And when did you last see your father?: A Son's Memoir of Love and Loss [Paperback]

Blake Morrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1996

 

Soon to be a major motion picture, directed by Anand Tucker and starring Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent
 

And when did you last see your father? Was it last weekend or last Christmas? Was it before or after he exhaled his last breath? And was it him really, or was it a version of him, shaped by your own expectations and disappointments?
 
Blake Morrison's subject is universal: the life and death of a parent, a father at once beloved and exasperating, charming and infuriating, domineering and terribly vulnerable. In reading about Dr. Arthur Morrison, we come to ask ourselves the same searching questions that Blake Morrison poses: Can we ever see our parents as themselves, or are they forever defined through a child's eyes? What are the secrets of their lives, and why do they spare us that knowledge? And when they die, what do they take with them that cannot be recovered or inherited?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British poet Morrison tells of the final days of his father's life.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

British writer Morrison pens a reflective and humorous tribute to his late father, a genial general practitioner with a kind heart, a roving eye, a quick wit, and a penchant for minor duplicities. Morrison deftly juxtaposes robust childhood memories with poignant scenes of his elderly father's rapid decline in health, producing a vivid dual portrait of a man as viewed through the eyes, the mind, and the heart of both a child and an adult. Dr. Morrison's multiple faults and failings are examined as candidly as his virtues, allowing the author to fully explore and analyze the complex nature of the ties that inextricably bind a son to his father throughout the entire course of his life. A tender and therapeutic memoir designed to appeal to anyone who has ever been both enthralled and exasperated by a parent. Margaret Flanagan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Picador (April 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312142730
• ISBN-13: 978-0312142735
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #559,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book to read, May 9, 2000

By 

Elizabeth Green - See all my reviews

This review is from: And when did you last see your father?: A Son's Memoir of Love and Loss (Paperback)

After his father was diagnosed with cancer, Blake Morrison & his family watch him quickly deteriorate & die within a matter of weeks. In trying to come to terms with his death, the author takes you back to the times he spent with his father through childhood to adolescence & adulthood. He writes an honest account of his feelings towards his father both good & bad, alternating between memories of the past & the current trauma of watching him fade away.

His experience is not unique which makes this a very important book to read.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The love hate relationship of a son with his father., August 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: And when did you last see your father?: A Son's Memoir of Love and Loss (Paperback)

I very English book, a small social commentary on the parts of Britain and a class of British life that the foreign visitor rarely sees. Until recently, all through Britain the local Doctor ( or G.P. as he would also be known) was looked up to as being something else, something better and yet had contact to all classes. In the days up until the 1960's, he was perhaps the only person in a village other than the local Church of England clergyman that had been to a University; as a result the Doctor's son was considered something unusual. In my English schooldays in the 1950's, the sons of Doctors were certainly regarded so. Blake Morrison has written a book of childhood to adulthood memories of his father. The fact that the book is based on the few weeks between his father being diagnosed to be suffering terminal cancer to his death, it is in many ways not a light subject, but everywhere there is a glimmer of humour. For anyone like me, who has lost one or both parents i! t underlines that feeling you have that you have from time to time , in good and bad times , that you would like to be able to have a short chat with the old man... but now it's too late.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grieving the Loss of A Father, April 7, 2009

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: And when did you last see your father?: A Son's Memoir of Love and Loss (Paperback)

This book is a memoir about the author's father and the author's attempt to process
his grief following his father's death. We share the author's experiences and emotions
as he watches his father die of cancer. The author also attempts to make sense of his
relationship with his father and understand the person that his father was. This book
is a good examination of the grief/loss process.