| Product: |
Moab Is My Washpot - Stephen Fry |
| Date: |
25/01/06 (525 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Brutally honest, very revealing
Disadvantages: I want to know more!
A while back I reviewed a book by Stephen Fry, my first foray into the literary side of one of Britain’s national treasures (I don’t say that lightly) and one comment suggested that I try his early biography “Moab is my Washpot”, it just goes to show that Dooyoo does work, I wouldn’t have thought of reading this without that comment as I’m not normally a fan of autobiographies. For once I bought the book outright without waiting for my local library to order it in for me. Fry is the quintessence of all that is English and although I count myself as Welsh I recognise a fellow feeling of pride in one’s nationality.
I’ve always been a fan of Fry for as long as I can remember, his performances with Hugh Laurie, the appearances in “Black Adder” along with his films, the most notable being his performance in “Wilde”. Currently he is the narrator for the “Harry Potter books” and I’m eagerly waiting reading more of his books.
I close to read this one because I wanted to find out about the man behind the humour before I went on to read more of his books. Many comedians are quite shy by nature and this proved to be the case.
Fry’s book is an inner journey into the psyche of the his youth, from his early days in prep school to the many public schools he attended between the ages of seven and sixteen. He was born on the 24th August 1957 into a family that bordered on the “upper” class at that time. From the first few chapters Fry emerges as an enigma, in one case a product of his upbringing but also sewing the seeds of rebellion, which defines his early years.
His older brother Roger, of whom he speaks with genuine regard, first started prep school at Stouts Hill boarding school where Fry was to join him a year later. This august establishment first started Fry on a career as the schools Fool and later he turned to stealing to buy sweets at the out-of-bounds village sweetshop in nearby Uley based in the county of Gloucestershire. He speaks with fondness of his time here and debates the question of sending young children to boarding schools as something which was normal to him at that time.
His next move to Uppingham School seems to have been the catharsis that plunged him into even greater excesses during his stay here. In a school that prided themselves on turning out boys both “healthy “ in mind and body, Fry was always destined to be the odd one out. An asthma sufferer from an early age and completely inept at any sports, Fry eventually turned back to petty theft from the boy’s changing rooms. It was here he eventually had his first homosexual initiation and met the first love of his life.
Doomed to worshiping from afar Fry’s behaviour became even more bizarre and some of his exploits bordered on the ridiculous, eventually leading to temporary expulsion at a critical stage in his life. Educationally brilliant but a complete duffer at Maths he spent a lot of time in the company of his father who was a scientist and inventor of some renown.
He returned to the school in the summer term of 1972 and tried to knuckle down to his studies taking his O-levels at the tender age of fourteen and passing every subject except science with high grades. In those days the A-level exams could be taken at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and Fry initially made an effort in his chosen subjects of English, French and Ancient History. It was too good to last and he eventually got expelled causing his family much distress. The consequences were to have a negative effect on Fry’s life and plunge him into even more irrational behaviour. For the rest of the story I urge readers to find out for themselves, much of Fry’s early life is documented but there were many things I didn’t know about this period in his life up to the age of twenty years old.
Behind the Story.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If it seems I have given a lot of the story away forgive me, an autobiography is a hard book to review. In this case it’s particularly difficult, much of Fry’s early life has been held up to public scrutiny before now.
Fry spent an agony of many months in revealing the thoughts and feelings behind the main story. He felt drained, both physically and mentally after poring his heart out and lying bare the soul of a boy and teenager. Where certain memories were understandingly dim he was helped out by one of his early teachers who he still remembers with a bit of fear but also a lot of respect.
Many celebrities use a “ghost writer” to spin their tale into something that will delight fans, but Fry is a gifted writer and obviously wanted to put across his feelings whilst still retaining a chronological order to the first twenty years of his life.
The reader gets to know his family and his friends, they also get a peek into the life of someone who appears to have had a privileged background, but at what cost?
My Observations.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The book started slowly and Fry’s habit of starting a story and then skipping ahead or backwards kept me on my toes. Initially I found this style of writing difficult to follow until I realised something that swept me away, Stephen was talking to me and me alone. This is something I share with my best friend; we may start out on one topic and digress to the point when we cannot remember what started the conversation in the first place.
When an author speaks to you in that way the least you can do is listen faithfully and hope that in amongst the jumbled messages you are hearing something that belongs to you alone.
Fry goes out of his way to blame himself solely for the things he did wrong and yet reading between the lines I found a child crying out to be understood. Talking about his sexuality he is aware that maybe he is “protesting too much”, trying to put across a message about love versus sex. He also does this with his family, making his father out to be a model parent when I get the feeling that his father may have (unconsciously) been the root of most of Fry’s problems with authority figures. His mother comes across as a delightful happy person but there could also be issues with Fry’s exuberant character, maybe he inherited this from his mother or maybe he sought to emulate her? I’m no expert on family relationships but the high regard Fry places on his family is both touching but strangely revealing.
I’m a little older than Fry but I went to a girl’s only grammar school and the system that he writes about is very familiar to me. I wasn’t a boarder, heaven forbid, I was one of only three pupils who passed the 11+ and coming from a working class background I was taunted every day. I find it rather strange that I can understand the young Fry whose longing to “fit in” mirrored mine in so many ways. I survived my school (barely) but I could have easily gone along the same route as Fry. This is what endeared me to the book and made it real to me.
Summary.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is an extraordinary book full of life and the satirical wit we have come to expect from Stephen Fry. It’s painfully honest to the point when I sometimes had to stop and wipe a tear away, not a tear of laughter but of empathy with a soul so near to mine.
How can a working class girl and a famous writer and comedian have so much in common? This is the question the book poses to a majority of people who felt their school days were a dress rehearsal for real life.
Fry went off the rails but eventually got his life back in order, for a liar and a thief he has turned his world around but the boy inside the man still shows occasionally.
Whether you like him or not, this book is a painful insight into the formative years of a very shy man.
It takes courage to face your demons and Fry certainly had a lot of demons to exorcise. Read the book as a fan, read it as critic, you won’t judge Fry as harshly as he judges himself. Remember that child inside who still cries out for attention and wonder, given the high standards set by his family and himself, could you have emerged as gracefully as Fry has done?
The title of the book is a bit of a puzzle, I understand the reference to the “washpot” of life but the “Moab” bit still remains a mystery. I have my own ideas about this but any other theories are welcome.
My copy is by Arrow Publications and although the retail price was £6.99 I bought it in a bookshop sale for just £3.50. My copy has a picture of Stephan Fry on the cover and differs from book covers on Amazon who are still selling it at £7.99 new. My advice is to look around or buy a used copy, who knows, this could eventually be a collectable item?
© Lisa Fuller. 2006.
Summary: The fisrt twenty years of Stephen Fry's life.
|
|
