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Somewhere Towards The End (2008)

by Diana Athill(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

039306770X (ISBN13: 9780393067705)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: I have sort of been aware of this book for a while when it was published it was quite widely marketed and as she is a fascinating women lucky and privileged enough to work in the publishing in what must have been its glory days, I put it on my reading list. It came to the forefront as watching family and friends approaching the end of life, I wanted to know what that must feel like and I thought this book might help.In this book Diana Athill very honestly describes what it means to be in your last years of life, the good points but also the not so good points. She seems not to be afraid of death, but talks eloquently about her fear of the physical side of dying, which she does seem to worry about, although she seems to cope with well. She talks about priorities changing... more, what used to be important not being so very much important. She explains about her regrets of it not being possible or sensible to embark on, but also the opportunity to do things, like writing, which before self-consciousness, lack of time or fear of the opinions of others, might have held you back. I found this really interesting to read.However, this short book is about more than the above. She also tells of important events and relationships in her life, which shaped not only her life so far, but also the rest of her life. Whilst I have real issues especially to her attitude about adultery, this is so well written that you can see her point. The best chapters for me where towards the end of the book when she talks about her discovery of herself as a writer (after having been an editor for more than 50 years) and the relief and joy this brings her and her impressive insight and honesty about how her fortunate background and upbringing as well as her birth into a well-educated and quite wealthy upper-middle class English family has shaped her life. I have never heard anybody be so honest about this topic.I will now certainly try and read her other books and she is a fascinating woman and I hope that there is more to come from this amazing woman.
review 2: Sometimes one feels so sorry when a book comes to an end and this was one of those books. It is the first Diana Athill that I have read and i am sure it won't be the last. Her writing is so lucid and the ideas expressed are so perfectly drawn that the whole thing was a pleasure. I still have 20 years to go before I am the age she was when she wrote the book, but I hope my wits are still so clear and active when I reach her age. less

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