This is an incredible memoir, it really is uncompromising, and is written beautifully. The evening of Albertine's mum's death is slowly revealed, paragraph by paragraph in between the telling of Albertine's family life. We are shown a window into the lives of her mum, dad and to some extent her sister's lives. Albertine is shockingly honest and uncompromising, when talking about her own experiences we feel like we see the ugliness and the best of her.
I am amazed that Albertine could write this book and convey so clearly all the contradictory feelings of complicated families (and isn't every family complicated on the inside?) She makes us understand how much she loved her mum, but that she also saw her flaws and really problematic behaviour with long lasting effects.
Her writing on men is also illuminating and sad, at one point she writes:
'I've never regretted the loss of any man -or cat- I've known. I have regretted losing women though. Every woman, good or bad, who's gone from my life has left a hole.'
I found this eye-opening, and from her writing you can completely understand why, a mixture of the time (being in a successful female punk band in the 70's, you can imagine) and her family experience. She continues:
'I was on tenterhooks for years anticipating my mother leaving the biggest hole of all. I expected her to leave a crater. A crater can be beautiful, I kept telling myself. People go to Iceland and America especially to see craters'
The book is whole and vital and funny and sad and cutting and galvanising.
