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Baggage: My Childhood
 
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Baggage: My Childhood (Paperback)

by Janet Street-Porter (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Headline (3 Jan 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 075531266X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0755312665
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 109,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
'An entertaining and often moving memoir, Baggage is written with all the fervour of a belligerent' -- Telegraph 20050115 'You read every page entertained, mesmerised and amazed' -- Independent on Sunday 20050102 'Her admirers will find the honesty with which she writes satisfying' -- Sunday Times 20050116 'Witty and extrovert, ruthlessly ambitious and unforgiving, Street-Porter would, on the evidence of this book, make a horrible enemy but a great friend' -- Independent on Sunday 20041219

Product Description
Brilliant, brave, controversial, combative, intellectual - just how do you become Janet Street-Porter?
Born in working-class Fulham to parents who for years she refused to believe were really hers, Janet loathed her mother, tried to murder her sister, and had a friend who was given a life sentence for a contract killing. In a household subsumed with repressive 'Welshness' (even the budgerigar spoke Welsh), she found solace in unsuitable friendships and outrageous behaviour.
In this mesmerising account of growing up in post-war London there is poignancy, mystery - and a trademark black humour. BAGGAGE will touch readers at many levels; it is as edgy and fearless as Janet Street-Porter herself.

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars so what?, 25 May 2004
By S. Hapgood "www.sjhstrangetales.com" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Baggage: My Childhood (Hardcover)
It's very hard to know what to make of this book. I confess that the only reason I bought it was because I had read an absolutely savage review of it elsewhere, and I wanted to know what it was that had caused such bile on the part of the reviewer. Janet Street-Porter is one of those people who are always trumpeted as being "controversial", and her biog. certainly seemed to be having that effect, so I thought I would give it a go. The first thing I noticed was that I really wasn't getting as much as I thought I was. It's a small hardback, with big print and blank pages between chapters, an old trick to make a book look more substantial that it really is. Not only that but a lot of these pages are taken up with old desperately dull black-and-white family photographs. The publicity blurb markets the book as the answer to anyone wanting to know what it was that made J S-P the person she is, which can only result in a bemused shoulder-shrugging reaction as far as I can see!

J S-P herself seems to want us to believe that she had a traumatic childhood. Now I don't know about you but when someone says they had a traumatic childhood, I think of harrowing tales I've heard of abuse, neglect, severe deprivation, putting up with alcohol- or drug-dependant parents, or growing up in the grimmest kind of Care. J S-P suffered none of these. She was well cared for, got given everything her hardworking parents could afford, was not beaten or abused, or humiliated on a regular basis. Her parents obviously weren't the warmest or most affectionate of people, but that was pretty par for the course for a lot of working-class families at the time. Their biggest "crime" was a lack of imagination, but in their own way they did want the best for her. Perhaps I missed something vital here, but J S-P gives us an example of something that happened when she was 14, which she seriously wants us to believe was an example of how "cruel" her parents could be ...er, they decided to move house. I had a sort of confused, open-mouthed reaction to that one!

J S-P has said she didn't write this book as any kind of score-settling, but it sure as heck feels that way! Her constant crowing that her mother was jealous of her success, because her mother had to leave school at 14, just sounds horribly mean-spirited. It's like some terrible joke, the self-important media darling with the inflated ego ranting about what a deprived upbringing they had! This isn't exactly "Mommie Dearest" or "A Child Called It", more a 276-page whinge of "my parents didn't understand me". If you're interested in what it was like to grow up in a terraced house in Fulham in the 1950s, with the family listening to "Two-Way Family Favourites" over Sunday lunch, and summer holidays in North Wales (when the poor deprived darling would rather have stayed in London), then this is the book for you, for me it was a thundering disappointment. The most startling thing about it for me was the revelation that J S-P seems to have inherited her father's complete lack of a sense of humour!

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary baggage, 15 Jun 2005
An interesting title for a book of Janet's childhood. I had heard her speak about her horrendous mother on t.v. so I wanted to know what that was all about. What a spoilt, selfish, snobbish and self-absorbed person Janet Street Porter is! This is an ordinary upbringing in London and the suburbs but the author's emotions are remarkable. Being moved away from friends but still within visiting distance is hardly worthy of all the hatred she nurtured over the years. I loved it when Janet relayed the story of her sister stealing her money and running away. Janet was angry that she didn't have the brains or guts to think of it first. Her early experiences with men are sad and pathetic. Janet, you have a made a big fuss about nothing - grow up already!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Fortunate Girl I'd say!!, 1 Jun 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Baggage: My Childhood (Hardcover)
I have to agree with the top reviewer here. I read this book with an open mind as I quite like the author, but gradually I began to wonder what on earth Mrs J Street-Porter had to worry about during her childhood! I think the thing that really annoyed me was when she announced that she (and her sister) got £1 per week pocket money in, if my maths are correct, somewhere around 1962 !!!! Sounds pretty good to me - I think I got half a crown (whatever that is).

I believe she needs to come to terms with the fact that her parents, siblings, upbringing and, yes, the dreaded house-move, made her the person she is today - strong and resourceful and a role model for young women everywhere. There are many books around today describing disadvantaged backgrounds but, alas, this isn't one of them. I would have preferred to read an optimistic book about how she achieved such a high-flying career!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Baggage: My Childhood by Janet Street-Porter
I bought this book last year hoping that it would give me an insight into the life of Janet Street Porter. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2007 by Jake M

4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing
In 'Baggage', journalist Janet Street-Porter recalls memorable times from her childhood and late teenage years. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2006 by APJ

5.0 out of 5 stars Baggage-she certainly isn't!
What a brilliant book,Janet is a truly gutsy lady.How I could sympathise with her and her childhood.The broke the mold when they made her(whoever they maybe?!?). Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2006 by scarlett

5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT!!
I bought this book for my holidays and could not put it down!! I read it for 6 hours with out having my daily sangria!! Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2005 by MRS A P ILIINGWORTH

3.0 out of 5 stars A memoir filled with resentment
Hmmm what to make of this book? It definitely has both good and bad points. On the plus side I think it's pretty well-written. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2005 by Joanne Schofield

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously funny!
There's more to meet the eye when it comes to Janet S-P, a fabulous book full of witty life observations, written in that 'dry humour' style we associate with JSP. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2005 by Ms. N. Wrebel

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting...
In 'Baggage: My Childhood', Janet Street-Porter tells the story of her upbringing from a self-confessed snobbish point of view. Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2004 by mebsy_websy

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good
Very good quick read - I read it in one sitting. Very factual, no airy-fairy stuff just plan honest facts. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2004 by B. J. Pettiford

1.0 out of 5 stars J S-P Baggage
I bought the book because I like an insight into the lives of ordinary people who have become successful. This book was disappointing. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2004

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