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A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in a Skip
Unique, transgressive and as funny as its subject, A Life Discarded has all the suspense of a murder mystery. Written with his characteristic warmth, respect and humour, Masters asks you to join him in celebrating an unknown and important life left on the scrap heap.
A Life Discarded is a biographical detective story. In 2001, 148 tattered and mould-covered notebooks were discovered lying among broken bricks in a skip on a building site in Cambridge. Tens of thousands of pages were filled to the edges with urgent handwriting. They were a small part of an intimate, anonymous diary, starting in 1952 and ending half a century later, a few weeks before the books were thrown out. Over five years, the award-winning biographer Alexander Masters uncovers the identity and real history of their author, with an astounding final revelation.
A Life Discarded is a true, shocking, poignant, often hilarious story of an ordinary life. The author of the diaries, known only as ‘I’, is the tragicomic patron saint of everyone who feels their life should have been more successful. Part thriller, part love story, part social history, A Life Discarded is also an account of two writers’ obsessions: of ‘I’s need to record every second of life and of Masters’ pursuit of this mysterious yet universal diarist.
A Life Discarded is a biographical detective story. In 2001, 148 tattered and mould-covered notebooks were discovered lying among broken bricks in a skip on a building site in Cambridge. Tens of thousands of pages were filled to the edges with urgent handwriting. They were a small part of an intimate, anonymous diary, starting in 1952 and ending half a century later, a few weeks before the books were thrown out. Over five years, the award-winning biographer Alexander Masters uncovers the identity and real history of their author, with an astounding final revelation.
A Life Discarded is a true, shocking, poignant, often hilarious story of an ordinary life. The author of the diaries, known only as ‘I’, is the tragicomic patron saint of everyone who feels their life should have been more successful. Part thriller, part love story, part social history, A Life Discarded is also an account of two writers’ obsessions: of ‘I’s need to record every second of life and of Masters’ pursuit of this mysterious yet universal diarist.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published March 24, 2016
63 people are currently reading
2386 people want to read
About the author
Alexander Masters
21 books72 followersAlexander Masters is an author and screenwriter. He is the son of authors Dexter Masters and Joan Brady.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 267 reviews
February 7, 2017
This is an unusual read for me, the author tries to get to the bottom of the mystery that is the discarded 148 journals discovered by two friends of his in a Cambridge skip. The friends, Richard and Dido, experience traumatic circumstances, Richard is involved in a car crashing into a tree in Australia which results in him being confined to a wheelchair and Dido is discovered to have a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumour. Hardly surprisingly, this delays the author in tackling the diaries. When he does start to look at them he makes several assumptions, such as the writer is male but turns out to be a woman.
It feels like a work of detective fiction in the approach Masters takes. You really need to be both obsessive and exceedingly curious to take on such a project for four years. However, the author has form in this, given his other works. It is difficult to approach the task in a linear fashion so it fills in like a jigsaw puzzle that slowly begins to come together. There are musings about being a voyeur on the private thoughts and life of the diarist, which I can relate to, it is how I would feel about reading the diary of another. We learn of the medical issues. It is a life revolved around the arts, such as drawings, playing the piano, and engaging in writing. Masters uses a graphologist with a humorous outcome in that the conclusion is that the diarist is mad.
What we have uncovered is a story of ambitions, dashed dreams, and disappointments. It does not have the feel of a compelling life story in the way fiction can be moulded but it is a social history and personal life story of an ordinary human being that the author does eventually meet. I liked the way the author tells us how he went about discovering the life of the diarist, which perhaps is more exciting. This is a short read that I become fascinated and engaged with. This is not my usual type of read but I recommend it to others. Thanks to HarperCollins 4th Estate for an ARC.
It feels like a work of detective fiction in the approach Masters takes. You really need to be both obsessive and exceedingly curious to take on such a project for four years. However, the author has form in this, given his other works. It is difficult to approach the task in a linear fashion so it fills in like a jigsaw puzzle that slowly begins to come together. There are musings about being a voyeur on the private thoughts and life of the diarist, which I can relate to, it is how I would feel about reading the diary of another. We learn of the medical issues. It is a life revolved around the arts, such as drawings, playing the piano, and engaging in writing. Masters uses a graphologist with a humorous outcome in that the conclusion is that the diarist is mad.
What we have uncovered is a story of ambitions, dashed dreams, and disappointments. It does not have the feel of a compelling life story in the way fiction can be moulded but it is a social history and personal life story of an ordinary human being that the author does eventually meet. I liked the way the author tells us how he went about discovering the life of the diarist, which perhaps is more exciting. This is a short read that I become fascinated and engaged with. This is not my usual type of read but I recommend it to others. Thanks to HarperCollins 4th Estate for an ARC.
March 22, 2016
This has got to be one of the strangest books I've ever read. It only took me a few hours, but i'm left wondering what to make of it.
The premise is intriguing enough: 148 diaries filled with the minutiae of someone's life, their innermost thoughts and experiences, from grand moments to daily annoyances. Curiosity is the name of the game, and the essentially transgressive nature of breaking the boundaries of an individual's privacy and dignity. The thought of it enticed me enough to pick up this book, though I doubt I would ever have the stamina to take this interest as far as Alexander Masters. If anything, without his commentary, I would have given up pretty quickly. He initially delights in the ordinariness of the 'I' within the diary pages, hoping that the author is no-one of import, so that their words could have a more universal, everyday appeal. Yet, Masters is much more interesting than the person he is researching, though they clearly share a rather obsessive personality. I may be speaking for myself here, but most people just aren't that interesting. The fact that they have written 148 diaries does not make them so, no matter what they think or hope. I do not mean, in any way, that this author's words/life/experiences have no value, but that, in the end, I found it hard to find meaning outside that attributed to the story by Masters himself.
Thank you to Alexander Masters, HarperCollins UK/4th Estate, and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
The premise is intriguing enough: 148 diaries filled with the minutiae of someone's life, their innermost thoughts and experiences, from grand moments to daily annoyances. Curiosity is the name of the game, and the essentially transgressive nature of breaking the boundaries of an individual's privacy and dignity. The thought of it enticed me enough to pick up this book, though I doubt I would ever have the stamina to take this interest as far as Alexander Masters. If anything, without his commentary, I would have given up pretty quickly. He initially delights in the ordinariness of the 'I' within the diary pages, hoping that the author is no-one of import, so that their words could have a more universal, everyday appeal. Yet, Masters is much more interesting than the person he is researching, though they clearly share a rather obsessive personality. I may be speaking for myself here, but most people just aren't that interesting. The fact that they have written 148 diaries does not make them so, no matter what they think or hope. I do not mean, in any way, that this author's words/life/experiences have no value, but that, in the end, I found it hard to find meaning outside that attributed to the story by Masters himself.
Thank you to Alexander Masters, HarperCollins UK/4th Estate, and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 20, 2021
This is the sort of book I would never have picked up or even heard of had I not come across it by chance – I found it in a secondhand bookshop, where it had been incorrectly shelved as fiction. I read the first couple of pages and found I couldn’t bring myself to leave it behind. It’s gripping from the very beginning.
It’s hard not to be captivated by the premise. A friend of the author’s finds several boxes of books in a skip and rescues them. They turn out to be a series of diaries chronicling decades of someone’s life, from childhood to late middle age. Over a period of years, Masters reads the diaries and tries to puzzle out the identity of their creator – which proves very difficult since, of course, a person doesn’t tend to include identifying details in their own private journals. This is ‘a biography in which the biographer doesn’t know who his subject is’.
The story of the diarist is fascinating. They write with passion and literary flair; they draw amusing and disturbing comic strips; in the later diaries, they mysteriously allude to being held captive. I won’t give anything more away here; suffice it to say that, ultimately, I a) shed a few tears and b) felt I wanted to meet, to know, the diarist. No matter how banal the material, they write in such an engaging style – intelligent, funny, astute, painfully frank. I wanted to know everything about them. Of course, Masters’ choice of extracts and ability to structure the ‘plot’ are also factors in this.
The one thing I didn’t like about A Life Discarded is that it seems to assume the reader is already familiar with Masters, has read his previous book(s) and wants to hear about his friends (and it doesn’t help that they’re all the kind of posh that makes me feel like I’m a completely different species). From a... human? empathetic? perspective I can kind of understand why he felt compelled to include, for example, the details of one friend’s battle with terminal illness, but with my editor/critic hat on, this whole strand is irrelevant to the story of the diaries.
On the one hand, I would have liked to read more of the diarist’s own words; on the other, I appreciate the work Masters has done in editing so much raw material and constructing a compelling narrative. Information is disclosed bit by bit, making this feel more like a detective novel than a biography. It has an irresistible drive, and the diarist’s charming voice makes it very much worth reading.
TinyLetter | Linktree
It’s hard not to be captivated by the premise. A friend of the author’s finds several boxes of books in a skip and rescues them. They turn out to be a series of diaries chronicling decades of someone’s life, from childhood to late middle age. Over a period of years, Masters reads the diaries and tries to puzzle out the identity of their creator – which proves very difficult since, of course, a person doesn’t tend to include identifying details in their own private journals. This is ‘a biography in which the biographer doesn’t know who his subject is’.
The story of the diarist is fascinating. They write with passion and literary flair; they draw amusing and disturbing comic strips; in the later diaries, they mysteriously allude to being held captive. I won’t give anything more away here; suffice it to say that, ultimately, I a) shed a few tears and b) felt I wanted to meet, to know, the diarist. No matter how banal the material, they write in such an engaging style – intelligent, funny, astute, painfully frank. I wanted to know everything about them. Of course, Masters’ choice of extracts and ability to structure the ‘plot’ are also factors in this.
The one thing I didn’t like about A Life Discarded is that it seems to assume the reader is already familiar with Masters, has read his previous book(s) and wants to hear about his friends (and it doesn’t help that they’re all the kind of posh that makes me feel like I’m a completely different species). From a... human? empathetic? perspective I can kind of understand why he felt compelled to include, for example, the details of one friend’s battle with terminal illness, but with my editor/critic hat on, this whole strand is irrelevant to the story of the diaries.
On the one hand, I would have liked to read more of the diarist’s own words; on the other, I appreciate the work Masters has done in editing so much raw material and constructing a compelling narrative. Information is disclosed bit by bit, making this feel more like a detective novel than a biography. It has an irresistible drive, and the diarist’s charming voice makes it very much worth reading.
TinyLetter | Linktree
July 31, 2017
Entertainment wise, I pretty much felt nothing during this true "story" told in such an insipid manner by Mr. Masters. When it ended, I was like, "Okay then, I guess."
It's simply too scatterbrained and aimless that I don't even have the usual motivation to write a review explaining why I disliked it so much. But I just did explain it, didn't I? Yup. Moving along...
I will say that it was underwhelming for me. A two-star slapped on solely for—uh, I don't know—my general kindness? I suppose it isn't all dreary; the author is British, so his voice is kinda cool. Not as cool-sounding as other Brits, however. Everything else though, I decide to type one final word (with an exclamation point and bold text added for random seasoning) to further accentuate what was felt: bollocks!
EDIT/REVISION: I thought this author was British, but turns out he is not. On a technicality of being born in New York, yet now living in Cambridge, UK. Certainly fooled me. It's no wonder he wasn't smart-sounding like other legit Brits. Wow. My mind is still blown. This was a more interesting discovery than anything contained in this book! Hey...I just thought of something!
If I go live in Japan, will I start to sound slightly Japanese?? That'd be sweet.
It's simply too scatterbrained and aimless that I don't even have the usual motivation to write a review explaining why I disliked it so much. But I just did explain it, didn't I? Yup. Moving along...
I will say that it was underwhelming for me. A two-star slapped on solely for—uh, I don't know—my general kindness? I suppose it isn't all dreary; the author is British, so his voice is kinda cool. Not as cool-sounding as other Brits, however. Everything else though, I decide to type one final word (with an exclamation point and bold text added for random seasoning) to further accentuate what was felt: bollocks!
EDIT/REVISION: I thought this author was British, but turns out he is not. On a technicality of being born in New York, yet now living in Cambridge, UK. Certainly fooled me. It's no wonder he wasn't smart-sounding like other legit Brits. Wow. My mind is still blown. This was a more interesting discovery than anything contained in this book! Hey...I just thought of something!
If I go live in Japan, will I start to sound slightly Japanese?? That'd be sweet.
November 30, 2018
I really wanted to like this but... sadly, I didn't. Which is such a disappointing time for me personally, as my reading has been quite rocky recently. This follows a real-life discovery of 148 diaries that are found in a skip (all written by one writer) and documenting various thoughts, dreams and events and the mystery over who the writer actually is. I'm all for mysteries and interesting discovery reads but I just felt... bored. There was no real flow as the entries are displayed in random orders. By the end, the pacing did start to pick up but ultimately, this was such a flat read for me!
Also: The writer of the diaries did write long descriptions regarding the menstrual cycle and crushes they had on people much much older than their age. This didn't sit well with me personally.
Also: The writer of the diaries did write long descriptions regarding the menstrual cycle and crushes they had on people much much older than their age. This didn't sit well with me personally.
June 19, 2018
Picked this up to read with a book group. Saw a video of the author being interviewed about the book. Liked the interview much more than the book itself. Found it difficult to enjoy reading the diary entries -- perhaps a portion of my disconnect is the British/American language barrier? Any which way, I found the book to be tedious except when the author would reveal a previously unknown detail about the writer of the diaries. Also his occasional philosophical comments on the diaries were quite pithy.
January 23, 2016
I liked the idea to discover an unknown person by their diary and Alexander Masters discribes the process in an admirable way.
My problem with this book is that the narrative around he diaries was much more interesting than the diary itself. The author of the diaries was neither likable nor fascinating in any way. I just kept reading to see the progress of the discovery.
I want to thank Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in excange for my honest review.
My problem with this book is that the narrative around he diaries was much more interesting than the diary itself. The author of the diaries was neither likable nor fascinating in any way. I just kept reading to see the progress of the discovery.
I want to thank Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in excange for my honest review.
January 3, 2024
Hmm this was a funny old book! Half of the time I was completely intrigued and mesmerized, for the other half I was bored and skim reading! So I settled on an in between rating of 3 stars to allow for both good and bad.
I first came to Alexander Masters by watching the TV movie adaptation of Masters' book, Stuart : A Life Backwards, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy. I loved the film and looked up the writer. I have the above stated book about Stuart waiting to be read.
This title by Masters however involves a deep dive into the unknown (until the end of the book) life of an individual who wrote hundreds of diaries over the course of many years; these diaries ending up in a house renovation skip from which Masters' friend "rescues" them!
Masters puts together this unknown life over many years of toiling through the journals. His work ethic is odd, not organising them chronologically until his partner suggests he does so, not researching tangible details about the individual because he doesn't want to spoil the anonymity part of the project. I think this is what provoked the boredom in me. Pages and pages of random minutiae from someone's life, descriptions of dinners and imagined encounters, boasts of what the person could be in life but clearly isn't. But then there are sparks of brilliance, the revelation of the writer's gender, the decades-long love interest, the possible mental illness or madness?
I think if you have an immense amount of patience and don't mind trawling through pages of minor detail then this could be the book for you. I on the other hand could only give it 3 stars as it couldn't completely hold my attention throughout.
I first came to Alexander Masters by watching the TV movie adaptation of Masters' book, Stuart : A Life Backwards, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy. I loved the film and looked up the writer. I have the above stated book about Stuart waiting to be read.
This title by Masters however involves a deep dive into the unknown (until the end of the book) life of an individual who wrote hundreds of diaries over the course of many years; these diaries ending up in a house renovation skip from which Masters' friend "rescues" them!
Masters puts together this unknown life over many years of toiling through the journals. His work ethic is odd, not organising them chronologically until his partner suggests he does so, not researching tangible details about the individual because he doesn't want to spoil the anonymity part of the project. I think this is what provoked the boredom in me. Pages and pages of random minutiae from someone's life, descriptions of dinners and imagined encounters, boasts of what the person could be in life but clearly isn't. But then there are sparks of brilliance, the revelation of the writer's gender, the decades-long love interest, the possible mental illness or madness?
I think if you have an immense amount of patience and don't mind trawling through pages of minor detail then this could be the book for you. I on the other hand could only give it 3 stars as it couldn't completely hold my attention throughout.
July 26, 2017
‘A Life Discarded’ begins with Alexander and his friends finding 148 journals discarded in a skip. From there on, Alexander attempts to unravel the mysterious writer of these journals – leading us into the oddly fascinating life of an entirely unremarkable person.
There are moments throughout Alexander’s work that are really astonishing, reminding us that at times the truth (and life) can be entirely unexpected.
A few previous reviews of this book mark Alexander down because his narrative surrounding the journals is often more appealing than the journal itself. I think that they have completely missed the point – his argument throughout is exactly that; works of fiction, newspaper articles, biographies, are all written for an audience and are supposed to be entertaining. The mundane ramblings of an ordinary person struggling through their life in their journals is not intended to be for an audience – and Alexander has done such a wonderful job of moulding the subject’s life workings into something that we can really read and enjoy.
It took me quite a long time to finish this biography despite it being a quick read; after every few pages I suddenly felt the urge to write in my own journal – and although I am not quite as dedicated to mine as the subject of this biography, it certainly helped me to get more words down onto paper.
This is a really enjoyable read – very funny, entertaining and strangely suspenseful.
There are moments throughout Alexander’s work that are really astonishing, reminding us that at times the truth (and life) can be entirely unexpected.
A few previous reviews of this book mark Alexander down because his narrative surrounding the journals is often more appealing than the journal itself. I think that they have completely missed the point – his argument throughout is exactly that; works of fiction, newspaper articles, biographies, are all written for an audience and are supposed to be entertaining. The mundane ramblings of an ordinary person struggling through their life in their journals is not intended to be for an audience – and Alexander has done such a wonderful job of moulding the subject’s life workings into something that we can really read and enjoy.
It took me quite a long time to finish this biography despite it being a quick read; after every few pages I suddenly felt the urge to write in my own journal – and although I am not quite as dedicated to mine as the subject of this biography, it certainly helped me to get more words down onto paper.
This is a really enjoyable read – very funny, entertaining and strangely suspenseful.
November 7, 2017
This is one of the stranger books I've read in a while. The storyline draws one in as the protagonist learns information about the "unknown" diarist at key points in the book. I have to say that the main question during much of the quest has to do with the diarist's mental health; one of the assumptions made early on is that these are the rantings of an inmate. I'm not going to say much more about the plot as an attempt would be littered with spoiler landmines.
Instead, I'll say that I was impressed with the structure. We follow the guy's (I can't keep typing out "protagonist" each time) quest to find the identity of the diarist chronologically as he reads the volumes in order, with the earlier entries (starting in 1952) giving no real specifics as to the writer's personal details at all. There aren't deliberate red herrings, but more "logical" assumptions that prove not to be so eventually. There is one point where a promising lead collapses; I may have been more disappointed than the character at the time! Regarding the ending (resolution, if you will), I was surprised by it, not exactly certain it was "satisfying", but the author did handle what he set out to accomplish well there.
This is likely one of the more clear-cut cases where the audio vs. print experience diverge substantially. Having looked at a print copy, the author relies heavily on drawings (the diarist is artistic), as well as photos and diary excerpts showing handwriting. The audiobook lured me in with the contrast of the guy's (see above) voice as he sought answers, along with a breathy, somewhat manic tone for the writer, which was odd when his sentences were finished with diary-voice such as "It's difficult to imagine how (the diarist) put up with someone for so long who smelled really putrid!" Other times, the voice was truly fascinating "I hate her so much! Can one rent a guillotine?"(made up examples)
Recommended for fans of truly quirky literature. If you like it linear, stay away.
Instead, I'll say that I was impressed with the structure. We follow the guy's (I can't keep typing out "protagonist" each time) quest to find the identity of the diarist chronologically as he reads the volumes in order, with the earlier entries (starting in 1952) giving no real specifics as to the writer's personal details at all. There aren't deliberate red herrings, but more "logical" assumptions that prove not to be so eventually. There is one point where a promising lead collapses; I may have been more disappointed than the character at the time! Regarding the ending (resolution, if you will), I was surprised by it, not exactly certain it was "satisfying", but the author did handle what he set out to accomplish well there.
This is likely one of the more clear-cut cases where the audio vs. print experience diverge substantially. Having looked at a print copy, the author relies heavily on drawings (the diarist is artistic), as well as photos and diary excerpts showing handwriting. The audiobook lured me in with the contrast of the guy's (see above) voice as he sought answers, along with a breathy, somewhat manic tone for the writer, which was odd when his sentences were finished with diary-voice such as "It's difficult to imagine how (the diarist) put up with someone for so long who smelled really putrid!" Other times, the voice was truly fascinating "I hate her so much! Can one rent a guillotine?"(made up examples)
Recommended for fans of truly quirky literature. If you like it linear, stay away.
November 26, 2017
As soon as I read the synopsis of this book it intrigued me, imagine finding 148 diaries in a skip with no clue to who they belong to!. Well Alexander Master did just that, and what hands they fell in to as he is an award winning biographer. We follow the riveting journey until he uncovers the identity of the author but along the way he writes which such skill that he makes you care and its very touching.
A very different book that makes you stop and think and I'm glad I read it.
My thanks go to Netgalley in providing me with this ARC.
A very different book that makes you stop and think and I'm glad I read it.
My thanks go to Netgalley in providing me with this ARC.
June 19, 2017
So much of this book was frustrating and disappointing. The three stars it’s managed to receive from me are entirely due to the diarist herself, who was fascinating, and the extracts of her writing which we are allowed to read (and of which there are not enough). Unfortunately, the substance of this review, which will be somewhat lengthy, has to be devoted to Alexander Masters’ far too heavy hand in the biographical process: his execution in bringing her story to light was, to be perfectly honest, just plain dreadful.
Rather than let the diaries themselves determine what the book should be, it’s clear he had a vision for something he very much intended to be HIS book before he even started reading them, a vision which he then stubbornly adhered to throughout the project despite the odd dissonance this ultimately creates for the reader. His aim may have been to write a ‘quirky’ biography, but the reality is that the diaries contain more than enough quirk of their own, a quirk which should have simply been allowed to speak for itself and shine in the spotlight. His attempts to add humour fall similarly flat. The diarist has her own sense of humour, which should have been allowed to inform and carry the humour throughout the book as a whole. Adding his own, very different kind of humour just ended up being strange and jarring.
Masters hogs far too much of the spotlight for himself and the process of his ‘investigation’, which (to add insult to injury) he doggedly refuses to undertake in any sort of a coherent way. He practically brags about refusal to read the diaries in any sort of order as a means to prolong the mystery (and then correspondingly WRITES his account in the same higgledy-piggledy manner), but the effect of this was far more frustrating and infuriating than interesting or curiosity-enhancing. Many of his speculations about the diarist before learning the full story seem entirely illogical, fanciful, and unconvincing, and as more of the truth is revealed, we learn that this is indeed exactly what they are. He goes to great lengths to create an entirely unnecessary sense of mystery which ends up feeling tediously contrived; many of the purportedly ‘unsuspected’ facts about the diarist must have been clear to Masters long before he reveals them to us. (Either that or he actually didn’t work things out until he says he did and is just incredibly, subhumanly daft).
I was thus nagged throughout by a disturbing worry that Masters simply wasn’t doing the diarist justice, that I would have derived an altogether different interpretation of the essence of this woman. I just didn’t TRUST him, somehow, about her. I kept thinking as I was reading that there must be at least a dozen other ways to write it that would have been more effective, more satisfying, and quite possibly also paint a more accurate overall picture.
Masters’ approach might have worked if the diarist herself had been a far less interesting and entertaining individual. Instead, she hugely outshines Masters in every way: her quirk, her humour, the quality of her writing, the appeal of her personal story. It is a very sad thing that Masters had his heart set so fiercely on writing a book about finding a bunch of diaries in a skip, because the diaries he found merited a book devoted much more wholly to THEM, something more along the lines of a simple compilation and edit with a MUCH abbreviated description of their discovery/his reading of them and an extended account of meeting her and getting to know her at the end. I did manage to finish the book, with a sizable admiration for and desire to know more about Laura the diarist, and a desire to strangle Mr Masters.
Rather than let the diaries themselves determine what the book should be, it’s clear he had a vision for something he very much intended to be HIS book before he even started reading them, a vision which he then stubbornly adhered to throughout the project despite the odd dissonance this ultimately creates for the reader. His aim may have been to write a ‘quirky’ biography, but the reality is that the diaries contain more than enough quirk of their own, a quirk which should have simply been allowed to speak for itself and shine in the spotlight. His attempts to add humour fall similarly flat. The diarist has her own sense of humour, which should have been allowed to inform and carry the humour throughout the book as a whole. Adding his own, very different kind of humour just ended up being strange and jarring.
Masters hogs far too much of the spotlight for himself and the process of his ‘investigation’, which (to add insult to injury) he doggedly refuses to undertake in any sort of a coherent way. He practically brags about refusal to read the diaries in any sort of order as a means to prolong the mystery (and then correspondingly WRITES his account in the same higgledy-piggledy manner), but the effect of this was far more frustrating and infuriating than interesting or curiosity-enhancing. Many of his speculations about the diarist before learning the full story seem entirely illogical, fanciful, and unconvincing, and as more of the truth is revealed, we learn that this is indeed exactly what they are. He goes to great lengths to create an entirely unnecessary sense of mystery which ends up feeling tediously contrived; many of the purportedly ‘unsuspected’ facts about the diarist must have been clear to Masters long before he reveals them to us. (Either that or he actually didn’t work things out until he says he did and is just incredibly, subhumanly daft).
I was thus nagged throughout by a disturbing worry that Masters simply wasn’t doing the diarist justice, that I would have derived an altogether different interpretation of the essence of this woman. I just didn’t TRUST him, somehow, about her. I kept thinking as I was reading that there must be at least a dozen other ways to write it that would have been more effective, more satisfying, and quite possibly also paint a more accurate overall picture.
Masters’ approach might have worked if the diarist herself had been a far less interesting and entertaining individual. Instead, she hugely outshines Masters in every way: her quirk, her humour, the quality of her writing, the appeal of her personal story. It is a very sad thing that Masters had his heart set so fiercely on writing a book about finding a bunch of diaries in a skip, because the diaries he found merited a book devoted much more wholly to THEM, something more along the lines of a simple compilation and edit with a MUCH abbreviated description of their discovery/his reading of them and an extended account of meeting her and getting to know her at the end. I did manage to finish the book, with a sizable admiration for and desire to know more about Laura the diarist, and a desire to strangle Mr Masters.
December 7, 2020
This book is simply amazing!
As someone who keeps a journal & a datebook & writes about life in general & the whole frailty of it all.
This book was just up my alley.
I love reading diaries/journals/biographies & memoirs.
And Mr. Masters spends 12 years of his life with these diaries.
He attempted to figure out who the writer was.
He notes how the diarist who he calls "Not Mary" never indicates WHAT her name is.
He writes how diaries are often written & how they reflect ~ what the diarist sees as what really matters & what this does to us. How events reflected back guide which way we continue.
And so for 12 years he rearranges them. he seeks out a detective, he sees a graphologist, he separates them into 8 neat piles.
He attempts to retrace Not Mary's steps & where she has gone & worked & studied & soon the clues make sense.
As his journey continues he realizes SHE IS STILL ALIVE.
And so he sets to met this writer.
Her name is Laura Francis.
She is 73 & she was still writing.
Mr Masters has counted her daily words & soon Laura Francis has the distinction as the "most prolific known diarist in history (according to The Guiness Book Of Records)" page 250.
When Mr. Masters and Laura Francis meet, she is still writing between two and three thousand words a day.
This book was a treat.
To go with him on his journey of attempting to find the author of these diaries, to learn where she lived and worked & then who she is ~ soon becomes a delight. She lives with no regrets.
She tells him that " You just come to terms with things. I wish I hadn't done this. I wish I hadn't done that, but there is nothing much I can do about that now." Page 230
It took him five years to finally find out who she is.
They become friends.
Read This Book
And if you keep a diary, WRITE your NAME somewhere in it!!
You just never know.
As someone who keeps a journal & a datebook & writes about life in general & the whole frailty of it all.
This book was just up my alley.
I love reading diaries/journals/biographies & memoirs.
And Mr. Masters spends 12 years of his life with these diaries.
He attempted to figure out who the writer was.
He notes how the diarist who he calls "Not Mary" never indicates WHAT her name is.
He writes how diaries are often written & how they reflect ~ what the diarist sees as what really matters & what this does to us. How events reflected back guide which way we continue.
And so for 12 years he rearranges them. he seeks out a detective, he sees a graphologist, he separates them into 8 neat piles.
He attempts to retrace Not Mary's steps & where she has gone & worked & studied & soon the clues make sense.
As his journey continues he realizes SHE IS STILL ALIVE.
And so he sets to met this writer.
Her name is Laura Francis.
She is 73 & she was still writing.
Mr Masters has counted her daily words & soon Laura Francis has the distinction as the "most prolific known diarist in history (according to The Guiness Book Of Records)" page 250.
When Mr. Masters and Laura Francis meet, she is still writing between two and three thousand words a day.
This book was a treat.
To go with him on his journey of attempting to find the author of these diaries, to learn where she lived and worked & then who she is ~ soon becomes a delight. She lives with no regrets.
She tells him that " You just come to terms with things. I wish I hadn't done this. I wish I hadn't done that, but there is nothing much I can do about that now." Page 230
It took him five years to finally find out who she is.
They become friends.
Read This Book
And if you keep a diary, WRITE your NAME somewhere in it!!
You just never know.
October 6, 2016
I absolutely loved this author's first book about Stuart and rated that a very strong 5 stars, so I was hoping this book, with such a wonderful concept, would have the same humour and connection but it fell dismally flat. I struggled to get through this, as it was just so boring. By 50 pages in I had started to skim read because there was far too much padding and (often off the point or subject) waffle.
I can't understand why on earth a person would start writing about someone and get so involved to hire a writing expert and a private detective if they hadn't even read all of the diaries! The author went around in circles seeming to enjoy the guessing and surmising when the answers were all there in front of him. I just wanted him to get to the point and get to the answers already. We could have cut back on much of this guesswork and waffle if the author had just read all of the diaries before starting his quest and project. There was much of this unnecessary guesswork and very little of the actual diaries in this book but maybe this was because much of the diary entries were repetitive and boring. Another major issue was that very often I had no idea who was talking - was it the author or the diarist I had no idea - and the timeline was all over the place. Very disappointing.
I can't understand why on earth a person would start writing about someone and get so involved to hire a writing expert and a private detective if they hadn't even read all of the diaries! The author went around in circles seeming to enjoy the guessing and surmising when the answers were all there in front of him. I just wanted him to get to the point and get to the answers already. We could have cut back on much of this guesswork and waffle if the author had just read all of the diaries before starting his quest and project. There was much of this unnecessary guesswork and very little of the actual diaries in this book but maybe this was because much of the diary entries were repetitive and boring. Another major issue was that very often I had no idea who was talking - was it the author or the diarist I had no idea - and the timeline was all over the place. Very disappointing.
March 3, 2017
Premise? Awesome.
Execution? Not so much.
This had the potential to be a really cool story but it just didn't come out that way. I liked the review of the book in the NY Times much better than the actual book. I did learn something, though. A "skip" is a British term for a dumpster. So there's that. On to the next one!
Execution? Not so much.
This had the potential to be a really cool story but it just didn't come out that way. I liked the review of the book in the NY Times much better than the actual book. I did learn something, though. A "skip" is a British term for a dumpster. So there's that. On to the next one!
December 5, 2023
Una coincidenza del tutto inaspettata permette a due studiosi di Cambridge di ritrovare 148 volumi – delle più disparate dimensioni – all’interno di un cassonetto. La curiosità non permette loro di chiudere gli occhi di fronte a questo ritrovamento e – decisi – si gettano tra le immondizie per recuperarli e scoprire di che cosa si tratti.
All’apparenza sono banali quaderni, dalle copertine colorate e logore. Forse qualcuno è morto e questo è ciò che resta di lui? Cosa si può comprendere da quanto è stato scritto? È possibile rintracciare il proprietario di quei quaderni, all’interno dei quali ha riversato la sua intera e normale esistenza?
Non ci sono indizi, nomi, luoghi. Quando si scrive in prima persona, quando si scrive per sè stessi, non si ha bisogno di essere bravi, arguti, intelligenti o fare riferimenti alla propria esistenza. Quando si scrive all’interno di un diario, l’unica cosa che conta è ciò che si prova, ciò che si vede, ciò che si sente.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
All’apparenza sono banali quaderni, dalle copertine colorate e logore. Forse qualcuno è morto e questo è ciò che resta di lui? Cosa si può comprendere da quanto è stato scritto? È possibile rintracciare il proprietario di quei quaderni, all’interno dei quali ha riversato la sua intera e normale esistenza?
Non ci sono indizi, nomi, luoghi. Quando si scrive in prima persona, quando si scrive per sè stessi, non si ha bisogno di essere bravi, arguti, intelligenti o fare riferimenti alla propria esistenza. Quando si scrive all’interno di un diario, l’unica cosa che conta è ciò che si prova, ciò che si vede, ciò che si sente.
Continua a leggere qui: https://parlaredilibri.wordpress.com/...
February 22, 2017
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Honestly? This book did not work for me. I only pushed myself to finish it because I'd received it for review.
Essentially over 100 diaries are found in a skip and after some time make their way to Masters. As a biographer Masters attempts to find out about the life of the mysterious diarist about whom he knows nothing. The premise sounded good but the execution was incredibly frustrating. Things like the diarists name, date of birth and a whole host of other details are staring Masters in the face and yet it takes him up to 5 years to 'discover' them. It takes him 5 years to put the diaries IN ORDER, surely as a biographer that would be one of the first things you do? He pays for people to read diary extracts and attempt to 'figure out' things such as the diarists date of birth, which naturally they find quickly as the diarist actually writes about it....
It felt like Masters refused to do certain thing (put the diaries in order, look up the diarists name etc) just so he could produce a book and publish it.
There's so many issues with Masters' practices (I'm not a biographer but they seemed wrong to me), that the book was frustrating and felt slightly like a trick to earn money.
Honestly? This book did not work for me. I only pushed myself to finish it because I'd received it for review.
Essentially over 100 diaries are found in a skip and after some time make their way to Masters. As a biographer Masters attempts to find out about the life of the mysterious diarist about whom he knows nothing. The premise sounded good but the execution was incredibly frustrating. Things like the diarists name, date of birth and a whole host of other details are staring Masters in the face and yet it takes him up to 5 years to 'discover' them. It takes him 5 years to put the diaries IN ORDER, surely as a biographer that would be one of the first things you do? He pays for people to read diary extracts and attempt to 'figure out' things such as the diarists date of birth, which naturally they find quickly as the diarist actually writes about it....
It felt like Masters refused to do certain thing (put the diaries in order, look up the diarists name etc) just so he could produce a book and publish it.
There's so many issues with Masters' practices (I'm not a biographer but they seemed wrong to me), that the book was frustrating and felt slightly like a trick to earn money.
April 18, 2017
"I am the most illiterate writer I have ever met. I can spend five years studying diaries nobody wants, in which nothing happens, but I've never read the classics."
Agreed.
Such promise, set forth in summary, wasted; more interesting in concept than execution.
Agreed.
Such promise, set forth in summary, wasted; more interesting in concept than execution.
April 27, 2017
I don't even know what to say about this book. This is brilliant. I'm an inadequate book reviewer, not equal to the task of describing this book. But if you like mysteries, the mundane extraordinariness of life, and general quirkiness, READ THIS. It's gripping.
August 6, 2017
I sort of (ambivalently) enjoyed elements of this book about 147 diaries found in a skip and the biographer's attempt to reconstruct the life that they may have belonged to. However, there were points when I wondered why I was continuing reading about this unknown person and their unknown life at all and just what was the subject of the book. To be honest, it isn't really about an unknown person at all - it's a book about Masters's attempt to biography the unknown person and so it actually becomes more about the author than the subject (who features very little until the end, and is then only fleetingly afforded a voice). I think I kind of get what the author was aiming at - what he successfully does is demonstrate the artistic process of biography rather than offering a biography of the unknown person. There were elements I loved about it - I love the fact that the subject's diaries construct a forty million word description of being alive (p. 241). How fabulous is that? Sadly, her description of being alive is rendered pretty valueless by it being transformed into a series of the author's responses to it and so unless the reader can access the original source book (which you would be mad to do) then you don't actually get that description of life at all from reading this book.
The book had some great moments. I particularly enjoyed: 'Professor Richard Grove, was playing in the building site and spotted the books'. Hasn't anyone told Professor Grove that he really shouldn't play on building sites? It's dangerous, and not an appropriate activity for an educated adult.
It also had long periods of the author seemingly celebrating his own greatness as an artist which I found a bit off-putting to be honest. My edition has '"I couldn't put this book down": Benedict Cumberbatch' on the cover. I'm not sure why. Perhaps he got glue on his hand before he picked it up. I put it down with relief, glad to have made it through.
The book had some great moments. I particularly enjoyed: 'Professor Richard Grove, was playing in the building site and spotted the books'. Hasn't anyone told Professor Grove that he really shouldn't play on building sites? It's dangerous, and not an appropriate activity for an educated adult.
It also had long periods of the author seemingly celebrating his own greatness as an artist which I found a bit off-putting to be honest. My edition has '"I couldn't put this book down": Benedict Cumberbatch' on the cover. I'm not sure why. Perhaps he got glue on his hand before he picked it up. I put it down with relief, glad to have made it through.
August 12, 2019
I read this in one day and almost one sitting, without once checking my page count, or to see how near the next chapter break was, or to count how many more pages till the end there was. (And this is a bad habit I do in almost every book I read.) This is totally credit to Masters' way of making what should have been an incredibly boring, self-indulgent account of one woman's failed, and quite frankly dull, life and career, into an exciting, witty, engaging, gripping read. It's like a really great documentary in book form.
My only slight quibble is how Masters labels Laura, his subject, (more than once I think) as heterosexual, despite the fact that the great loves of her lives were all women. Simply because she never manages to sleep with these women (because they were wildly older than her and in no position to be sleeping with her, either because they were 99 or with a duty of care) he seems to write them off and insists that she was straight. I do not appreciate this bi erasure.
But nevertheless, apart from that, I thought it was really good and would definitely recommend to everybody. (Apart from maybe young bisexual girls who doubt themselves. lol)
My only slight quibble is how Masters labels Laura, his subject, (more than once I think) as heterosexual, despite the fact that the great loves of her lives were all women. Simply because she never manages to sleep with these women (because they were wildly older than her and in no position to be sleeping with her, either because they were 99 or with a duty of care) he seems to write them off and insists that she was straight. I do not appreciate this bi erasure.
But nevertheless, apart from that, I thought it was really good and would definitely recommend to everybody. (Apart from maybe young bisexual girls who doubt themselves. lol)
October 14, 2018
This is a strange book, but there were elements that fascinated me. And the writing is very good. It is based on the life of a real person, but a relative 'nobody' whose diaries were flung out in a skip and discovered by friends of the author's. I'd tried to read another work by Masters, the one about the homeless man told in reverse order, but it did my head in. I should probably have persevered as Masters is a good storyteller. If you like unusual biographies, those that test the genre and ask what it means to be human, then this book will please you. If you're looking for moral messages or individuals who are shining examples, then it will disappoint. Overall, not my favourite book of the year but there was enough to warrant finishing it. ATA (At This Age) if something is really dross I don't get past the first chapter.
February 14, 2017
I cannot stop thinking about this book. The premise is fascinating- the discovery of 148 diaries discarded in a skip. Written in an engaging, almost mystery-writing style, I found I could not put it down. The minituae of every day life for a person from the 1950s onward who believed their thoughts would not be read was compelling in am almost voyeuristic way. There is a clear sense of 'the everyman' in the writer's notebooks. The care and respect of the writer and the biographer's genuine affection for the diary writer is clear and made me love the person as well.
It is the first book that has made me audibly gasp at three separate points.
I cannot recommend it enough. Also, it's worth googling the diaries' author after. I did it immediately.
It is the first book that has made me audibly gasp at three separate points.
I cannot recommend it enough. Also, it's worth googling the diaries' author after. I did it immediately.
June 15, 2017
I'm not sure what my preconceptions about this book were but what I got was definitely not it. I think I was expecting more of a life story about the author of 148 diaries rather than the hunt by Alexander Masters to discover the author.
I did find the book rather dry - I got to a point where I just wanted it over & to discover who had written the original diaries. The book did get better once the book's author decided to take more of a chronological approach. I cannot believe this didn't occur to him earlier though?
All in all, a bit of a disappointing read.
I was given an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a fair & honest review.
I did find the book rather dry - I got to a point where I just wanted it over & to discover who had written the original diaries. The book did get better once the book's author decided to take more of a chronological approach. I cannot believe this didn't occur to him earlier though?
All in all, a bit of a disappointing read.
I was given an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a fair & honest review.
September 10, 2018
As someone who has kept a diary in some form on and off for almost 40 years I was excited to read this unusual search for the author of 148 diaries found discarded in a skip. I wasn't disappointed and read it in two sittings over a 24 hour period.
The author (of the diaries rather than the book) never re-read them which cheered me somewhat as I rarely revisit mine and I thought I was strange for it. It's always reassuring to find you aren't alone. I donated my early paper diaries to The great diary project last year https://www.thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk/ and I hope these eventually end up there too
The author (of the diaries rather than the book) never re-read them which cheered me somewhat as I rarely revisit mine and I thought I was strange for it. It's always reassuring to find you aren't alone. I donated my early paper diaries to The great diary project last year https://www.thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk/ and I hope these eventually end up there too
July 12, 2017
This is an odd book to rate and I'm going between 3 and 4 stars. It's not a sad book by any means but it made me feel so sad but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the diarist's life and am thankful that these diaries were saved.
It's very interesting to see the author's own biases appear in his assumptions on who the diarist was and who they were often talking about. I'm not entirely sure that I wouldn't have made the same assumptions but it is another layer of the story, this unpacking of societal norms.
It's very interesting to see the author's own biases appear in his assumptions on who the diarist was and who they were often talking about. I'm not entirely sure that I wouldn't have made the same assumptions but it is another layer of the story, this unpacking of societal norms.
November 14, 2019
Really enjoyed the diaries. They were sad, funny (esp her attempts at work) and strange! Overall I was entertained and found it quick and easy to read. I have a lot of gripes though: the way the author wrote it(flipped between tenses, between being dramatic, funny - it was all a bit inconsistent), the manipulated journey he took us on (I felt it wasn't 'true', whereas the diaries themselves were) and some of the subjects he concentrated on (way too much on her periods at the start). It did have a 'feel good' ending though, so that was another plus!
September 21, 2017
Once again a book marred by the over the top quotes on the cover. (Personally I don't care whether Benedict Cumberbatch could not put it down or not.) The premise was interesting and so was the book but what a sad life. I imagine reading page after page of this woman's diaries got very tedious.
May 19, 2018
3 and half rounded up
Read
June 1, 2018Such a great premise but couldn't hold my attention at all. Maybe just not the right time ...
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