Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Unreliable Memoirs
  
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Unreliable Memoirs (Hardcover)

by Clive James (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


4 used from £6.20
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (Repr.) 52 used & new from £0.01
Paperback 29 used & new from £0.01
Hardcover (Large Print) Order it used
Audio Cassette (Audiobook) Order it used
Unknown Binding Order it used

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Falling Towards England : Unreliable Memoirs II

Falling Towards England : Unreliable Memoirs II

by Clive James
4.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £5.00
May Week Was In June

May Week Was In June

by Clive James
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £5.43
North Face of Soho: Unreliable Memoirs Volume IV

North Face of Soho: Unreliable Memoirs Volume IV

by Clive James
3.7 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.49
The Blaze of Obscurity: The TV Years

The Blaze of Obscurity: The TV Years

by Clive James
4.4 out of 5 stars (7)  £11.26
Always Unreliable: Memoirs

Always Unreliable: Memoirs

by Clive James
4.6 out of 5 stars (5)  £5.99
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 171 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf (Feb 1981)
  • ISBN-10: 0394512634
  • ISBN-13: 978-0394512631
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 383,878 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(6)
(6)
(4)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Unreliable Memoirs
79% buy the item featured on this page:
Unreliable Memoirs 4.9 out of 5 stars (14)
The Blaze of Obscurity: The TV Years
8% buy
The Blaze of Obscurity: The TV Years 4.4 out of 5 stars (7)
£11.26
Always Unreliable: Memoirs
6% buy
Always Unreliable: Memoirs 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
£5.99
North Face of Soho: Unreliable Memoirs Volume IV
3% buy
North Face of Soho: Unreliable Memoirs Volume IV 3.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£5.49
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars unforgetable, 19 Feb 2002
By Desperate Golfer (Working in Asia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Unreliable Memoirs: Autobiography (Picador Books) (Paperback)
I am about to buy this book for the second time, my first copy having been lost long agao. In a recent discussion with a friend we recounted our list of best books. and this was at the top of my 'auto-biography' list. Although it is many years since I last read it it still remains vivid in my memory. I can still picture the 'dunny-man' running full tilt into Clives carelessly discarded bicycle and spilling the contents of the Dunny all over the yard. or the box-car race down a steephill.
the comic timing is excellent the story so well told it leaves you breahless with admiration for his intellegence and self-depreciating humour. Yes it is laugh-out-loud funny. it is a book you will urge your friends to read after you. Buy it!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, 26 Jan 2003
By "lexi_wades" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Unreliable Memoirs: Autobiography (Picador Books) (Paperback)
It's a shame, in a way, that Clive james was already a known presenter and writer when this book was published in 1980. It must have meant that many people only read it becouse of his persona and others not at all for the same reason. If this has been written by an unknown author it may have won many a prize for its darkly comic and touching writting- as it was it was just a humorous childhood memoir by a TV presenter.
I think Australia has always seemed slightly surreal to us Brits- cardboard houses on Neighbours, Muriels Wedding and that obssesion with Abba. This book seems to confirm that suspision but in the best way possible.
There is tragedy in it but even that is shown in its most bizzare form- the death of James's father when being returned from a POW camp in Singapore in an American areoplane is one of those moments. James's humour makes the sad seem even more poignant.
The moment that really shine are the memories of what James got up to as a mischevious young boy. Most people have amusing memories of their childhood but few can match his for being crazy, ambitious and a joy to read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Heroic recollection of an Australian childhood, 13 Sep 2004
By T. Bently "tbently" (Berkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Unreliable Memoirs: Autobiography (Picador Books) (Paperback)
"Unrelaible Memoirs" is Clive James' description of his upbringing in a Sydney suburb lasting up to the time of his university education. I was expecting it to be funny but wasn't quite prepared for the raw emotion and literary skill displayed on virtually every page.

To me this is perhaps the most impressive of James' autobiographical writing. He has a special gift for describing childhood and a kind of fearless honesty which is hilarious and provides something of a turbulent rollercoaster ride for the reader, as he describes the trauma of being a single child to a single parent in the aftermath of the second world war.

I felt a little left behind by many of the historical and literary references James makes but this is more than made up for by the relish with which he uses the English language. For example, he describes a friend's mother giving him buttered bread covered with hundreds and thousands as like "eating a powdered rainbow".

"Unreliable Memoirs" made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I wish I had read it years ago.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the funniest books ever
This is one of the few books where I have genuinely laughed out loud, the part where the soldier puts the bomb into gun backwards had me in hysterics, unfortunately I was on a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Pedro the Llama

5.0 out of 5 stars Short, Sweet and Hilarious !
As it is so funny, I read this book about every 5 years for a 'top-up'. I always enjoyed the scribings of Clive James in his 'The Observer' articles critiquing TV, so am already... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2007 by Mr. Laurence Williams

5.0 out of 5 stars Side splittingly funny
The book that in many ways made his reputation.

Absolutely hilarious from start to finish. I first read it as a teenager and woke the whole house up with my laughter at 3am. Read more

Published on 10 Dec 2004 by J. E. Davidson

5.0 out of 5 stars An antidote to bad times!
I have owned this book since its first publishing in paperback and it has stood me in good stead through divorce, depression and hospitilization. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2003 by pippin-tog

5.0 out of 5 stars hysterical
Don't be fooled by the lazy parochialism and tired sarcasm of his most recent tv work: Clive was born to write and this is still his funniest work. Read more
Published on 14 May 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read
I picked this book up for three reasons - I had read some of Clives work previously and enjoyed it, I have always loved his style and dry wit on TV, and I had lived for a time in... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2001 by Karl McCann

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious account of growing up in Sydney during the war
Clive James is the funniest man we have.

Just take this paragraph as an example :

Unreliable Memoirs By Clive James pp97-98

'... Read more

Published on 12 Jun 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars Amusing but not laugh out loud funny
I read this because the reviews on the cover said it was side splittingly funny. It wasn't. It made me smile though and it was very well written. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2000 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley

5.0 out of 5 stars go read for yourself
An excellent and absurd look at Clive`s early life. I was only about half a page before i laughed and now find it hard to lay the book down. Read more
Published on 12 July 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Part of The Clive James Autobiographical Trology
Clive James is a remarkable man in for two reasons. Firstly he is very, very intelligent. Secondly, he still remains very very funny. Read more
Published on 30 May 1999

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by subject




i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.