Reading 1001 discussion

This is Lee's autobiography of his childhood, from his first memories to when his older sisters began marrying. His first memories are from the end of WWI, an era when horses, the Squire, walking 4 miles to the shops, playing instruments for entertainment, and leaving school at 14 were the norm. This book is also a bit of a love letter to a thousands-year-old lifestyle he was one of the last to experience. By the time he was 12 (1920s), cars existed. Soon busses came to town, horses were not so needed, radios took over from instruments. School became more standardized. The squire died and his nephew split the land. No longer was a trip to Gloucester or the sea an annual (if that) experience. No longer was there a 4-mile walk to town. People began to leave, rather than stay in the same town as their grandparents.

Lee realized his memories were not just his missing his childhood--he was also missing the fact that no one in England has that childhood any more.
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Fun fact: the back of my library copy says "Recalling life in a remote Costwold village some 50 years ago." My edition was printed in 1979 from a 1962 original (constant reprints from 62 to 79). So, it is itself 35 years old now. Lee was born in 1914, so we are approaching 100 years from the first memories in this book.

Read 1/23/2010
Rating: 3 stars
An autobiographical story of the author's life as a small child to pubescent years in a small Cotswold village in the early part of the twentieth century as life is on the brink of change.

Why Cider With Rosie is included in the 1001 list: "An extremely vivid semi-autobiographical description of life in a small English village in the early part of the twentieth century.... What is perhaps the most remarkable about is...the rich lushness of the description."

This memoir is written in a fictional stye -- the reminiscences are arranged thematically rather than chronologically. Laurie Lee grew up and came of age in a small, rural town in England between the two World Wars. Interestingly, he was from a blended family -- his mother married a widower with four children and then had three more. The father left and Laurie's mother raised the seven children the best she could with occasional moneys form her absent husband.

In loving detail, Lee depicts various aspects of rural life, from chores, to school, to church, as well as the changes, first slow, introduced by automobiles and other modernizations. While very well-written, I must admit it did not have a strong impact. I found the structure confusing -- it wasn't until the 4th or 5th chapter that he bothered to detail his family members. So the earlier chapters had references to his siblings, without identifying them as such, and it really made it difficult to understand how the memories fit into the whole.

It didn't help that I put down the ebook for a couple of weeks to finish off a handful of paperbacks before going on vacation. Furthermore, it really suffered in comparison with A Kestrel for a Knave, which had a more emotional, coherent story arc.

I listened to this book on audio a couple weeks ago and quite loved it and gave it 4 stars. Highly agree with the point someone else made that he was lamenting both the loss of his village childhood and the loss of that village life itself to the modern era. I'm sure that while ultimately people's quality of life are higher in these places now, it is a tradeoff with certain community benefits like the types of village connectedness and united life Lee describes here.

I was really engaged in particular with the chapter about the deserting soldier they care for, and the rival "grannies" who lived to defy each other.

Conversely, I think it also stands as a good counterpoint to people who say "back in the day things were better and safer" when I think this book clearly makes the case that is....not true. Even the author who is presumably an otherwise normal man describes a scene where a bunch of his friends plan a gang rape of a local girl. Which was...a huge pivot from the previous tone.

Overall, I thought this book was heartfelt while still being honest and not romanticising too far.