John Julius Norwich's life has reflected an appetite for living, enlivened by a sense of personal theater. Trying to Please is an engaging and amusing memoir that describes a glamorous but vanishing world. From the monasteries on Mt. Athos to a camel trek across the Sahara, the book shows how Norwich's passions for history, travel, and music have combined with simpler pleasures like friendship and a close family. A remarkable life and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Trying to Please: A Memoir
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Born into the cream of English aristocracy, Norwich boasted a host of godparents that included practically every celebrated figure of the early twentieth century. Shipped off to America as a student to avoid the dangers and privations of WWII Britain, he gained inside access to Churchill, Roosevelt, and DeGaulle. Formally educated at Eaton and Oxford and skilled in both French and Russian languages, he embarked on a diplomatic career. Representing the Crown in the Balkans, he learned to appreciate the artistic achievements of the Ottoman Empire and its Byzantine predecessor. To the superficial reader, Norwich’s recounting of his life offers a surfeit of name-dropping, but ultimately his intelligence and sound taste shine through. Additionally, more than a few of his well-crafted anecdotes about personalities and institutions he encountered may provoke outright laughter. These memoirs illuminate the history of the postwar era with insight into both politics and the arts. --Mark Knoblauch
Review
"The author of this thoroughly delightful memoir is scarcely so well known in this country as in England, where he was born more than eight decades ago. John Julius Norwich began his working life in 1952 (he was then named John Julius Cooper) as an officer for the British Foreign Service, but he did not set off on his path to renown until the fall of 1963, when he decided to leave the service and try his hand at freelance writing. He has done so ever since, having written more than 20 books, most of them in the field of popular history, but he is best known as a lecturer on cultural subjects and the host of historical television documentaries.
"Trying to Please is an absolutely delicious book, in part because Norwich writes so fluidly and engagingly, in part because he has been to so many places and done so many interesting things, and in no small part because he happens to be the only child of one of the most famous and mythologized couples of the first half of the 20th century....
"He seems to have no illusions about its shortcomings or the injustices that helped sustain it, but only the terminally hard-hearted will fail to be captivated by his description of life at Belvoir Castle or his nostalgia for it:
`What has gone (or very nearly) is the sense of amplitude--the sheer scale of that aristocratic life of three-quarters of a century ago, made possible only by the existence of an enormous staff but of a thriving social community numbering several hundred people, with the great house at its center. One or two may still continue, at Chatsworth for example, or perhaps Blenheim; but the combination of hereditary wealth and old tradition without which such houses cannot survive is nowadays rare indeed. In the 1930s it was not. Belvoir was in no way exceptional. There were in those days dozens--perhaps hundreds--of houses in which that sort of life went on, not all of them on quite the level I have described, but not a few on a scale more magnificent still. Nor, in the surrounding country, was there any resentment, any more than there was any servility. The house was a source not only of employment, but of pride....'
"It's a good life, and Norwich shows no sign of slowing it down. More power to him." --Jonathan Yardley --The Washington Post, September 5, 2010
"Memoirs can create a variety of responses in a reader; Trying to Please by John Julius Norwich is entertaining, witty, and a plain old-fashioned good read...." --Holly Scudero --Sacramento Book Review
"If British memoirs with celebrity name dropping and juicy gossip on every page are your cup of tea, this one is for you.... His aristocratic parents--she a silent film star and he ambassador to France--raised him `to please.' He did so throughout their lives and does so for all of us with this pleasing and entertaining book." --Jim Barnes, Editor --IndependentPublisher.com
John Julius Norwich has lived a charmed life and would be the first to acknowledge it.... In Trying to Please [he] ... records his life.... There are grim events--infidelity, divorce, deaths--but there is much more travel, discovery and insouciance. --The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2010
"[Norwich] writes ... with typical cheerfulness.... This is a genial, old-fashioned book. Its value lies...in its anecdotes and details about great persons and places from a vanished era." --Boston Sunday Globe, October 8, 2010
"...Mr. Norwich is clearly very much his own man, not just interesting for being Duff Cooper's son--Trying to Please is a success, for it is indeed attractive and winning--all in all a very pleasant read and, with its unusually modest price, a bargain to boot." -- Martin Rubin --The Washington Times
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
And it does please,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Trying to Please: A Memoir (Hardcover)
Few people have more interesting lives or interesting careers for that matter than John Julius Norwich. He is a historian of Venice, Byzantium, and England during the time of Shakespeare's kings, not to mention a former British foreign service officer, a member of the House of Lords, and television and radio personality. My only question to Lord Norwich, were I to have the opportunity to meet him, would be to ask which employment agency he uses to get all these plum job assignments.It is not surprising that Norwich is as prominent as he is. He is the son of Duff Cooper and Lady Diana Cooper ("Viscount of Norwich" is the title his father took when elevated to House of Lords). Duff Cooper was a member of parliament, first Lord of the Admiralty, appeasement opponent, British ambassador to France and a renowned author and diplomatic historian. Diana Cooper was a famous beauty, friend of Evelyn Waugh (Mrs Stitch in "Scoop"), "bright young person and the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland. Both emerge as engaging personalities in this memoir, although I have to say Diana Cooper emerges as the more amusing (this apparently was the case in real life as well). She is a fearless driver, frequently racing and keeping up with fire engines when John Julius was in the car with her. Her philosophy was that bumpers on cars were there to absorb shocks and not look so pristine. She is a frequent presence in the book and the source of much amusement. With such parents Norwich is exposed to the great and the good, such as Winston Churchill, who he met during World War II at 10 Downing Street. There is also the not so good , such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who he met in the fifties. The Duchess apparently croaked out her entire life story to the young 15 year old John Julius one night after dinner. Not used to wine, he totally forgot everything by morning. With a career in modern languages, Norwich was assigned to various postings around the Mediterranean, Yugoslavia and Lebanon which in turn served to promote an interest in both Venice and Byzantine history. It was only after the birth of his children that he decided to give up the diplomatic life and turn instead writing as a career. The series of books that set Norwich apart were of course his history of the Normans in Sicily (which was part a trend in which Norsemen occupied tracks of land in Ireland, Normandy, Russia, Sicily and eventually England itself). Fascinated by the story of the kingdom, which he absorbed in bits and pieces, he was astonished to find that nothing had been written on it until his two volume study, which is a real delight to read. This luck to find subjects that are both engaging and somewhat unexplored has been with Norwich for most of his life. It probably would not be an understatement to say that with the exception of an encounter Stephen Runciman (whose life and interests are somewhat similar to Norwich's, although several years older), Norwich is probably one of the luckiest people to have lived. A great deal of the book deals with Norwich's books, how he came to write them and lessons learned while filming television documentaries on historical subjects. It is pity that many of these are not available in any form in the US since they sound fascinating. Anyone attempting to produce a fifty minute historical documentary should examine Norwich's chapters on his past experiences. There are many pitfalls which can be avoided. Norwich is also renowned for his work in historic preservation. A great deal of his effort has been spent keeping the monuments and historic treasures of Venice and elsewhere available for future generations to enjoy. Like so many public-spirited peers before him, he has used what influence in society his position has given him to accomplish good works. This is in short a delightful book by one of the most interesting people alive today. It provides erudite commentary on the multi-faceted career of this outstanding person. If you are a fan of histories, this book too will also prove engaging.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A life worth sharing,
By mj deneen "avid windy city reader" (Chicago Il) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Trying to Please: A Memoir (Hardcover)
Hard to categorize, not really a memoir, not a travelogue, but the author has led a life full of interesting people places and events. The son of Duff & Lady Cooper this will appeal to those readers with an interest in the parents as well as the son.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Peek into the Upper Realm,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Trying to Please: A Memoir (Hardcover)
The first third of so of the memoir was the truly interesting story of what it's like to grow up in an upper, upper class British household--Winston and Clemmie dropping by, young John asking De Gaulle if he's going to finish that tarte pomme, the famous mother tooling around London in a series of cream-colored convertibles a la Julia Flyte. Great stuff. The memoir lost steam as Norwich got foreign service postings in less and less exciting places. He seems to have great curiosity about places and loves being anywhere on the globe; yay for him, but I can only smile and nod so long when someone is nattering on about 1960's Yugoslavia. To his credit, he was "into" city restoration and preservation before it was cool (although how someone can claim to not like Florence, Italy is beyond me). The odd, random dalliances were an unexpected curveball. To sum, would say the first third of the book was well worth reading but don't expect being thrilled with the last two.
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