Andrew Motion

Poets are a bit like comedians, in my book. It is not that they make you laugh, but that I have to like the poet to like his/her work. I knew that reading a biography of Larkin could destroy any enjoyment of his poetry and, sadly, that is what this book has done.

It is hard to know how far to blame Larkin, and where to put the responsibility onto Andrew Motion's shoulders. Larkin knew that he was somewhat lacking in the social skills. Motion professes to have been a friend of Larkin but the show more book, which the London Review of Books described as, "Honest but not prurient", often reads to me as 'catty'. Motion will say (paraphrased) Larkin hated foreigners, treated his women (including mum) appallingly, sometimes appeared to know only four letter adjectives, but was, really, a nice man. This comes across as disingenuous.

The only two times, in the entire book, that I found any sympathy with Larkin was in two events towards the end of his life. Firstly, he accidentally kills a hedgehog, with his lawn mower. He had been feeding the little chap each morning and was distraught, crying inconsolably - almost the first sign of human sentiment that he shows. He then gains brownie points for his treatment of Monica, through her illness, where he finds that he is more upset than her, when she moves out.

Motion passes off Larkin's extreme right wing views as based upon ignorance, and thus excusable. He (Motion) seems to delight in Larkin's confusion when his heroine, Margaret Thatcher, becomes PM and promptly proceeds to tear down the grants to universities, and libraries in general.

Larkin, I believe, knew that his life was not something of which to be proud and that was why he begged for his diaries to be destroyed: perhaps, it would have been better for him to be thought a bigot, for remarks in his work, than to have the full extent of his bigotry so ruthlessly exposed.

Informative, but not, for me, an enjoyable read. show less

Lange habe icht nicht mehr ein so überflüssiges, ärgerliches, rundheraus schlechtes Buch gelesen! Im Buchladen sah es verlockend aus, die Idee klang vielversprechend: eine Fortschreibung der Schatzinsel, Sohn und Tochter von Jim Hawkins und Long John Silver kehren noch einmal zurück, um den Rest des Schatzes zu bergen. Warum nicht?

Aber das Ergebnis ist einfach nur grottig. Der Plot: in allen Details hanebüchen, unlogisch und absurd. Die Personen: Pappfiguren, die an den Fäden des show more Autors hierhin und dorthin gehen, in gestelzten Dialogen dummes Zeug von sich geben und vollkommen unverständliche Entscheidungen treffen. Zeitkolorit und Nautik: schweigen wir lieber davon, der Autor hat schlichtweg keine Ahnung wovon er schreibt. Schreibstil: Abgründe, ich sage nur Abgründe! Das Buch ist in der ersten Person als Rückblick von Jim Hawkins jun. geschrieben, und die Hälfte des Buch ist angefüllt mit schwülstigen Selbstbetrachtungen, bei denen man nur schreiend weglaufen möchte. Beispiel gefällig? "Ich drückte diese Gedanken nicht in Worten aus - natürlich nicht. Sie überkamen mich wie eine Welle der Kraft, der Möglichkeit, die ich seitdem in solchen Begriffen für mich fasse." WÜRG Oder hier noch ein Beispiel für den zupackenden, vorwärtstreibenden Stil des Autors: "Dann blickte ich wieder zum Weißen Felsen. Dann sah ich die Farne, die den Weißen Felsen bedeckten. Dann sah ich zwischen den Farnen einen Schatten. Dann sah ich wie dieser Schatten Form annahm. Dann sah ich, wie sich die Form in eine Person verwandelte. Dann sah ich, dass die Person ein Gesicht hatte. Dann sah ich, dass das Gesicht Augen und eine Nase und einen Mund hatte. Dann sah ich Natty." AHHHHHHHHHHHHH Ich habe wirklich lange lange lange nicht mehr (wenn überhaupt jemals) einen solchen grottenschlechten Scheiß gelesen.

Null Punkte! Setzen! show less

While Motion's prose is flawless, the disconcerted and often rambling nature of his narrative makes this book tedious to finish. Nonetheless, "The New World" succeeds in igniting a nostalgia for the original "Treasure Island" in the hearts and minds of its readers and if a book's success can be measured by the emotions it invokes- then "The New World" is that type of novel which truly opens the door to another realm.

Other than his narrative, Motion succeeds in entrancing his readers and show more building upon Stevenson's original work. Well worth a read if you hunger after simpler times where friend and foe fought side by side on the high-seas and crossed paths with the denizens of the New World in the American hinterlands. show less

Beautifully written memoir of Motion's upper-middle class childhood in the 1950s and 60s. The book is framed by the first and last chapters that concern his mothers riding accident when he was 17, that left her in a coma from which she never recovered. These chapters being written in the present tense with the rest in the past and thus from the viewpoint of a teenager. It was an interesting insight into a post war class of family that was in his father's words a dying breed, being crowded show more out by the encroaching suburbs and social change. We have lots of riding, hunting and shooting, a loving mother and a more distant, restrained ex-military father. Large parts of it deal with school. Sent away to board at a prep school at seven, we get homesickness, beatings, introversion and a comfort from and a love of nature. Later at public school, much more liberal and encouraging, Motion takes stock of who he is, finds poetry and rejects a lot of his upbringing values. Or at least the fox hunting and politics. The central theme however is the bond between a mother and a son and how his childhood comes crashing to a stop one day when he is 17. The book is shot through with poetical observations and is the type that leaves you wanting more when finished. Excellent read. show less