Fracture: Stories of How Great Lives Take Root in Trauma

by Matthew Parris

While presenting Great Lives on Radio 4, Matthew Parris noticed a trend in the lives of the exceptional men and women the programme covered: many of them had been marked by extreme trauma and deprivation. They seemed to have succeeded not only in spite of their backgrounds, but perhaps even because of them. Charlie Chaplin spent much of his childhood in a south London workhouse, while Ada Lovelace was paralysed at the age of thirteen. Edward Lear was the last of twenty-one children, and suffered from severe epilepsy and depression, and Coco Chanel was abandoned by her father in a freezing-cold church orphanage. Yet they would all grow up to be not just successful, but to create paradigm shifts in their fields, and create work that still influence our lives today. As Matthew Parris brings each individual's story to life in this original and compelling study, it becomes clear that we must rethink the origins of success, as well as the legacy of trauma.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2021

Reviews

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has become well known that adversity at a young age can lead to a person becoming incredibly successful and exceptional in their field later in life. It seems that those who build a resilience in their formative years or become introverted through circumstances often outside of their control leading to them becoming societal recluses helps a person to respond to setbacks in life as a challenge rather than a failure. It appears that there could be some truth to the old adage ”what doesn't kill you makes you stronger”, and I certainly attest to that having grown up in an abusive household and having had many health-related issues in my teenage years; this is on the money. Through his ”five horsemen of the childhood apocalypse”, Parris provides a plethora of interesting case studies of people who have been through the mill yet not only survived but thrived, too; these five horsemen are — Affliction - physical and mental; Isolation - and dislocation; Chaos - and family dysfunction, Cruelty - and oppression and prejudice; and Shock - ruin, death, suicide.

These vivid vignettes explore the connection between trauma and greatness. For instance, Charlie Chaplin spent much of his childhood in a south London workhouse, while Ada Lovelace was paralysed at the age of thirteen. Edward Lear was the last of twenty-one children, and suffered from severe epilepsy and depression, and Coco Chanel was abandoned by her father in a freezing-cold church orphanage. Yet they would all grow up to be not just successful, but to create paradigm shifts in their fields, and create work that still influence our lives today. This is an informative yet entertaining work, which provides many supporting stories. With both humour and a highly readable style, we are treated to potted biographies of scientists, authors, psychoanalysts, philosophers, rappers, artists and politicians, to name but a few. An entertaining and solid read, however, I wish it could've developed the argument a little further in the closing chapters. Other than that, this was a very thought-provoking book.

[Stephen Birss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easily readable and fairly interesting, this is a textbook example of a horizontal argument. Parris looks to a wide range of biographies to make his argument that childhood trauma and recognised genius often go hand in hand. He gives a ton of examples of famous people through history, but without moving much further than this foundation.

Identifying five categories for trauma, a chapter is spent on each. I learnt quite a lot from this part of the book. For example, I couldn't have told you that Napoleon wasn't really French as such, being from Corsica, and that Ada Lovelace was the child of Lord Byron. There are ao many stories, hitting much the same beats that it becomes difficult to distinguish them afterwards; who lived which life and what does it suggest about the effects of childhood trauma?

Parris fails to develop argument as far as one might like, never doing more than spotting this common element to the lives of many who would be considered particularly brilliant and offering the occasuinal theory about where it connects.

The book concludes with its two weaker chapters. The argument at this point becomes either far too broad and obvious, or goes in a wrong direction. Not entirely sure which

Give this a read if you want to dip into the lives of the greats and for a surface level consideration of childhood trauma and how it can form the chrysalis for greatness.

[Jordan Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed all of the childhood stories of famous people, I found it very hard to keep up with the account.
For example he addresses the main person by their surname, then talks about their parents, then can jump to the main persons children, and then addresses the surname again… but it could be either generation and I found myself rereading certain parts to understand who we were talking about now.

The flow of each account was hard to read due to jump in timelines. It would start for example, “at the age for 4…” then talk about their parents and how the main person came about. Then it would go onto later life where they’ve had children and then jump back” at the age of 14” then jump back again. It wasn’t clearly written.

Also some stories were pages and pages long for example Abraham Lincoln, then others can be a page long like the Brontë sisters? I’m not sure if the short accounts are put in to fluff the book up but I’d much rather learn a bit more about them. There were 5 different types of ‘fracture’ but I felt that most of the stories blended in with one another and it was hard to distinguish who’s story is who’s at the end - I could not tell you.

I don’t understand the little subheadings underneath each person, I get what he’s trying to do but for example under Muhammad Ali’s it says “I couldn’t get Emmett out of my mind” - so I’m like oooo who’s Emmett? To get to that part and there is only 2 sentences on it. And all it says they were the same age and “ Ali felt a deep kinship to him” and that he found the murder difficult to deal with, and that’s basically it. Who was he to Ali? How was he murdered? Why is this such a big ‘fracture’?You can’t put it as a subheading and only write that about it! Yes I’m furious.

Them last 3 chapters shouldn’t have been there. I found myself getting more irritated as I turned the last few pages. I don’t know if it was to get the word count up but I found it pointless.

[Elizabeth McConnon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mini biographies of people who had overcome some sort of trauma. Most information could be gathered from Wiki sources with no real in-depth discussion or analysis of the environment, class, race or intellect.

These traumas are categorised and are not distinguishable from each other. You could tell the author had their favourite topics to discuss but beyond that the book was bland, with no real insight. It includes chapters at the end that tell plots of tales and movies - for what reason? There's no real answer in the text.

I'd also like to see some of the sources used for the paragraphs on Cú Chulainn.

Overall I felt like I was reading a lazy student's dissertation on famous (great lives) people and their connections with those around them at the time. Very poor read.

[Hoda Marmar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an awesome book that argues for a link between trauma and genius or greatness.
It is divided in such a scientific methodical manner, with hypotheses dealt with in different chapters. Within each chapter are many subheadings with examples of great historically prevalent people who support it.
I gave it a 4 and not a five because in some instances the stories dragged on, like the one about Lincoln.
Well, in brief, I loved it and would definitely reread it.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on whether early trauma can be a positive. But without really going in to the fact that it can be just as much a negative. Interesting case studies, but how much real evidence?

[Greville Waterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything by Matthew Parris is well worth reading as he is a marvellously gifted and talented author. This book develops and an original premise that posits that trauma in childhood helps stimulate adult genius and that many gifted and talented people throughout history came through a troubled upbringing and thrived despite their difficult upbringing.

He provides countless examples of major figures that prove his hypothesis and I learned much that was new but I did find the argument slightly superficial and repetitive.

A dipper-into par excellence.

[Camila - Books Through My Veins · Rating 2 out of 5]

- thanks to @allenandunwin for my #gifted copy

Reading and learning about how trauma affects people is something that I have always found fascinating. I believe that attempting to understand what other people go through is essential to develop empathy, and therefore, construct healthy relationships with our families and friends. So, when I heard about Fracture, a book about how trauma affected some of the most brilliant minds we’ve known, I obviously couldn’t resist giving it a go.

Unfortunately, this book was unexpectedly disappointing.

First, it seemed like Parris’s attention was entirely arbitrary and random when it came to the biographies of the people he discussed. For example, Parris dedicated a considerable number of pages talking about Abraham Lincoln, yet he barely discussed others like Marie Curie or the Bronte Sisters, to name just a few. It felt like he was happy to talk about the people he admired the most, but he neglected the stories of others he might not find too interested. This is, of course, pure conjecture, but I would have enjoyed a more concise structure.

Second, halfway through the book, it felt like I was reading the same stories all over again. I understand that the author focuses on how trauma might have shaped the lives of the people he discusses, but each short biography was like a recycled version of the previous one. Even though Parris divides his book into different themes, at some point, all stories looked too similar, and none ended up standing out but Lincoln’s, and only because Parris focused on him way more than any other.

Finally, I wasn’t too sure about how much trauma is directly related to the success of these people in their different fields of expertise, which is the hypothesis on which Parris bases his book. Although I cannot deny that I believe that trauma has enormous consequences, I wasn’t too sure about how trauma was linked to success, mainly because some biographies were seriously underdeveloped and lacked the necessary information and facts to draw such conclusions.

Overall, Facture was an undeveloped read, yet it did not fail to entertain and inform.

[Tony Lawrence]

This looks like an interesting book, Parris addresses a subject that seems obvious, but is almost problematic; does a tougher, challenging childhood make adults stronger and beget genius? In this specific case the focus is on selected 'great lives' selected from his BBC Radio 4 show.

The following review was mostly written before I finished reading Fracture, included here as as warning to my hubris and impatience!

I enjoyed a lot of these mini biographies, a great variety of lives all more-or-less touched by tragedy. Parrish maintains all along that hardship, loss, illness, and other traumas - i.e. Fractures - in childhood [mostly] provided the spark for a remarkable life. However, there is a problem defining genius and the non-scientific trap, correlation isn’t causation … it would be impossible to prove in any ethical laboratory experiment (see later). Rather than more selective examples I would have liked a view or views from experts in genetics, psychology, and anthropology, maybe, and even examples from other species might add some legitimacy to the hypothesis. It worries me that the opposite, a safe, healthy, and loving childhood - which is really the acme of good parenting and an advanced society - would doom the majority of the population to mediocrity?

So an apology, Parrish does include a Science chapter at end of the book, unfortunately research is inconclusive or discredited, focussing on quantitive data or drifting into the troubling implications of a genetic predisposition. The psychopathy of ‘diversifying’ experiences, and the brain's unconscious response to trauma, include attempts to repair the psyche, look for different solutions (including scientific and creative endeavours), or altering our sense of self. In hindsight this probably needs a different book to fully explore; so thank you to the author for the potted biographies and similar themes in fairy stories, myths, legends, and religion … many of which start with (or are predicated on) a lost, broken-down, or traumatised child making good.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Parrisian award-winner has an interesting premise, and some interesting stories, but I found it a disappointing read overall.

Drawing from his role presenting BBC Radio 4's Great Lives, Matthew Parris outlines the traumatic childhood experiences that shaped the work of geniuses in various fields. The word "genius" is obviously open to discussion, but he includes a wide range of people from Napoleon to Marie Curie, from Muhammad Ali to Abraham Lincoln, from the Bronte Sisters to Tupac Shakur. His vignettes are grouped together into common themes, with some getting a longer treatment and others just a few brief pages.

His basic hypothesis is that childhood fracture can be a spur to future genius - that these great lives were not great in spite of previous trauma, but because of it. Here's how he summarises it:

"The link I'm pointing to is really a pathway in the human brain between shock and despair, and the breaking of the shackles of habit, 'education' and others' expectations, that cramp our mind, our vision, our moral reasoning and our imagination" (267).

It's interesting to read about some of the childhood stories I was unaware of, and to reflect on how this may have impacted the course of their adulthood. But the book as a whole felt underdeveloped. Some of the biographies were very brief, and I would have preferred chapters that drew together the common threads more clearly. There is a lot that remains unexplored. And the final few chapters didn't integrate so well into the wider narrative.

That said, if you find the premise intriguing, you may find this a good book to dip into. It just didn't connect with me as I hoped.

[Simon Dobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable, if limited, read.

The author's hypothesis is that a lot of "great lives" – and he admits to not being able to define what this means clearly – are formed in childhood trauma. Some of the examples (especially Edward Lear and Rudyard Kipling) illustrate this perfectly. But to coverage of the lives chosen, one in detail and then others in a manner that is really rather perfunctory, left me feeling rather short-changed about the lives not fully explored.

But Parris seems to lose conviction in his approach for three of the later chapters, which deal with trauma in fiction. That's a statement about what we find meaningful or entertaining rather than being about biography, and these feel like "fillers" rather than properly contributing to the book.

[Sheila · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was eagerly looking forward to reading this and was thoroughly disappointed. I expected an in depth study of the lives of his subjects, but read very little about them that isn't widely available.
The book sets out to prove that childhood trauma is the reason why 'famous people' become famous and successful, rather than succeeding in spite of it. It reads like a thesis, which is all well and good, but gives very little insight into the actual lives of his subjects. It's all about Parris saying 'this is what I believe and the lives of these people prove it'.
After reading it I felt that I should be giving it a grade.

[Purrincess Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew is a friendly and intelligent man who I had the pleasure of being gifted this book from. I agree the concept is not a revelation- as he admits multiple times. However, when reading the book through the lens of that he has been hosting his “Great Lives” radio show for years you can see that this is a compilation of what he has already presented in the past. It’s a great summation of the information he has accumulated over the past several years hosting “Great Lives” and a gateway to further interest on historical figures.

[Zakrayfee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories about the “geniuses” were a great read and it was amazing to see all the different experiences that shaped them throughout the years in the buildup to their rise to fame. It was great in that sense to get such a wide variety of stories from such differing eras too. It really opened the discussion to how trauma or a “fracture” can unlock a person’s true self. However, its diversity is almost limited in that there aren’t many (if any) African stories. Granted sources may have been difficult to find but it is a very western dominated analysis with little bits of Asia and Latin America sprinkled here and there. Another point is that the latter part of the book becomes very confusing to follow and comes similar to a more philosophical discussion. It’s not that when discussing a topic it’s necessary to stay on it, but a clearer and more coherent transition would’ve made it a much more enjoyable and understandable read. Furthermore, the length of the stories were inconsistent with some ranging from 5 pages and other all the way up to 20.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd probably give it a 2.5 if I could. A light intro to some people with very interesting lives, a stepping stone to reading in more depth about them in other biographies if the reader is so inclined.

[Damien · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few individuals are described in depth and in a revealing manner (eg Lincoln and CC Chanel), but many seemed to be mentioned briefly, seemingly to fill out the book.

[Supinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, the prose could have done with editing. An eclectic choice of profiles.

[Jenni Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never want to read another book written by a man. Basically saying the path to success is through life altering trauma. Urgh. No just no. Turn back

[Lionel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The longer biographies are interesting, but the repetition of examples to maje his point is rather tedious.

[Paul Lehane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straightforward & predictable..2.5 stars

[Helen Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. It was intriguing and depressing to read about famous lives from the past and their terrible childhoods. I feel the book could have done without the last two chapters though- Religion, Myth and Legend and The Literature and the Science. They didn’t seem to fit with great lives and it felt as though they were added in to pad the book out. Also, although there were descriptions of the people, photos would have added to the reading experience.

[Sam Herbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first two thirds of this book: a work of non-fiction that explores the childhood trauma of famous people and historical figures that went on to become geniuses in adult life. From Freddie Mercury to Marie Curie; and from Hamilton to John Lennon, this book explores loss, abandonment, shock and illness as children. Their young lives are tragic but have overcome all obstacles to achieve in their adult life. However, the last third of the book discusses mythological people and most of it went right over my head... A great, quick and enlightening read.