Diana Athill

An esteemed memoirist and one of the great editors in British publishing examines aging with the grace of Elegy for Iris and the wry irreverence of I Feel Bad About My Neck.

Somewhere Towards the End

Astha Prakash

“How, then, does the written word work? I think that underneath, or alongside, a reader's conscious response to a text, whatever is needy in him is taking in whatever the text offers to assuage that need.” 

Well then, maybe I needed to read this book. At least parts of it. I'm astonished by how much my thoughts already resonate with Athill's. At age 90, not only was her writing lucid and beautiful, it also reaffirmed a lot of my own beliefs. Though certain parts of the book felt unnecessarily tedious, I enjoyed reading about her experiences and opinions about relationships, religion, writing, marriage and life in general.

Somewhere Towards the End

Reviews