- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New edition edition (2 Dec 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 186049725X
- ISBN-13: 978-1860497254
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,032,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"Ours was not only a love story, it was also a drink story", writes Caitlin Thomas. "The bar was our altar and the only significant difference between our drink story and any of the others is that in the middle of it was a genius poet". Caitlin Thomas' s stormy marriage to Dylan has been covered by the biographers often enough, but it is only now, following her death in 1994, that her own account of those turbulent years is published.
Caitlin MacNamara was born into a far more chaotic and bohemian family than Dylan's suburban clan. For instance her family were friends with the painters Augustus and Gwen John; and Augustus raped her when she sat for him once. In fact the path of her alcoholism had been set long before she met Dylan, but when they came together neither of them stood a chance against the drink.
Caitlin's sparky and invigorating prose is well suited to depicting both their passionate love-hate relationship and her battle with drink following Dylan's death. This is in many ways a tragic story of suffering and torment but it ends--after a new life in Italy with her husband and son and 20 years of sobriety before her death--with a welcome sense of final contentment and peace. --Nick Wroe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Drink swills through the book and so does Dylan. Fatally arrogant, fatally naive, bold and unruly, the Two Terribale Children.derided... the pale orthodox world of despised moderation' SCOTSMAN 'Compelling, if painful, reading' MAIL ON SUNDAY
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Controversial and compelling,
By A Customer
This review is from: Double Drink Story: My Life with Dylan Thomas (Hardcover)
When Dylan Thomas died of drink-related diseases in 1953 the world lost one of its born entertainers. Thomas not only wrote memorable poetry but recited it with such a unique and commanding voice; previously poets, like children, were meant to be seen (and read) but not heard. Drink fuelled he may have been, unfashionably bohemian he certainly was, adulterous and egotistical by rumour but above all he was a genius of language and we felt poorer with his passing.Caitlin, Thomas' widow, kept silent about her years with Dylan through her own dark and drink filled days despite the obvious interest. Moving to Italy and remarrying she was helped through many painful years of battling against alcoholism to emerge as a person in her own right, a person with memories and the need to put them to paper. Caitlin died in 1994 at the age of eighty one leaving her second husband and her youngest son to these written memoirs. They deal, in two broad sections, with her childhood in the New Forest and her life with Dylan. The honesty of her writing is, at times, alarmingly sharp: Dylan's baby-like qualities and his obvious envy on the birth of their first son; Caitlin's response to Dylan's infidelities by taking an impotent lover in Cardiff; her abortion just prior to their trip to America and its emotive finale. Reading this book one feels the torment with which it must invariably have been written, the uprooting of painful memories from deep within, the compulsion to write each one down free from editing control. Although no acknowledgement is given in the book I presume, from the tone of his Afterword, that Caitlin's youngest son, Francesco Fazio is responsible, at least in part, for these fragments of life being brought together and published after his mother's death. If this is the case he has done an excellent job, not only in being able to deal with his mother's other life in such a poignant manner but also in having the courage to detail her thoughts and emotions as clearly, as readably as she herself would have wanted. To fans of Dylan Thomas this may be painful, difficult reading - nobody likes to see the flaws in their hero after all. To scholars this book is obligatory reading as it offers a hitherto unknown angle on the tormented life of the poet from the one person who knew him better than anyone - his wife and drinking companion.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life seen as a miracle,
By A Customer
This review is from: Double Drink Story: My Life with Dylan Thomas (Paperback)
Double Drink Story is Caitlin's attempt to help people become more conscious of their inner divine force and respect it. Caitlin asks us all not to foolishly drown our inner divine force into alcohol, as Caitlin did for too many years.Caitlin's memoir wants to be a universal plea. "Don't prematurely destroy your unique life with continuous shots of alcohol, because sooner or later time and old age will do the job, far too well." May Caitlin's life be an eye-opener to the many sufferes. For the message alone, of wanting to help others not to commit her own mistakes, Caitlin's devastating experience deserves being read. Francesco Fazio (Caitlin Thomas' son)
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing read,
This review is from: Double Drink Story: My Life with Dylan Thomas (Paperback)
This is a confusing book, neither biography nor autobiography. Although the narrative has apparently been written by Caitlin Thomas, the book has obviously been heavily edited. The editor's foreword does not comment on the editorial procedures used or the provenance of the material. The chapters are short and disjointed and although this book is entitled Double Drink Story My Life with Dylan Thomas very little focus is given to their relationship. A disappointing read and one which could have been so revelatory given the amount of material available. For anyone interested in Caitlin's life with Dylan Thomas then George Tremlett's book Caitlin: My Life with Dylan Thomas is a much more informative read, as is Caitlin: The Life of Caitlin Thomas by Paul Ferris. Readers interested in Dylan's life should look elsewhere.
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