- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Sceptre (6 Mar 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340936622
- ISBN-13: 978-0340936627
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 397,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Stealing Water: A Secret Life in an African City
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Review
'The greatest memoir to come out of white Africa since Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart - it reads like Angela's Ashes rewritten by Nick Hornby under a baking Johannesburg sun . . . told with warmth, humanity and humour to burn.' (Tony Parsons )
'An extraordinary account of childhood in a baroque South Africa, peopled with a vast, positively Dickensian cast of characters - never sentimental, extremely honest and, I found, quite unputdownable.' (Emma Thompson )
'A truthful story brilliantly told - both funny and moving. I often had to lay the book aside to recover from laughter . . . Tim Ecott cleverly captures the feeling of an extraordinary life.' (Lynne Reid Banks )
'Stealing Water is a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of poor-white family life in the twilight of apartheid.' (Richard E. Grant )
'There are belly laughs enough, and some serious criminality to boot, but Ecott's outstanding talent as an author is for pathos. His mother's scorn of logic, fate and the laws of probability, carrying on her shoulders a whole world of worry, debt, misfortune and illness, and all her family's fortunes, moved me more than once to tears.' (Sunday Times )
'An extraordinary account of childhood in a baroque South Africa, peopled with a vast, positively Dickensian cast of characters - never sentimental, extremely honest and, I found, quite unputdownable.' (Emma Thompson )
'A truthful story brilliantly told - both funny and moving. I often had to lay the book aside to recover from laughter . . . Tim Ecott cleverly captures the feeling of an extraordinary life.' (Lynne Reid Banks )
'Tim Ecott's story of growing up in Ireland and Africa is both haunting and funny. He writes with compassion and honesty to give us a truly memorable account of an extraordinary upbringing.'
(Fergal Keane )'Stealing Water is a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of poor-white family life in the twilight of apartheid.' (Richard E. Grant )
'the narrative crackles and fizzles along.'
(Irish Times )'There are belly laughs enough, and some serious criminality to boot, but Ecott's outstanding talent as an author is for pathos. His mother's scorn of logic, fate and the laws of probability, carrying on her shoulders a whole world of worry, debt, misfortune and illness, and all her family's fortunes, moved me more than once to tears.' (Sunday Times )
Emma Thompson
'An extraordinary account of childhood in a baroque South Africa, peopled with a vast, positively Dickensian collection of people - never sentimental, extremely honest and, I found, quite unputdownable.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book after listening to Tim Ecott (author) on MidWeek (Radio 4 - Weds am). The book turned out to be better than expected. This is because Tim's biographical account of his early life is the story of someone who is a normal, unknown, non-famous person, who lived through a fascinating childhood and early adulthood, and who manages to tell their story in an interesting, meaningful way without resorting to sensationalism. He has the ability to allow and bring you into his world through graphic descriptions of what his life was like, and through the relationships he had with people around him - parents, siblings, grand-parents etc plus a variety of unusual, colourful individuals. In summary, an excellent read!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book after attending one of Tim's book readings in Belfast. If you have to ever hear him read please go, he has an excellent dead pan delivery. Tim if you are reading, you should consider a stage show, or at least an audio book.
The book is a very entertaining romp through one family's life. Only about half the book is set in Africa, the rest is very entertaining stories about his very eccentric family.
This book is a perfect antidote to those misery memories that litter the best seller lists. This book has a cold edge of very dark humour that I found very enjoyable.
I highly recommend this book, it deserves a wider audience. It's an easy, pleasurable read that will entertain and shock in equal measures.
The book is a very entertaining romp through one family's life. Only about half the book is set in Africa, the rest is very entertaining stories about his very eccentric family.
This book is a perfect antidote to those misery memories that litter the best seller lists. This book has a cold edge of very dark humour that I found very enjoyable.
I highly recommend this book, it deserves a wider audience. It's an easy, pleasurable read that will entertain and shock in equal measures.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read Tim's book Neutral Buoyancy a couple of years ago and decided to give this a go based on the fact he struck me as an "interesting character". I am delighted I took the time because this was a book I thoroughly enjoyed. In an age where many biographies are written by people with little to tell us about the world, it was wonderful to read something genuinely thought provoking and that also contains some ripsnorting yarns.
Tim is a story teller; and I felt very close to a lot of the events in the book. Often unexpectedly brutal, it is sometimes unnervingly honest - I can imagine him writing a gritty, cold thriller. Although I experienced more than a few belly laughs, much of the book is actually about significant disappointment and not quite getting to where you're supposed to be in life. I found this deeply refreshing and have been more upbeat about life's tribulations as a result.
If you're bored of celebrity rubbish and fancy reading a genuinely interesting and gritty story, I would whole heartedly recommend Stealing Water.
Tim is a story teller; and I felt very close to a lot of the events in the book. Often unexpectedly brutal, it is sometimes unnervingly honest - I can imagine him writing a gritty, cold thriller. Although I experienced more than a few belly laughs, much of the book is actually about significant disappointment and not quite getting to where you're supposed to be in life. I found this deeply refreshing and have been more upbeat about life's tribulations as a result.
If you're bored of celebrity rubbish and fancy reading a genuinely interesting and gritty story, I would whole heartedly recommend Stealing Water.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant family memoir
Beautifully written autobiography. The author's life is buffeted between Ireland, Britain and South-Africa and he deals with whatever life throws at him (and it does) in a very... Read more
Published 22 months ago by L.Villard
an interesting light
Having lived in Joburg myself I found this a fascinating book. The author vividly evokes the atmosphere of the place and the times. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2010 by parent and carer
A life-affirming book by a talented story-teller
An absorbing and uplifting story made all the more fascinating by the fact that it's true.
While other authors might have chosen to dwell self-pityingly on such a... Read more
While other authors might have chosen to dwell self-pityingly on such a... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2009 by S. Seyghal
Great stuff
I loved this book. It is a beautifully rendered account of a bizarre episode in the author's early life in the underbelly of white Johannesburg. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2009 by Fletchberg
not what it says on the cover
I picked up this book because of its description on the cover as "a secret life in a South African city" and the positive extracts from reviews, including "an extraordinary account... Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2009 by Flavius
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