Customer Reviews
carved in stone - By: J. F. POTTER, 21 Oct 2008 
Somewherein the Universe the words of this book are carvedin stone, alongside Shakespeare's sonnets. It is shamelessly nostalgic & even heart-breaking. Also when Laurie is funny, he's very funny. I was brought upin Stroud & lots of us knew him. He was the only famous person we'd ever produced. Incidentally the 1st BBC TV adaptationin about the 70s starring an actress called somebody Leech I think, contained my parents, though they're difficult to spot, & indeed half the district, so it seems. I have several videos of it. I don't know if it's available on DVD though. It has a sad, sad ending
Those of you who love this book like I do, might like to try Twenty Years A-Growing (Oxford Paperbacks) by Maurice O'Sullivan, if you haven't already. Another coming of age book, it has also become a part of me, always availablein the recesses of my mind
FredPotter
Be transported through time and space! - By: Patience, 25 Jul 2008 I love this book. Our headmaster often used to read passages from itin morning assemley decades ago, & it stayed with me since then. The language is beautifully eloquent, & the author gives us a wonderfully realistic look into country life all that time ago. I especially loved the chapter about his mother, describing her with such honesty but love too, that I felt I'd known her myself. This weekend read was better than a weekend breakin the country !
Eloquent - By: kehs, 20 Apr 2008 This is a wonderfully told memoir of Lee's childhoodin the remote Cotswold village of Stroud. He tells of how he grew up being raisedin a one-parent family, his father having left them when he was just 3 years old. His mother believed for all of her life that one day her husband would return home to them, but sadly he never did. He used to send them a few pounds to support the home each week but Lee's life was one of poverty & hardship, yet he still took delightin many of the simple thingsin life. Lee's style of writing is beautifully descriptive & depicts a world before technology such as mobile phones & computers were even imagined. Sometimes funny, often sad, but extremely eloquently told,in this book Laurie Lee brings the distant past back to life & I highly recommend it.
A sort of cross between a novel and a biographical prose poem - By: Lou Knee, 30 Mar 2008 
This very richly written descriptive of a childhood so fondly remembered is a piece of pure writing, straight from the heart, & rightly stands as a classic. It is of course a thing of a type, & this type of work helps to show how hugely wide the category of 'novel' writing is. This is a work straddling the far border of fiction & factual based biography but written for the enjoyment of description & depiction by a lover of language. It's worth a read by anyone whatever they're tastes, but I expect not too many thriller readers will be drawn to reading it. I liked it because it's clearly written by a lover of both life & language, but did find it a very rich cake. I can actually see why some would dislike it as a novel. Those who pick up a novel wanting to be told a story, rather than simply be taken to another world, may well feel cheated by it. It is without doubt though beautifully written.
Brilliant - By: booksdingle, 20 Jan 2008 I love this book esp the illustrated version, the writing is so rich & conjures up vivid images that jump straight off the page. read itin school & enjoyed it read it again as an adult & still enjoyed it. I would read it again, which is very unusual for me. Classic
