My Life in Orange - Softcover

Guest, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1862077207 ISBN 13: 9781862077201

Publisher: Granta Books, 2005

Synopsis

Imagine growing up with 200 mothers and 200 fathers. What would it feel like to dress entirely in orange? What would it be like to grow up in a commune with daily chants, meditation and muesli on the menu? What would it be like to swap your mother for a new orange family? Written in unsentimental prose this is the deliciously funny, and by turns, poignant story of a little boy alone in a house full of orange people.

About this title

Review:

‘An uplifting and closely observed memoir’ -- The Observer

‘Guest’s poignant reconstruction is an eye-opening story of an extraordinary upbringing’ -- Sunday Times

‘Hilarious and heartbreaking story' -- The Times

‘Hilarious and shocking...a remarkably level-headed assessment of what drove his parent’s generation to seek an alternative way of life’ -- Guardian

‘Intriguing and often humorous mix of straightforward 1980s nostalgia and cult delusion...often absorbing and always astute’ -- Irish Times

From the Back Cover:

A hilarious account of growing up in a commune. --Irish Times
At the age of six, Tim Guest was taken by his mother to a commune modeled on the teachings of the notorious Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who preached an eclectic doctrine of Eastern mysticism, chaotic therapy, and sexual freedom. Tim and his mother were given Sanskrit names, dressed entirely in orange, and encouraged to surrender themselves into their new family. While his mother worked tirelessly for the cause, Tim--or Yogesh, as he was now called--lived a life of well-meaning but woefully misguided neglect in various communes in Oregon, England, India, and Germany. When the movement finally collapsed amid allegations of mass poisonings, attempted murder, and tax evasion, Tim and his mother started a new life. In this poignant and funny memoir, Tim Guest chronicles his experience of being left alone on earth while his mother hunted heaven, and concludes with a heartening account of how they find each other again.
[Tim Guest s] wonderful account of a frankly ghastly childhood is hilarious and heartbreaking, and it says much for the resilience of the human spirit that he has grown up sound in mind and body without a trace of bitterness towards his mother. --Daily Mail (London)
"A unique, eloquent, child's eye view of growing up in a commune and the price paid for a parent's search for bliss. A complex and superbly told tale of longing and repair. Guest is a fine writer at the beginning, I think, of a distinguished career."--John Lahr
An extraordinary memoir. --The Sunday Telegraph (London)
Tim Guest writes for the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. He lives in London.
A Harvest Original
"

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1862077207
• ISBN 13: 9781862077201
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320