Customer Reviews

Half a Life

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read this book in a single afternoon, devouring it. The words, visuals that Jill Ciment (sounds like concrete) uses are fantastic. So real. What a true voice. It DOES read like fiction. I had to keep remembering that this really happened to the face on the cover. A real person went through the hell that was her father and home-life. A disturbing childhood, disturbing pre-adulthood. But fabulous story. Read this one!.

While there are many reasons why this book might appeal to readers, the writing itself makes it de rigeur for everyone. It is a memoir but it is so highly structured that it at times reads like fiction. If you are interested in California, family histories, or just feeling like you are in the midst of something that you can't put down, I highly recommend this book

The first 1/4 of the book was very good. Then the next almost 1/2 of the book wasn't nearly as good, But when I got to the last 1/4 or so it got very good again. I am very glad that I stuck with it until the very end. The part I liked the most were the last 50 pages or so. That is when the memoir really started to take shape for me.

Reading about the relationship the author had with her father sounded oh so familiar..very much like my relationship I have with my own father..slowly slipping away. And when you reflect on that you see that more time has gone by without you being really aware of just how long it has been!

I will look at the authors works of fiction and see if I am moved to read any of them.

I flew this book and felt very satisfied at the end. Ciment tells us just the right amount about her childhood to help us understand the sometimes bizarre and devious adventures she survived. Ciment did a great job, too, of throwing in appropiate historical and cultural markers. Worth reading!

Many of the accounts in her memoir parallel mine. Living in the San Fernando Valley, having a strange father, going to NY to be an artist, and going to art school. In fact, I took several of her creative writing classes while at art school and felt a connection with her artistic sensibilities but at the time she hadn't published any books yet. 20 years later her name pops in my head and I do a search and find she has several books under her belt. I am looking forward to reading her novels.

I write this review to warn readers who may be misled by other reviews. This is an updated David Copperfield without the same zing.

I don't see the point of the book, just as a chronicle of one's sufferings. At the end of all this, jill makes it big by cheating.

In my opinion, in terms of the story itself either, there has to be something clever and funny, or there should be something deep, universal and touching. Unfortunately, this book fails on both counts.

I would advice others to go back to David Copperfield or Great expectations. They are far more enjoyable.