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Birmingham Girls
 
 

Birmingham Girls [Kindle Edition]

Carol Arnall
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)

Kindle Price: £0.77 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Product Description

Product Description

This book tells the story of our early lives in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, where we lived in a back-to-back house with our mother. Our father deserted Mom before I was born. She had a desperate struggle bringing us up during and after the war until she remarried.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 489 KB
  • Print Length: 136 pages
  • Publisher: Davies; 2 edition (23 July 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B003YDXJO4
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,588 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A past brought to life 26 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback
I had my eye on this book from the first time I saw it. I have to be honest, part of the attraction was because it's set in the general area where I was born and grew up, but having read it I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone.

Birmingham Girls is part memoir, part social history, part local history and part family history. It begins with the author deciding to research her family history. As she traces her ancestors and finds out about them, this in turn jogs memories of her childhood, the places she lived and the people she knew.

The book is written mostly in chronological order but sometimes drifts into other times and places. It is arranged in short sections, some predominantly about people and others about events or places. It is like looking through a box of old photographs, some are complete in themselves while others trigger associated memories. It's a book that's easy to dip into and read a couple of pages at a time, yet equally it becomes more compelling as the reader is drawn into Carol's life.

As an author myself, I find myself looking critically and wondering how this book would be handled if it were published by the mainstream press rather than as an independent. And while it would be tempting to neaten up a sentence here and there or arrange things in a different order, I have to say that I'm very glad that the commercial publishers haven't got their hands on it. Because, as it is, it is full of integrity, of little nuances and asides. It drifts like the mind does. It is the author speaking, telling her story in her own words. To interfere with that would be like the old-fashioned idea of insisting all actors and TV presenters speak in the same way.

If I had the job of editing this book I would probably suggest changing the last few pages. Here, a few random sections are added as afterthoughts and I would probably try to slot them into the main text. Yet, having said that, I love the way the book ends with an ephemeral carefree memory and I would rather it stay exactly as it is with a few aspects which might be perceived by some as faults rather than risk losing this honest and innocent portrayal of peoples' lives.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing - read Nella Last instead! 30 Dec 2010
Format:Kindle Edition
As a Birmingham girl myself, I had high hopes of this book - what a disappointment. It is poorly written (and very badly edited). It jumps about, is written in a muddled and incoherent way and ends almost in thin air - as if the PC broke down and she couldn't be bothered to finish the final chapter! I would classify it as a musing of memories, designed to entertain only her family, not for commercial or general public interest at all. It reminds me of my own Grandmother's diaries - they were great fun to read by those of us who knew her and the family she wrote about, but of no interest or substance to anyone else. A really poor effort, the standard of writing not much better than that of an enthusiastic sixth former...I won't be buying the "follow up" and had it not been so cheap on Kindle, I'd have been very miffed at wasting money on it.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Told Like It Was By The Person Who Was There 31 July 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
I bought the Kindle edition of this book knowing full well that biographies and autobiographies aren't my thing when it comes to books, but because I had heard so much about it I decided to give it a go. It tells of the struggle of a fatherless family to make ends meet in Birmingham - a city I don't know at all - Carol Arnall's early life, her progression into adulthood, a series of different jobs, the problems of friendships, and meeting her husband and their life together. It also includes some nice family photographs.

Although it does have a habit of chopping and changing scenes, I was drawn in, and I decided it didn't matter. This isn't a novel - although it would make a good plot for a novel - it is a memoir, a collection of memories. Memories are a mish-mash of pictures of our past lives, things we're aware of at the time, but later when you try to piece them together it's hard to make full sense of them. Try as we might, sometimes the best we can do is to remember bits of things. The author has done well to collect her memories, some painful ones at that, and sort them into chronological order, giving the reader an image of her life. Yes, very often the author goes off on a tangent, telling us about one event, then saying something like, 'that reminds me of the time...' This is something we often do in normal conversation, and it is like the author is having a chat with the reader over a cup of coffee. It makes the memories come to life in that sense.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars BORING BOOK
I STARTED THIS BOOK THINKING IT WOULD BE A GOOD STORY,BUT A FEW PAGES IN AND IT STARTED TO GET A BIT BORING,I DID SOMETHING I HAVENT DONE BEFORE AND IT WAS TO DELETE THE BOOK FROM... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Mags
3.0 out of 5 stars Birmingham Girls
The story by Carol Arnall of herself and her sister as they grew up was, for me, rather boring and not very well told. There were many, many, grammatical errors.
Published 8 days ago by Jennifer H.
3.0 out of 5 stars More detail needed
I would have liked more information about daily life at that time.

I know it was only a personal account but I still feel it could have done with a little more items of... Read more
Published 12 days ago by June Watton
1.0 out of 5 stars I had more fun at the Dentist.
This must be the most boring book that I ever read. I can`t believe I actually purchased this, I waited for something, or, anything to happen but it just did`nt cut it.
Published 13 days ago by David Mellor
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational
Truly inspirational. The author just gets on with making a living for her family in any way she can. A fine example to anyone who loses their job.. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Joan
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not great
I bought this autobiographical story because I am from Birmingham and thought it would make an interesting read. Well, I suppose it did to an extent, but I expected more. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Poetry Lover
2.0 out of 5 stars Very average
Just a series of reminiscences but all over the place and not really in any order. A bit like talking to my Mother!
Published 26 days ago by Mrs. Elaine J Flint
3.0 out of 5 stars read better books
it was ok but not my kind of reading perhaps I would have liked it if I knew the girls
Published 1 month ago by bridget massey
3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmm
As a Brummie I found this enjoyable to begin with, but sadly it's no Kathleen Dayus, whose books held my interest throughout; I don't know why, but it just didn't 'do it' for me. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jennie Georgina
3.0 out of 5 stars Had been to many of the areas cooverd and remember them well, Good...
This would be of interest to me friend who still live in Bir,imgham, I can remember takiing my children to the Bull Ring they lovd it.
Published 1 month ago by Wendy Binsley
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