Pig Ignorant

by Nicholas Fisk

Genres: Autobiography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

(1923–2016), British author of more than forty books and television scripts and a master of science fiction for children. Fisk, whose real name is David Higginbottom, grew up during the Second World War and served in the Royal Air Force. His autobiography, Pig Ignorant (1992), covers the years 1939–1941 and details his life in Soho, a bohemian section of London, where he played jazz in the evenings until he was called to enlist. After the war Fisk worked as a musician, journalist, and publisher. He started writing in the 1960s, and his popularity was at its height in the 1970s and 1980s. His most impressive work, A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair (1982), is a thrilling futuristic novel set at the end of the 22ndcentury. The government is cloning new people and has manufactured a 1940s wartime family whose members are unaware that nothing they know is real. This moving story is a dark representation of the threat posed by technological advancement but is optimistic in its message about the triumph of the human spirit. Fisk's most enduring books include Grinny (1973), which features a technologized extraterrestrial threat in the form of a great- aunt who glows at night, and Trillions (1971), an eerie story about mysterious hard shiny objects that contain an alien intelligence. Monster Maker (1979) was made into a film.

Reviews

[A.E. Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you didn't have a friend/relative/teacher tell you about growing up in London during the Blitz, read this book. I had all three in spades, and their experiences greatly mirrored many Fisk describes here.

A very honest, clear, evocative portait of not only London at that time, but of what it is to be a teenager in any age. Well worth it.

[Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short memoir of Fisk's early life between leaving school in the late '30s and his being called up for the war in '44 or '45 (not actually made clear). I quite like Fisk's work and I enjoyed this broad-brush picture of life before and during the war.

[Sandybeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting memoir, but I am sad to say, quite forgetable. I have not updated my Goodreads for a couple of weeks and can’t really remember what it was all about! There were some jazz club memories, an alcoholic mother and some harrowing memories of WW2 and the Blitz in London. It was good while I was reading it and I remember enjoying it.
My edition is the beautiful Slightly Foxed No. 65 edition from my subscription, so I would not have come across this story if it had not arrived on my door mat. That is one thing I love about Slightly Foxed, I am introduced to so many authors unknown to me.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable. No sugar coating.