Towards Another Summer by Janet FrameMy rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
I saw a documentary about Janet Frame several many years ago. I've wanted to read some of her work since then, and finally I did get to one book.
This one Frame considered her most autobiographical and did not want it published while she was alive.
The book that takes place over a weekend. A New Zealand writer, Alice, who is living in England goes to visit a couple in their house. She hardly knows them, so it's a little awkward, oh there are kids!
There is so much inner life, all the worries and anxieties, plus she seems to always be thinking about when she was growing up. There is a comparison often, of this couple to her parents. So in this one weekend, just hearing the main character's inner thoughts, we get a sense of what it was like for her growing up and how dysfunctional, and unusual her family was. And yet there was something to identify with, we all have unusual family experiences and these inner thoughts Alice has, well haven't well all had some of these anxieties? Rehash over and over what was said and not said?
Oh, and the language, such wonderful turns of phrase and descriptions. The words Frame used, that alone was worth the read.
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