This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood
Alan Johnson looks back on a childhood shaped by poverty and family upheaval. Centering on his mother and sister, the memoir brings postwar working-class London vividly to life.
Work Information
A political memoir that also reads like a letter to family.
The author, better known as a politician, writes candidly about his childhood. The women who held the family together are at the center of the book.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Corgi
- Published
- 2014-04-22
- Pages
- 320 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 12.9 x 2 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780552167017
- ISBN-10
- 0552167010
- Price
- 3364 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/History/Europe/Ireland
The extraordinary 1950s London childhood of one of Britain's best-loved politicians . Alan Johnson's childhood was not so much difficult as unusual, particularly for a man who was destined to become Home Secretary. Not in respect of the poverty, which was shared with many of those living in the slums of post-war Britain, but in its transition from two-parent family to single mother and then to no parents at all. This is essentially the story of two incredible women: Alan's mother, Lily, who battled against poor health, poverty, domestic violence and loneliness to try to ensure a better life for her children; and his sister, Linda, who had to assume an enormous amount of responsibility at a very young age and who fought to keep the family together and out of care when she herself was still only a child. Played out against the background of a vanishing community living in condemned housing, the story moves from post-war austerity in pre-gentrified Notting Hill, through the race riots, school on the Kings Road, Chelsea in the Swinging 60s, to the rock-and-roll years, making a record in Denmark Street and becoming a husband and father whilst still in his teens. This Boy is one man's story, but it is also a story of England and the West London slums which are so hard to imagine in the capital today. No matter how harsh the details, Alan Johnson writes with a spirit of generous acceptance, of humour and openness which makes his book anything but a grim catalogue of miseries.
ALAN JOHNSON was born in May 1950. He is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until January 20, 2011 he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Johnson has been the Member of Parliament for Hull West and Hessle since 1997.
Reviews
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While I must admit personally to having blown hot and cold so far as the Blair and Brown governments were concerned I always regarded Alan Johnson as one of the few members of those governments who combined integrity, honesty and a deep-rooted sense of fairness with the character of an authentically nice bloke. My liking and respect for the man is enhanced by this book, not least because, although it's his own autobiograpy, in fact it's not about him per se. And when did you last read a political autobiography that was not an ego-trip by the author? Rather Alan Johnson's book is mainly about two remarkable women - his mother, Lily and his sister Linda - struggling for their own survival, and that of the young Alan, in dreadful slum conditions, with a husband and father, Steve - who was a total waste of space in every respect - during the period between the end of World War Two and the beginning of the Swinging Sixties. (And the book is a powerful reminder to those of us who remember those times of how bloody horrible in some many ways the "good old days" of the 50s really were; violent racism, unbridled sexism and homophobia, casual violence, grinding poverty, Arctic winters....) Lily's life is an eternal struggle, made even more unbearable when Steve abandons her and the two children. Wastrel he may have been but his leaving is still like a bereavement. Yet she copes, robbing Peter to pay Paul, always doing her very best for Linda and Alan. Then Lily dies, at only 42 and Linda takes over, defying officialdom though only in her teens so that she and her young brother can stay together. The story sounds tragic. While it's certainy sad, it escapes tragedy due to Alan Johnson's refusal to write it as a "dreadful childhood" memoir. Rather it is full of humour - much of it self-deprecating - optimism and generosity of spirit. An easy read, in the sense that it is written in good,plain English, and written as a story rather than as either a polemic railing against the injustices of the time or as a profound political testament. And none the worse for that. My only source of regret is that this man, with a character forged by intimate experience of the life of the urban poor, is no longer at the centre of Government.
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A thoroughly enjoyable and educational read. Alan Johnson's description of his incredibly difficult childhood would make you think you were reading about growing up during Charles Dickens era, instead of growing up during the 1950's and 1960's. It provided insight into why my father left England for Canada after the war. The inner strength and resilience of Alan, his mother, and sister make this book both inspiring and uplifting.
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A really enjoyable read and more so being basedon Alan Johnson's childhood. He is just a few years older than me and the story rang true to life. Couldn't put it down.
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I found it difficult to put this book down. A great uplifting story despite the backdrop of poverty and Lily's ill health. Highly recommended.
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Good book a with an incredible opening on a unknown British world of the 50s and 60s. Penetrating, touching and at the same time a true photograph of life.
Related Literary Awards
- Orwell Prize Edition 21 (2014) ・Winner