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A review by lindzlovesreading
Janet Frame: An Autobiography by Janet Frame
4.0
Wandering through my favourite book store I saw that they had reissued Frame's series of autobiography. I was suddenly very embarrassed that I had never read one of New Zealand's greatest authors, being a kiwi myself. So I bought it.
From the first line;
"From the first place of liquid darkness, within the second place of air and light, I set down the following record with its mixture of fact and truths and memories and its direction always toward the Third Place, where the starting point is myth."
I knew I was in the hands of a master, and suddenly very proud to be kiwi.
Frame is famous for being the ultimate miss understood artist. Considering she spend almost ten years of her life in and out of mental hospitals with miss diagnosed schizophrenia. And only missed out on having a lobotomy because she won a literary prize. Though don't expect great details of her asylum experience, she has already written about it in another novel, and will not go through it again.
This is a autobiography not of bitterness, maybe a little sadness but more matter of fact. From a poor childhood in Otago, with tragedy to her struggling to be herself, in a society that expected that she should toe the line. In NZ in the 1950's you were either a nurse or a teacher, or you played rugby. Females tended to have more choice, but not much :).
Though I love this auto I cannot give this 5 stars only because the last instalment 'The Envoy from the Mirror City' just did not hold up to the previous two autos. It felt like Frame was more dictating the events, there wasn't the flavour. Which is a little sad. But I would still recommend this novel to anyone, not just kiwis.
From the first line;
"From the first place of liquid darkness, within the second place of air and light, I set down the following record with its mixture of fact and truths and memories and its direction always toward the Third Place, where the starting point is myth."
I knew I was in the hands of a master, and suddenly very proud to be kiwi.
Frame is famous for being the ultimate miss understood artist. Considering she spend almost ten years of her life in and out of mental hospitals with miss diagnosed schizophrenia. And only missed out on having a lobotomy because she won a literary prize. Though don't expect great details of her asylum experience, she has already written about it in another novel, and will not go through it again.
This is a autobiography not of bitterness, maybe a little sadness but more matter of fact. From a poor childhood in Otago, with tragedy to her struggling to be herself, in a society that expected that she should toe the line. In NZ in the 1950's you were either a nurse or a teacher, or you played rugby. Females tended to have more choice, but not much :).
Though I love this auto I cannot give this 5 stars only because the last instalment 'The Envoy from the Mirror City' just did not hold up to the previous two autos. It felt like Frame was more dictating the events, there wasn't the flavour. Which is a little sad. But I would still recommend this novel to anyone, not just kiwis.