Customer Reviews

Janet Frame: An Autobiography; Volume One : To the Is-Land, Volume Two : An Angel at My Table, Volume Three : The Envoy from Mirror City/ 3 Volumes in One Book

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the first volume Frame beautifully describes her New Zealand childhood. Her descriptions of her family, their day-to-day lives, and their economic and personal hardships, stay with the reader long after reading Volume I.

In Volume II she describes her college years and subsequent mental mis-diagnosis, which led to several years of institutionalization. Rather than leaving the reader depressed, somehow she brings one into the experience but leaves us wondering at her resilience and ability to continue writing.

Volume III contains her account of her growing acceptance as a writer and her association with other well-known New Zealand writers. This is a must for anyone interested in: a brilliant picture of an artist; New Zealand life; good non-fiction writing.

Janet Frame's autobiography is, by far, the most amazing non-fiction book I've ever had the chance to read. While covering the difficulties of her childhood (living in poverty, the deaths of her sisters by drowning), her young adulthood (shyness & social awkwardness, being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia & hospitalized), and her blossoming into the brilliant writer she has now become, the language and artistry of Janet's transforms the narrative beyond its sadnesses. One of the best writers around, her memoir is also a good introduction to her work before you plunge into the strange, evocative fiction. I heartily recommend the entire body of her work.

In the first volume, Frame beautifully describes her New Zealand childhood. Her descriptions of her family, their day-to-day lives, and their economic and personal hardships, stay with the reader long after reading Volume I.
In Volume II she describes her college years and subsequent mental mis-diagnosis, which led to several years of institutionalization. Rather than leaving the reader depressed, somehow she brings one into the experience but leaves us wondering at her resilience and ability to continue writing.
Volume III contains her account of her growing acceptance as a writer and her association with other well-known New Zealand writers. This is a must for anyone interested in: a brilliant picture of an artist; New Zealand life; good non-fiction writing.

An unbelievable story. How anyone could have endured all that she went through and be able to look back and recount all that she suffered is amazing. She tells of her life from her childhood , her college life, her treatment as a mental patient, and her coming home so descriptively that you are there with her. If you like Angela's Ashes or Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone, you must read Janet Frame's story.

To forever capture the past in the present - to be always telling the tale, towards the destination and yet always on the go, postponing the end of self-perception and portrayal: one does not write an autobiography about what one gained but what one lost. Janet Frame shows an intense desire (and flair) in retaining her possessions - a place, an object, a thought, an emotion, a fragment of memories - in writing. It deals with loss and trauma in an honest, realistic, and fairly subdued manner, making it more geniune than a lot of best-selling memoirs. Frame has been described as an ego-centric writer in her fiction - always writing about and examining herself - but in her autobiography she reminds us of existential moments when one detaches from one's self and looks at the world: the unnamable sadness that we do and do not experience. The imagery here is also a lot richer than most autobiographies - if you enjoy down-to-earth and yet beautiful and touching stories, this is something you should read.

I read this book about a month ago and was very impressed. Brilliant for fans of New Zealand Literature as it beautifully evokes the New Zealand landscape and atmosphere. Despite the poetic language, it's a real page turner. I particularly enjoyed volume three, in which Frame moves to an area of London that I know very well. I had a great time picking out familiar road names!

This book left me breathless as I followed Janet Frame's journey and search for the meaning of self and home. Her sadness, longing, shyness are painful in a way I have never experienced in words. The detail, insight and recollection more than any other being-there story I have known.

I did it backwards: I watched the film first. My subsequent enjoyment of the book, however, was not diminished. The strength of this memoir lies not only in its magnetic story but also in Frame's brilliant, lyrical writing.

Looking forward to reading her novels...immediately.

Janet Frame was an amazing woman. She died on Jan 30, 2004. I had this book on my 'need to read' shelf when I read an obituary in the NY Times about her death at age 79. She endured so much and wrote so keenly. She was thought to be a schizophrenic and wrote about her periods of madness in mental institutions. This autobiography was fascinating for me. There is a gentleness and everlasting patience about her that will make anyone like her. If you want a real treat...find the film AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE (from 1990) that Jane Campion (famous for the film THE PIANO) to complement the book. If only I could have met this woman. I would have loved to have tea and crumpets with her.

I came to this book by way of the movie "An Angel at My Table" [which was fairly true to the book]. I had never heard of Janet Frame, and was so intrigued by the film that I knew I had to read her autobiography. The book introduces you to her impoverished life in New Zealand [she was born in 1924], and includes about two dozen pages of photos of Janet's family [it was wonderful putting the real faces to the ones we were introduced to in the movie]. From the epilepsy of her brother, the drownings of her two sisters, her own mental breakdown in college [which was erroneously diagnosed as schizophrenia], you understand how all of her traumas and perceptions are incorporated later into her writing career. She overcomes daunting events and social alienation to become a novelist, poet, and short-story author.
I have continued to read more of her writings.