From one of Britain's finest authors, a wry, shocking and beautifully-written memoir of childhood, ghosts (real and metaphorical), illness and family. 'Giving up the Ghost' is award-winning novelist Hilary Mantel's uniquely unusual five-part autobiography. Opening in 1995 with 'A Second Home', Mantel describes the death of her stepfather which leaves her deeply troubled by th...
From one of Britain's finest authors, a wry, shocking and beautifully-written memoir of childhood, ghosts (real and metaphorical), illness and family. 'Giving up the Ghost' is award-winning novelist Hilary Mantel's uniquely unusual five-part autobiography. Opening in 1995 with 'A Second Home', Mantel describes the death of her stepfather which leaves her deeply troubled by the unresolved events of her childhood. In 'Now Geoffrey Don't Torment Her' Mantel takes the reader into the muffled consciousness of her early childhood, culminating in the birth of a younger brother and the strange candlelight ceremony of her mother's 'churching'. In 'Smile', an account of teenage perplexity, Mantel describes a household where the keeping of secrets has become a way of life. Finally, at the memoir's conclusion, Mantel explains how through a series of medical misunderstandings and neglect she came to be childless and how the ghosts of the unborn like chances missed or pages unturned, have come to haunt her life as a writer.
When I was a young woman I didn't want children. I was wary of the trap that seemed ready to spring. I was ambitious on my own account, to make a mark on the world. I didn’t want to carry someone else's thwarted expectations. If I failed to make something of myself, wouldn't I heap my frustration onto my daughter? And she, in course of time, onto her daughter? When is it a woman's turn, I wanted to know, to get something for herself, and not at second hand through her children? I was good for more than breeding: that was my opinion. (查看原文)
He wrote a small, exact, engineer's hand, and his mind was subdued to a discipline, but inside his chest his heart would knock about, like a wasp in an inverted glass. (查看原文)
![[英国] 希拉里·曼特尔](https://img3.doubanio.com/img/author/medium/public/1495615409.03.jpg)
希拉里·曼特尔 作者
2 有用 #ArtfulDodger# 2022-09-28 12:59:11
总觉得什么时候空了可以慢慢读Mantel，没想到她会这么突然就去世了，这两天一口气读完了她这本自传。这本自传不是一般的作家传记，虽然也提到了自己教育成长，但叙事的核心是她的疾病，是她的疾病如何塑造了她这个人。关于她子宫内膜异位被误诊以及男性医生是如何漠视女性疼痛的叙事读得让人心痛。然而这不是一本泪水连连的哭诉之书，Mantel面对疾病的勇气同样表现在她的语言里，她依然风趣有力，敲打占有每一个词，把... 总觉得什么时候空了可以慢慢读Mantel，没想到她会这么突然就去世了，这两天一口气读完了她这本自传。这本自传不是一般的作家传记，虽然也提到了自己教育成长，但叙事的核心是她的疾病，是她的疾病如何塑造了她这个人。关于她子宫内膜异位被误诊以及男性医生是如何漠视女性疼痛的叙事读得让人心痛。然而这不是一本泪水连连的哭诉之书，Mantel面对疾病的勇气同样表现在她的语言里，她依然风趣有力，敲打占有每一个词，把英语变成属于她的语言。 (展开)
0 有用 无莓 2022-11-20 23:55:08 英国
Probably shouldn’t have rated because I only skimmed through it, but the fact that it made me skim read gives it a two star
0 有用 Terri 2023-01-06 16:41:40 北京
喜欢后半部分多于前半部分，童年期回忆稍微有点啰嗦，后面部分就很让人沉浸，无论是27岁的那次手术还是术后用药导致的肥胖，有很多精彩的表述。
0 有用 - 2025-02-03 16:47:20 山西
在看前面大部分她童年经历的时候，惊讶于她的敏锐，对于可以引起共鸣的大部分幻想与情感，她依然能够写出新意。看完这部分之后，我天然地对她本人已经产生了好感。后面大篇幅描写身体痛苦，让人愤怒也遗憾，子宫内膜异位症这种让无数女性痛苦的疾病，在那个时代甚至至今，都没有太好的诊疗。看的时候也忍不住想，如果她没有被这些找不来源的痛苦困扰，没有被医生持续否定自己的感受，那她留下的创作会不会更多呢
0 有用 想上天的猪 2021-12-27 18:12:21
第一次读的时候，是经历了一次长达20小时的突然停电，在没有手机电脑电视可用的时候，是这本书拯救了我的无聊