Alive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things that Matter - Hardcover

Athill, Diana

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783782544 ISBN 13: 9781783782543

Publisher: Granta Books, 2015

Synopsis

Several years ago, Diana Athill accepted that she could no longer live entirely independently, and moved to a retirement home in Highgate. There, she found herself released from the daily anxieties of caring for her own property, and free to settle into her remaining years. From this vantage point, she reflects on what it feels like to be very old, and on the moments in her long life that have risen to the surface and which sustain her in these last years. What really matters in the end? And after a long life, which memories stand out? As she approaches her 100th year, Athill recalls in sparkling, precise detail the exact layout of the garden of her childhood, a vast and beautiful park attached to a large house; relates with humour, clarity and honesty her experiences of the First and Second World Wars and her trips to Europe as a young woman; and in the remarkable title chapter, describes her pregnancy at the age of forty-three, losing the baby and almost losing her life - and her gratitude and joy on discovering that she had survived. With vivid memories of the past mingled with candid, wise and often very funny reflections on what it's like to be very old, Alive, Alive Oh! reminds us what really matters, and of the joy to be found at every stage of life.

About this title

Product Description

After four decades as an editor with André Deutsch, Diana Athill (b.1917) began a second career as a writer with her memoir, Stet, in 2001. Alive, Alive Oh! is her fifth book, reflecting on being very old and looking back, not on literary work, but on memorable experiences of places and things including her grandparents' garden in Norfolk, a miscarriage in her forties, and a £21 holiday at the new Club Méditerranée, Corfu, in the 1950s.

Review

'[Alive, Alive-Oh! And Other Things That Matter] contains [Athill's] often moving and always engaging reflections on what really matters as you face the final curtain...The sheer candour with which she writes and the overwhelming sense of a life fully lived are both quite marvellous' Editor's Choice, the Bookseller

'Astonishingly vital and fiercely intelligent... Athill seems always to be completely honest and without unnecessary sentiment' Kirkus Reviews (01/11/15)

'A book infused with joie de vivre. Athill...delights in the experiences she has had even those that weren t necessarily enjoyable at the time and the life she is very much still living' Lucy Scholes, Independent --Independent

'Full of life in the shadow of death' --Caroline Criado-Perez, Observer
'The former publisher writes with her usual clarity, frankness and unsentimentality' -- Book of the Week, Sunday Telegraph
'An undertow of failure to conform' -- Danuta Kean, the Independent on Sunday
'Life is once again a series of amusing anecdotes' -- Book of the Week, The Times
'In her late nineties [Diana Athill] tells us what she remembers of her life. It's about the past, certainly, but it's also about memory - a whole century dancing through one person's mind. Beautifully done and inspiring.' --William Leith, Evening Standard

'The remarkable story of her outwardly conventional life' -- Irish Mail on Sunday 'Alive, Alive Oh! is brief and abundant, earthly and spiritual' Daily Telegraph
'Full of clear, fresh air and bright distance' -- Book of the Week, Guardian
'Athill is a gifted chronicler of old age' -- Christena Appleyard, Literary Review
'A vivid sensual apprehension of physical pleasure that informs the best writing in this book' -- Evening Standard 'Long live long life, say I, if it produces books as brave as these' -- John Sutherland, New Statesman
'There are ... many treasures in this heterogeneous cabinet of curiosities' --Financial Times

'In her late nineties, [Diana Athill] tells us what she remembers of life. It's about the past, certainly, but it's also about memory - a whole century dancing through one person's mind. Beautifully done and inspiring.' -- William Leith, Evening Standard

'[With] sparkly, astute pieces [...] it's an essential read. Not momento mori; it's a celebration of life' -- Rebecca Foster, Nudge Books
'Athill shows an editor's trust in the value of precise language and a Jane Austen-like trust in the ability of abstractions to express and define thoughts and feelings' --Rebecca Reynolds, Everybody's Reviewing (blog)

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1783782544
• ISBN 13: 9781783782543
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144