Biography: Claire Tomalin won the Whitbread Book Award for Samuel Pepys. She has written biographies on literary figures before such as Wollestonecroft, Shelley and Jane Austen. Born in France to a French father and English mother in 1933 she started writing at the age of 7. She first became known for her poetry and her writing which helped her traverse difficult times in her life; during the war and the break up of her parents marriage.
She had five children by her first husband Nick Tomalin who was killed while reporting from the Golan Heights in 1973. He future husband (not known to be at the time) Micahel Frayn sent her into labour with her fifth child whils at the theatre watching one of his comic plays which caused her to laugh so much that it triggered labour. She married Frayn in 1993 and remains happily married to this day.
Review: This is the biography of the famous Diarist Samuel Pepys. First published in 2002 it is lavishly lauded both front, back and inside with plaudits from the great and the good.
For purists there is a Pepys family tree,maps of London and Huntingdon, a list of principlal figures, a prologue, thirty four pages of illustrations, seventy four pages of notes, nine pages of bibliography, and a twenty eight page index. But...........................................no one tells you that you can read the three hundred and eighty six pages of the diary without the need to read or refer to any of the above!
As a result the book can easily appear scholarly, dull and off-putting. The reading group split equally. One half of which disengaged , felt it instantly put downable, found the small print prohibitive and decided it was just not a book to pick up.
In contrast those who in the main had not laboured too long on the added extras found it intensely rewarding, intriguing , racy and exciting and an excellent read. All fet the book particulratly interesting from the perpectives of social history , political intrigue and good old fashioned nepotism. Pepys himself was a fascinating man with a far more significant life outwith the diary fame and more than many of the group realised. The extent of his involevment and influence of the Royal Navy came as a surprise to some, Thos who read to the end felt that Part 3 written after the diaries had ended was perhaps the weakest. In contract to Parts 1 and 2 it was felt to be somewhat repetitive and weaker in construction.
Summary: This was a book that clearly divided the group. However the concensuus of the members that the Book Group could not probably aim to please everyone every time. As a result of the after discussion there was a certian amount of pride in a variety of the books chosen and the fact that each member has over the period of time read more widely than their natural inclination.
Next Read:
The Outcast - Sadie Jones
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