Remember Me...
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Review
'All the craft and graft of good writing are here . . . Be warned, the last few pages are unsentimental, lump-in-the-throat stuff, presaging the extended emotional hangover that is the aftermath of a terrific book.'
(John Harding, Daily Mail )'This sequence of novels is one of the best and most ambitious things written in the last 20 years, and REMEMBER ME... is utterly absorbing. Melvyn Bragg is worth a host of more fashionable writers. He never shows off, but tells us how it is.'
(Allan Massie, Scotsman )'Daring and brave . . . With great skill and stunning insight, Bragg doesn’t just tell a very tragic tale, he explores what it really means to love and be loved . . . eclipses anything Bragg has written before' (Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror )
'One can only applaud the seriousness, the humanity, the emotional honesty of the writing. Melvyn Bragg has added another forbidable chapter to one of the most distinguished literary series of recent times.' (David Robinson, Sunday Telegraph )
Sunday Telegraph
'One can only applaud the seriousness, the humanity, the emotional honesty of the writing. Melvyn Bragg has added another formidable chapter to one of the most distinguished literary series of recent times'
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Over the past twenty years or so I have read virtually all of Melvyn Bragg's works of fiction, up through his three autobiographical novels, each published about two years apart. Early in 2007, when Amazon.co.uk offered "Remember Me..." as a preorder for April, I didn't hesitate. Only after I clicked the button did I notice that it was due not in April 2007, but 2008! I let the order stand (probably setting an Amazon.co.uk preorder record) and waited. When it finally arrived last month, I knew instantly that this was not a quick study, and as I read, I saw why #4 had not come as easily as #1, 2 and 3.
There are certain elements of Bragg's writing that I've come to expect, and all of them were present in this book: savory phrases ("...playing Blind Man's Bluff, bumping into the furniture of our old lives"); skillful evocations of time and place (Oxford and London of the '60s); clever literary devices (such as using the era itself as an unseen character in the story, a force powerful enough to jerk the other two primary characters around inside the plot).
But this time there was something I had not seen before: deep emotion; the author himself. This is the fourth in an ongoing autobiographical series about his own life. Yet up to now we have been presented with a sort of family album. Snapshots of "Joe" as a boy against the backdrop of an England at that time, looking back at a child wrestling with issues we presume he later overcame.
In "Remember Me..." there is such raw immediacy that, although it is 40 years past, it feels like now. The sense is that, as he was writing, a chunk of the writer was still back there, and he was bringing it forth for us to see, wounds still open and bleeding. As such, I see "Remember Me..." as not only the finest piece of fiction Bragg has written to date, but also the bravest, given his vulnerability as a public figure. I have been impressed by his writing skills in the past, but never much emotionally moved. I choked up toward the end of this one, something no book has inspired me to do in many years. I strongly recommend it for all the reasons noted above, and for its insight into the chasms and pitfalls of mental illness.
There are certain elements of Bragg's writing that I've come to expect, and all of them were present in this book: savory phrases ("...playing Blind Man's Bluff, bumping into the furniture of our old lives"); skillful evocations of time and place (Oxford and London of the '60s); clever literary devices (such as using the era itself as an unseen character in the story, a force powerful enough to jerk the other two primary characters around inside the plot).
But this time there was something I had not seen before: deep emotion; the author himself. This is the fourth in an ongoing autobiographical series about his own life. Yet up to now we have been presented with a sort of family album. Snapshots of "Joe" as a boy against the backdrop of an England at that time, looking back at a child wrestling with issues we presume he later overcame.
In "Remember Me..." there is such raw immediacy that, although it is 40 years past, it feels like now. The sense is that, as he was writing, a chunk of the writer was still back there, and he was bringing it forth for us to see, wounds still open and bleeding. As such, I see "Remember Me..." as not only the finest piece of fiction Bragg has written to date, but also the bravest, given his vulnerability as a public figure. I have been impressed by his writing skills in the past, but never much emotionally moved. I choked up toward the end of this one, something no book has inspired me to do in many years. I strongly recommend it for all the reasons noted above, and for its insight into the chasms and pitfalls of mental illness.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Melvyn Bragg has always seemed to me a distant figure, popping up on Sunday nights on "The South Bank Show", producing and presenting interesting radio programmes, the author, I knew, of several well-received novels. Nothing had prepared me for the full, visceral force of "Remember Me",a novel which has haunted my life for the last ten days and which has just left me goose-bumped and sobbing.
Why so wonderful? Let me count the ways.. Firstly, it is a note perfect evocation of a time and a place, 1960s London. Secondly, it is an exhilarating exploration of young, idealistic love among books , travel and artistic ambitions. And...and then it stares in the face something so terrible so unflinchingly that one can only marvel at Bragg's sheer guts at confronting and delving so deep into his own psyche, with so much remorse and so much guilt and so little redemption. This is a hugely important, brave milestone in English literature and sets the standard for his more fashionable contempories to follow
Why so wonderful? Let me count the ways.. Firstly, it is a note perfect evocation of a time and a place, 1960s London. Secondly, it is an exhilarating exploration of young, idealistic love among books , travel and artistic ambitions. And...and then it stares in the face something so terrible so unflinchingly that one can only marvel at Bragg's sheer guts at confronting and delving so deep into his own psyche, with so much remorse and so much guilt and so little redemption. This is a hugely important, brave milestone in English literature and sets the standard for his more fashionable contempories to follow
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book having just read a satirical summary in the "Guardian" newspaper. I have never read any previous novel by the author, but not having lived as a recluse, I know who he is. I have glanced at a biography.
"Remember Me" has many beautifully written and moving passages. It chronicles a loving, but perhaps doomed, relationship between a young, ambitious and soon to be successful Englishman and a French artist. As I read it I sought to grounds for criticism. The narrator was too omniscient; he could not know that! The point of view was lopsided. There was too much sentimentality. It only took a few more pages for my unspoken rebuke to be withdrawn apologetically. The device of having the `author\hero' communicating to his daughter about the novel as it developed, illustrating that `he' knew as well as any reader where false witness might occur made my little reflections seem carping. Perhaps the scenes illustrating the career progress of the main characters slowed the pace but they were necessary to clarify the context.
The narrator seems a little less secure with the French part of the equation. The presentation of Joe's parents was note perfect. The way the father connected with his new daughter-in-law was stunning.
The style of the writing is very accessible. The effort that it must have taken hardly shows on the page.
The emotional charge and honesty of perception is devastating.
"Remember Me" has many beautifully written and moving passages. It chronicles a loving, but perhaps doomed, relationship between a young, ambitious and soon to be successful Englishman and a French artist. As I read it I sought to grounds for criticism. The narrator was too omniscient; he could not know that! The point of view was lopsided. There was too much sentimentality. It only took a few more pages for my unspoken rebuke to be withdrawn apologetically. The device of having the `author\hero' communicating to his daughter about the novel as it developed, illustrating that `he' knew as well as any reader where false witness might occur made my little reflections seem carping. Perhaps the scenes illustrating the career progress of the main characters slowed the pace but they were necessary to clarify the context.
The narrator seems a little less secure with the French part of the equation. The presentation of Joe's parents was note perfect. The way the father connected with his new daughter-in-law was stunning.
The style of the writing is very accessible. The effort that it must have taken hardly shows on the page.
The emotional charge and honesty of perception is devastating.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Hard work ...
There were some really strong aspects to this book.
At the beginning of the book, there was the passion of Joe and Natasha's early courtship. Read more
At the beginning of the book, there was the passion of Joe and Natasha's early courtship. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Roddy Doyle Fan
Book club
The item was in excellent condition and delivered promptly, excellent service all round. Melvyn Bragg is a hard read though very wordy and did not find myself in touch with the... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mrs. S. E. Purl
Remember Me
Like previous reviewers I have read most of Mervynn Bragg's works and have enjoyed them immensly....until this one. I find it very difficult to get into the book... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2010 by A "crap"Golfer
The author should have kept this to himself
As Bragg himself admitted in a newspaper interview, as an act of therapy it didn't work. Nor does it work as a novel. Over-long, self-absorbed, lacking in plot... Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2009 by Squeezeboxmama
Remember Me
Remember Me, I believe, is a semi-autobiography by Melvyn Bragg. It is a dense book about deep love, intellectual aspirations, troubled minds and lost souls. Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2009 by A. Flynn
How could it come to that...
Of course there are readers/people who are not interested in the psyches behind any form of creativity, or the private lives of those who live and work around them. Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by Camille Claudel
A moving book that touched raw nerves
I've never read any books by Melvyn Bragg before, and was given this as a gift.
I have to admit, it was a bit of a slow start, as I tend to read "easy" chick lit style... Read more
I have to admit, it was a bit of a slow start, as I tend to read "easy" chick lit style... Read more
Published on 6 July 2009 by Gadgetgirl79
Long and tedious I'm afraid
I've never read any Bragg before, and probably will not read any more now. I had high hopes of this novel as a friend said he had heard great things about it. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2009 by K. Morris
A long slog...
I am a self-confessed Lord Bragg fan, and never miss 'In Our Time' etc. I found the previous titles in this series entertaining while being thought-provoking and true to... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by D. Cutts
Terrific book, moving, honest, memorable
Can only recommend this book. Emotionally charged. Stayed with me long after I had finished it. The words used to describe Natasha's depression/mental struggle, all the losses... Read more
Published on 26 April 2009 by marie-p
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