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The Music Room (Hardcover)

by William Fiennes (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; First Edition edition (3 April 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330444409
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330444408
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,694 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'One of the finest stylists of his generation and a former Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.' --Andrew Holgate, The Sunday Times

'Brilliant meld of memoir, family history and the sense of what it means to truly care for ourselves, other people and places.' --Metro

'It is a small gem about those important ties that bind.'
--Daily Express

'He writes in an unadorned, simple way and yet still manages to be lyrical. Fiennes really is a talented writer' --Sophie Dahl in The Times


Review

'That gentle soul William Fiennes... has now written The Music Room, a poignant memoir about the loss of a sibling.'
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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
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 (13)
3 star:
 (7)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully-written memoir almost like a novel, 25 Feb 2009
By Mr. A. P. Pavelin "alan23923" (Chislehurst, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire is a 700-year-old stately home which nowadays attracts numerous visitors and film crews. William Fiennes, whose family has lived there for centuries, is a journalist and writer whose previous autobiographical book, The Snow Geese, ended with him returning to Broughton. He has now written his own account of growing up there, in particular with his older brother Richard who suffered from severe epilepsy and was often very difficult and even violent.

If one didn't know otherwise, one might take this memoir for a first-person fiction. It seems to me that Fiennes takes a step back from the specificity of time and place which a factual memoir would emphasise; for example, the phrase "Broughton Castle" does not occur at all. There are many reconstructed conversations which, I suspect, are a long way from pure reportage. It is like an imaginative and beautifully-written novel, interspersed with accounts of past scientific research into epilepsy (complete with a list of sources at the end).

The book covers a roughly 25-year time span, up to the time of Richard's death at age 41, a death which suddenly and unexpectedly intrudes into the narrative by way of a 10-word sentence (which, coincidentally, I reached just hours after hearing the news of young Ivan Cameron). We read how the young narrator grew up with the regular intrusion of film crews and well-known TV stars as part of normal domestic life, and we can imagine his surprise on discovering that most homes do not have such experiences!

This book will be of interest to anyone who has visited Broughton Castle, and to anyone else who enjoys an excellently-written account of growing up in a stately home.

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Stylish Elegy, 21 Mar 2009
By Donald Thompson "waldo357" (Belfast N Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
William Fiennes is an author with the award winning Snow Geese already under his belt. This fine autobiographical account of his life with his epilepsy suffering brother will only add to his reputation. The story is rich in detail of the extraordinary early life he shared with his family in a moated castle with all the attendant tasks of guiding tourists, repairing a 700 year old castle, keeping the moat serviceable and all the other tasks that were unknown to those of us who just wanted to live in one. Underscoring this idyll is the brother Rich victim of epilepsy and its inherent mood swings. A history of the medical professions attempts to understand the illness keeps pace with the developing character of Rich. From normal happy go lucky child to increasingly hostile and violent adult, through to the inevitable death from the illness. The story never ceases to fascinate and engage. As a quest to understand the person behind the illness, this truly elegiac story of a lost brother and a hymn to a lost way of life many of us will never experience enthralls from the first to last page.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to Savour, 5 Mar 2009
By Richard M. Seel (Norfolk UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
A book to enjoy, beautifully written with delightful imagery. Each chapter is to be savoured, not rushed through but allowed to permeate through your soul.

A book clearly showing the love of parents for a son and a younger brother for his older brother who has severe epilepsy.

I loved the apparent ordinariness of living in a castle, the casual acceptance opening the castle and grounds in the summer for fairs and fundraising events with the resulting hordes of visitors.

The way in which the parents cope with their oldest son's extreme mood swings is amazing and how the younger brother (the writer) did not seem aware of the need to treat him any differently was a tribute to the acceptance of his brother's disability. References to treatment for epilepsy were interesting and some might say it interferes with the enjoyment of the book but I did not find this to be the case.

I have to admit to a longing to have been brought up in this particular castle, the freedom to explore, no protective parents stopping the adventures of the younger son as he fishes or swims in the moat, climbs into the tree house and wanders through the towers and rooms of the castle, sometimes worried about ghosts.

A lovely book to take away on a quiet weekend.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful
Having read The Music Room, I realise that I have a lot in common with William Fiennes - we were both blessed with older brothers suffering the consequences of brain damage. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Butler

5.0 out of 5 stars A toe-tapping little number !
Once again William Fiennes invites the reader into his life. Not as a visitor but to co-habit his use of language makes the castle and it`s surroundings come to life. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr Frank Lee Bland

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy read
A moving story about a titled family's struggles to cope with the illness of one son, written lovingly by another son, in the surroundings of their castle and country estate. Read more
Published 4 months ago by K. Broughall

5.0 out of 5 stars An intensely personal and affecting memoir
Having heard what this book was about (and having read The Snow Geese) I confess to some nervousness in approaching it - Fiennes writes with penetrating honesty, an honesty which... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mark Meynell

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel that sings
Fiennes has once again produced a moving and delicate, yet gripping and solid novel. As volatile and fragile Richard's character and existence is, Fiennes's castle-home comes... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Serenella Cazac

5.0 out of 5 stars The Music Room by William Fiennes
Beautifully written, I was swept along thoroughly engaged with the family and the enthralling setting. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Araminta

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Sweet Home
Every day for over 20 years I have felt so lucky to be living in the village of Broughton. To be able to walk in the park grounds and see the castle every day. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Muffin (London)

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing read
A most beautiful book, one of a few I shall re-read. Will's descriptions of his childhood are incredibly moving and evocative. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Collgirl

4.0 out of 5 stars The Music Room
Loved this book. Having been brought up in Banbury, we often went to Broughton Castle. I have seen re-enactments, as were described, have been to school productions that were set... Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. Beaumont

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and poignant
William Fiennes, (related not only to the explorer Ranulph Fiennes but to actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes), grew up in a moated manor house in Oxfordshire. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Four Violets

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