Language mangling. (Lost For Words - Deric Longden)

Name: nikkisly

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Lost For Words - Deric Longden
Date:	14/12/00 (142 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A truly wonderful book

Disadvantages: None

Most of us know one. A person who can take the rich threads of English language and, rather than weaving them into an exquisite tapestry, knit them into something resembling an over used dishcloth. Deric Longden's book "Lost for Words", is the story of the language mangler in his family - his mother.

This is the second of Longden's autobiographical books and the story starts pretty much where the first ('Diana's Story') ended. For those who haven't read and enjoyed Longden's first book, it is the moving tale of the illness and ultimate death of his first wife, Diana. However, whilst "Lost for Words" is largely autobiographical, the focus is mainly on Longden's mother, a delightfully dotty character who marches to a decidedly different beat to the rest of civilisation.

Mrs Longden senior is possessed of a strange kind of logic that is inclined to cause chaos wherever she goes. As an example of this, she is asked to make a costume for the five year old Deric to appear in the school play - A Midsummer Night's Dream. After labouring long and hard with papier mache and green paint, poor Deric is escorted to school on the night of the performance dressed as a Brussels Sprout. When told that he should have been a 'sprite', Mrs Longden explains her mistake by claiming that the teacher comes from Market Harborough and consequently she could never understand a word she said. Besides, having watched the play,in her opinion it would have been all the better for the inclusion of a few sprouts.

The first half of the book is filled with similar linguistic gems - ("You know, Deric, ten minutes of this rain will do more good in half an hour than a fortnight of ordinary rain would do in a month.") - and dotty doings. Mrs. L. struggles to master the intricacies of the telephone, regularly bathes her cats to prevent flea infestation, is addicted to Buttercup Syrup and likes nothing more
than a good gossip with Nelly Elliott about 'piles'. You can't help but love her, any more than you can help laughing at her antics.

However, all good things must come to an end and, the second half of the book is devoted to Mrs Longdens life after suffering first a minor - then a major - stroke. Sadly, the first thing to desert her is her extraordinary command of English and she struggles gamely to make herself understood with ever increasing frustration, using only the few words of gibberish that remain in her vocabulary.

Longden switches deftly between humour and pathos, in a way that will have the reader reaching for the Kleenex, as tears of laughter alternate with bitter tears of empathy. However, the book refrains from morbidity - rather it is a true celebration of a wonderful woman who dances to a different drum and is all the more charming for doing so.

I can identify with this book, having a 'language mangler' in my own family. Mine has brought us such gems as "Hoist by his own petang", "Up a gum tree without a paddle", "Horse ploppings" and for describing an old, rather tatty book, "All baggy eared". However, my language mangler is a true novice compared to the contorted - yet strangely logical - ramblings of Deric's Mum.

This is, in my opinion, the best of Longden's books to date. Mrs L. is an endearing character, ably described by a son whose love and admiration for her almost leap off the pages. It is alternately light and whimsical and brutally hard hitting - a real tear jerker in every sense of the word.

If you should get a chance to see the television adaptation of the book, in which Thora Hird brilliantly portrays Mrs Longden, then the book comes to life even more. However, TV viewing is not required - just read and enjoy. But keep those tissues handy as I can almost guarantee you'll need them at some stage.

Summary: