When Did You Last See Your Father?: A Son's Memoir of Love and Loss - Softcover

Morrison, Blake

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312427093 ISBN 13: 9780312427092

Publisher: Picador, 2008

Synopsis

And when did you last see your father? When did you? Was it last weekend or last Christmas? Was it before or after he exhaled his last breath? When was he able to recognize you, or complete a task (changing a lightbulb, fixing your bookshelves) without having to be helped himself? And was it him really, in the fullness of his being - or was it a version of him, shaped by your own expectations and disappointments? Blake Morrison's subject is universal: the life and death of a parent, a father at once beloved and exasperating, competent and inept, charming and infuriating, domineering and terribly vulnerable. But this memoir's central concern is identity. In reading about Dr. Arthur Morrison, we ask ourselves the same searching questions that Blake Morrison poses. Can we ever see our parents as themselves? Or are they forever defined by the lens of a child's or a teenager's eyes? What are the secrets of their lives, and why do they spare us that knowledge? How can we ever know our fathers in their other incarnations - as friends, as husbands and lovers, as employees? And when they die, what do they take with them that cannot be recovered or inherited?

About this title

Product Description:

Paperback. Pub Date :2008-05-13 Pages: 219 Language: English Publisher: Pan Macmillan US Soon to be a major motion picture. directed by Anand Tucker and starring Colin Firth and Jim BroadbentAnd when did you last see your father Was it last weekend or last Christmas Was it before or after he exhaled his last breath And was it him really. or was it a version of him. shaped by your own expectations and disappointmentsBlake Morrisons subject is universal: the life and death of a parent. a father at once beloved and exasperating. charming and infuriating. domineering and terribly vulnerable. In reading about Dr. Arthur Morrison. we come to ask ourselves the same searching questions that Blake Morrison poses: Can we ever see our parents as themselves. or are they forever defined through a childs eyes What are the secrets of their lives. and why do they spare us that knowledge And...

Review:

"Mr. Morrison holds up before our gaze a small but vivid piece of reality, bringing it close enough to touch. . . . And When Did You Last See Your Father? seems destined to become a small classic of its kind." --The New York Times Book Review

"An effort to see death clearly . . . Blake Morrison's uncompromising honesty makes this memoir a powerful reading experience." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0312427093
• ISBN 13: 9780312427092
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 228