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Originally reviewed at Novel EscapesI was a bit disappointed though in how the novel played out. At times it felt like she was writing their history only for herself. She didn't seem to always consider that the book had to transcend and be interesting for the reader. While there were moments that captured my attention, for instance, his teaching career, I was mostly confused about the flow of the "story" and questioned many times why certain things had been included. I'm perhaps judging harshly
Poignant and lyrical, TRAVELS WITH MY FATHER takes the reader on a meandering journey through past and present. I'm not overly fond of memoirs - usually finding them dry, dusty and too factual - but, through the lens of coming to terms with her grief at her father's dying, Jennings has woven a masterful record of life to which everyone can relate. Whether describing the small and personal details of her life (the "desperately ugly" ashtray she thought belonged to her grandfather) or minor detail...
Following the death of her father, the author reflects on the history of her extended family and of her home in Cape Town and her travels to Australia, India and Europe. I haven't read her most recent novel, longlisted for the Booker prize, but I enjoyed Upturned Earth.
– The process is slow. We move forward in instalments. – – [The nurse] tells me that the tidying of the body is her favourite part of the job. 'I get to be creative,' she says. 'The rest of the time it's just work work work, but when someone dies I can make them look nice again. . . It's a gift that I get to give to the people who are left behind. –– An ability to reason carefully had warned me that to succeed in dying I had to appear well. –– Memories, shameful, in which each of us, parent and
I really enjoyed this. I'm not sure if it's because I have a decades-ago connection to the author & her family or because I have been to a few of the same countries / places and also grew up nearby in Plumstead, Cape Town. Either way, it was an interesting and honest read and I felt thruout that the author wrote it with no holds barred, that no emotion or thought or feeling was too taboo to be shared. I also loved the historical tidbits scattered amongst the day-to-day, fascinated as I am with m...
