hun vader.
A beautiful memoir written from the viewpoint of a son looking at the complexity of his father and their relationship.
It's a shame my span of interest is relative to a goldfish's memory. I lost interest after one third - so I guess it's me, not the book. Nevertheless, thanks to this book, I kept on contemplating my relationship with my parents throughout the reading.
A really beautiful book about the author's relationship with his father and his illness
I've been a fan of Morrison's writing since I first read, 'As If' back in 2002. Shortly after, I read the sequel to this,'Things My Mother Never Told Me', the story of his mother's life. I find Morrison' writing very easy to read and informative. He tells of truths and complexities of the relationships we have with our parents, and how ultimately we are undeniably, shaped by them. And no matter what age we are when we lose a parent, we are fundamentally affected. A humourous and touching look at...more
I can't believe this lovely book has passed me by for so long!
A son looses his father and his recollections. Good
I just wasn't interested enough in the characters. I was a bit bored and since I have a stack of books I want to read, I moved on.
A very moving, shockingly honest and beautifully detailed memoir - I may have welled up a few times. It's refreshing to read a father-son perspective and the relationship they had together.
Lovely book by a poet - and it shows.
I actually saw the recent film before reading the book, and in fact bought the book largely because the voice-over at the end of the movie -- which I assumed must have come straight from the book -- was so beautiful and moving. The book is pretty good, I suppose, but I might actually make the rare recommendation of the film over the memoir. They cover pretty much the same ground, and the prose of the book, while solid, isn't amazing enough to bring anything to the table that's not brought to the...more
Between every father and son there is a story to be told.
I picke up this book, because i had seen the movie before. the movie was very good one but when i read the book once agian i believed that books are much much better than movie
I picke up this book, because i had seen the movie before. the movie was very good one but when i read the book once agian i believed that books are much much better than movie
I saw the trailer on the Internet with Colin Firth and looked up the author to discover he had writtem a book which the film is based on.
A slow read, informative true story and sad but funny though and tends to expose the different events that can go on in a persons life.
These events form the family as well as the person leaving one with questions perhaps or understanding the person when you finally take time to truly know the effect his Dad had on his life.
Rob
A slow read, informative true story and sad but funny though and tends to expose the different events that can go on in a persons life.
These events form the family as well as the person leaving one with questions perhaps or understanding the person when you finally take time to truly know the effect his Dad had on his life.
Rob
I made the mistake of reading this book soon after my own father died. I wept buckets, but nonetheless would recommend it. Very very powerful
A great book but I think very much a man's book as it goes into the relationship between father and son to great depth. Very emotional, extremely touching and beautifully written.
Incidentally, the film is also very good: though it is not a good film of the book.
Incidentally, the film is also very good: though it is not a good film of the book.
Cracking first chapter. Great stories and this guy is a good writer, but I was ready for the book to end.
Oct 01, 2007
minnie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
favourites
This is an excellent and frank memoir, of the authors childhood and his fathers death from cancer.Its not sentimental just totally realistic about human emotions and death.The sequel about his mother is even more compelling I found.
I think the actual rating would be 4.5 - I couldn't decide between 4 or 5, so this seems right.
I'll finish the rest of this review at a later date.
I'll finish the rest of this review at a later date.
Sep 13, 2012
BoekenTrol
marked it as not_read_only_released
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Heather
Recommended to BoekenTrol by:
Moem
From the book box that I received from Moem.
It'll be sent on to a new reader soon :-)
It'll be sent on to a new reader soon :-)
Mooi boek, vader/zoon relatie Kunnen niet met en niet zonder elkaar. Humoristisch geschreven.
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Blake Morrison was born in Skipton, Yorkshire, and educated at Nottingham University, McMaster University and University College, London. After working for the Times Literary Supplement, he went on to become literary editor of both The Observer and the Independent on Sunday before becoming a full-time writer in 1995.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and former Chair of the Poetry Book S...more
More about Blake Morrison...
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and former Chair of the Poetry Book S...more
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Jul 30, 2008 09:11am