- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd (25 Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0715631500
- ISBN-13: 978-0715631508
- Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 10.9 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
187,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #45 in Books > Biography > Essays, Journals & Letters > 20th Century
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'... typically delicious Bernardine moments... some glorious shafts of characteristically glum Bernardine wit... He is the funniest and saddest man I have ever known.' - Graham Lord, Daily Telegraph; 'Vinegary and droll.' - The Independent
Product Description
For forty years Bernard wrote only about himself, and the tale of his life, loves and failures has become legendary. Reach for the Ground is an irresistible collection of the best of Jeffrey Bernard's celebrated Low Life contributions to the Spectator. The column was once described as 'a suicide note in weekly instalments' and became a national institution whose passing was noted with great sorrow. Peter O'Toole's affectionate introduction recalls a forty-year-old friendship and three sparkling autobiographical essays encapsulate the defining experiences of Bernard's life.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like his previous book, Low Life, this is mainly a collection of Jeffrey Bernard's weekly columns from The Spectator, originally published between January 1990 and December 1994. This book was published in 1996, a year before Bernard died. And, since his columns were a sort of diary, you can see his death coming week by week. He writes quite a bit about being in hospital ("there aren't many hospitals left in London that I haven't been to now"). He is in bad shape. After years of smoking and drinking, he is no longer handsome (his photo is used in the newspapers to warn young people off smoking) and, because of his diabetes, he needs to have a leg amputated.
While his health declines, Bernard's fame rises. During this period, the play based on his columns ("Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell" by Keith Waterhouse) becomes a hit and biographies of his life are published. Despite this, the book is mostly about his drinking and lounging in the Coach and Horses pub and the days when he was a racing columnist and of his four former wives. He rails about life's annoyances sometimes, especially against anti-smokers and anti-drinkers. Though sometime cranky and often melancholy, he never fails to be interesting.
Besides his columns, the book includes three longer pieces about Bernard's growing up and London's Soho, where he drank with the painters Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud; the poets, Louis McNeice and Dylan Thomas; and others. He writes about his breakdown from alcoholism and the resulting period of hospitalization. These pieces, a sort of "how I got to this point in my life" introduction to the columns, are a moving description of the "fog and loneliness of a boozer's day."
The book has eight pages of photographs and a foreword by Peter O'Toole, who starred in "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell."
While his health declines, Bernard's fame rises. During this period, the play based on his columns ("Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell" by Keith Waterhouse) becomes a hit and biographies of his life are published. Despite this, the book is mostly about his drinking and lounging in the Coach and Horses pub and the days when he was a racing columnist and of his four former wives. He rails about life's annoyances sometimes, especially against anti-smokers and anti-drinkers. Though sometime cranky and often melancholy, he never fails to be interesting.
Besides his columns, the book includes three longer pieces about Bernard's growing up and London's Soho, where he drank with the painters Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud; the poets, Louis McNeice and Dylan Thomas; and others. He writes about his breakdown from alcoholism and the resulting period of hospitalization. These pieces, a sort of "how I got to this point in my life" introduction to the columns, are a moving description of the "fog and loneliness of a boozer's day."
The book has eight pages of photographs and a foreword by Peter O'Toole, who starred in "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell."
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the least engaging of the 3 collections of Bernard's columns. At this stage he had sunk into melancholy, bitterness and depression, and seemed to no longer enjoy anything. There is still meat and potatoes for the confirmed Bernard fan, and moments of the old self-deprecating humour still peep through, but beginners should start with the other 2 volumes to see what all the fuss is about.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Some really goo stuff in here. It'd have been nice to see some of his older work as well though.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Humour overshadowed by sadness.
The title of this books sums it all up - that drinking as much as Jeffrey Bernard
did, then the only way forward for him was in a downward direction. Read more
did, then the only way forward for him was in a downward direction. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2010 by Brian James
Very entertaining!
This book includes a collection of Jeff Bernard's best columns over the years. His honest and straightforward contemplations are so funny yet tragical that the only way you can... Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by A. Lundqvist
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