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Personalidad
Growing up on the Scottish Isle of Bute, Maria Tambini is a young girl with dreams of escape from her Italian immigrant family. When her amazing singing voice wins her a talent show at the tender age of thirteen, she is whisked off to London and instant stardom.
But even as Maria is celebrating her greatest success, she is waging a hidden battle against her own body, and becoming in the process a living exhibit in the modern drama of celebrity. Can she be saved by love? Or will she be consumed by an obsessive celebrity culture, family lies, and by her number-one fan?
This stunning novel is a rich portrait of an immigrant community and a tragic tale of the hidden costs of celebrity.
But even as Maria is celebrating her greatest success, she is waging a hidden battle against her own body, and becoming in the process a living exhibit in the modern drama of celebrity. Can she be saved by love? Or will she be consumed by an obsessive celebrity culture, family lies, and by her number-one fan?
This stunning novel is a rich portrait of an immigrant community and a tragic tale of the hidden costs of celebrity.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
23 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Andrew O'Hagan
56 books750 followersAndrew O'Hagan, FRSL (born 1968) is a Scottish novelist and non-fiction author.
He is the author of the novels Our Fathers, Personality, and Be Near Me, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Guardian (UK). In 2003, O’Hagan was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. He lives in London, England.
He is the author of the novels Our Fathers, Personality, and Be Near Me, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Guardian (UK). In 2003, O’Hagan was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. He lives in London, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 9, 2015
I am very angry with the list of who Andrew thanked at the back of Personality. He thanks Hughie Green, Opportunity Knocks. But Hughie Green died 3rd May 1997. This book would not have been published in 2004 if it wasn't for my friend Late singing star Lena Zavaroni. But Andrew O'Hagan has failed to thank any of Lena's family, or her managers. Apart from that with Lena's name changed to Maria Tambini I really enjoyed reading Personality. Maria seems to have a bit wild side to her in the way she speaks and some of the things she does. Naturally a character has to be made larger than life or the character would not become interesting to read about. Lena was not like that she was very quitetly spoken. We wrote to each other and we was always chatting and laughing together. I must say though that as I enjoyed reading Personality so much that I will be reading more of Andrew O'Hagans books. I do highly recommend reading Personality.
Review by ireadnovels.wordpress.com
Review by ireadnovels.wordpress.com
September 18, 2011
Andrew O'Hagan is so good at writing books that are quietly disturbing. I finished this book 2 days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since then. It is a really powerful book about an outwardly lightweight subject, the child star and the national obsession with celebrity. The strand about Scottish Italians is very interesting, and the darkness running through the whole story is compelling.
Read
April 27, 2011A man dies to the sound of laughter escaping from Blankety Blank. A nurse loses her temper with a bunch of flowers too cumbersome for their vase. A woman goes up in the lift to see the mother she has never met. Porters smoke on the stairwell and remember the worst and the best of Friday night. A Pakistani gentleman says prayers to himself, too old to wait, and ignores the football commentary coming from an adjacent radio. A doctor checks a chart and remembers his wife's birthday, and out in the corridor a confectionary machine jams and keeps the money. A bone is set, and a lady who grew up in Cornwall remembers the long walk to school.
There will always be the words to other people's songs, but Michael is here now, and I am here, and the fresh air my God you wouldn't believe it. When I look up I think of all the miles the air has come to reach us, I think of it passing stars and planets, falling through clouds, and blowing over the English Channel, our mouths open to catch the air and to say what we want to say, to speak now, to speak out loud, and before long the land begins to appear over there, another coast. The day is beautiful, we are far from home, and the boat moves like a prayer over the water.
(160; 327)
There will always be the words to other people's songs, but Michael is here now, and I am here, and the fresh air my God you wouldn't believe it. When I look up I think of all the miles the air has come to reach us, I think of it passing stars and planets, falling through clouds, and blowing over the English Channel, our mouths open to catch the air and to say what we want to say, to speak now, to speak out loud, and before long the land begins to appear over there, another coast. The day is beautiful, we are far from home, and the boat moves like a prayer over the water.
(160; 327)
May 23, 2019
This is where O'Hagan's fiction first grew its wings. It has much in common with the unfussy style of his essays and shares their fascination with celebrity, national identity, a vocation and its corruption. Though the main character is Lena Zavarone plus tweaks, O'Hagan has done his homework, read his Susie Orbach, and produced a powerfully convincing portrayal of anorexia. Despite his gift for empathy, he is quite the low-key satirist. After watching him deftly skewer Hughie Green and Nancy Reagan, I wished he had gone even further.
I recommend the novel and the essays collected in The Atlantic Ocean (especially the masterful 'The End of British Farming’).
I recommend the novel and the essays collected in The Atlantic Ocean (especially the masterful 'The End of British Farming’).
August 29, 2012
Hearing what the subject of the book was had put me off reading it for several years - however I was totally wrong. I found the novel to be a really sensitive examination of celebrity culture and eating disorder. The multi-vocal approach to narration allowing us to hear the thoughts of many characters about their lives on a small Scottish island put me in mind of MacKay Brown's "Greenvoe" - as did the lyricism of the prose. Even the reverie of Hughie Greene as a young Canadian pilot humanised that annoying little plonker. All in all, quite a beautiful read - and culminating in one of the most tender yet at the same time erotic love scenes that you will find anywhere.
May 11, 2017
A little bit hard to get into in the beginning, but worth it. Part coming of age story, part mystery, part meditation on celebrity, Personality is a satisfying and interesting read.
May 2, 2025
The subject matter inevitably makes it a sad read at times, but written with great humanity. And it still manages to deliver much reading enjoyment, colourful characters, clever interweaving of social history, Scottish/Italian working class life and family dynamics. An absorbing early novel by a very classy writer.
June 20, 2025
Personality by Andrew O’Hagan is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the State of The Nation section
8 out of 10
This novel has only 270 ratings and 29 reviews on Goodreads – if we would add these lines, then there would be 30 notes, but in ‘all honesty’, they will not add up to much, if anything, except to state that it does not look attractive to this reader
Which is the essence of the whole thing, however flawed, even nonsensical the conclusion, could be and indeed it is, this is a space where readers express opinions, but they are not ‘trained critics’, some are even frauds
In my land, I used to have the number one spot for effort, not the quality, I tried to see what the book says to me, and then take time to put some ‘thoughts’ (or crazy things passing through this head of mine) on the screen
So, I had the biggest number of ‘reviews’, until this cheat came up, and what he did was post hundreds of imagined takes on works, he just copied and pasted a few quotes from somewhere and he thus flooded the realm with fakes
Notwithstanding that, he is still number one, I tried to tell the site about it, but we just have to realize that Goodreads is not really good for much, if anything – if one would analyze what I put up, it is still mostly useless
Genuine, mostly, but not much better than what the crook puts on – I say mostly, because I also use quotes, and take advice from some classics, and I will immediately get to that, only this is not 100% taken from someone else
The criteria for reading is that it needs to bring about happiness, as in Eudaimonia, an ancient concept https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/... that involves achievement as well
In my case, I do not want to spend many hours (or a few) with a work that may be informative, challenging, but does not reward the reader with joy…or bliss may come, but it is a bet, you could win the jackpot, or lose big time
To The Hermitage https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/09/... by Malcolm Bradbury explains perfectly why we should (maybe must) read and what to avoid, we could say…
‘As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality…’ I extend the list and add Andrew O’Hagan to it, viciously, with no remorse
Maybe because nobody will still be around by this stage, and ergo no harm done, my vile dismissal of the one who is clearly a gifted author -he is on the 1,000 Must Read Novels list – will have no impact whatsoever
We can and should use The Theory of Thin Slicing, explained in the psychology classic Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/... by Malcolm Gladwell
the idea is that we take decisions, form opinions in less than a minute, hence why would I spend days with a book that I see from the start that it fails to overwhelm me – the plan is that I will get back to magnum opera that I love
one example is the magnificent, divine A Dance To The Music of Time https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/... and I need to find for this, and so much more
other incentives to stay away from time spent without enchantment come from Seneca, who said that ‘life is not short, we have time, unless of course we waste it’, and no matter how spectacular Personality is in the abstract, for me it fails to register as such
let me mention another psychology classic - Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/... by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, gives you the conditions needed for Being in the Zone
you are in control, nothing else matters, it is autotelic, there are clear (also meaningful) goals, time is relative, feedback is constant and instant, and finally, challenges meet skills, on the line between burnout and boredom
Malcolm Bradbury wrote that the personages from the great novels are much deeper, more interesting that the folks that populate the real world, so this is what I am looking for, and it did not look like Personality has this in store for me
It is evidently shallow, subjective, actually wrong, only this is the site where you get the opinion of individuals, who are not critics…a few are very good, and you should follow them, the under signed is not up there…
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
8 out of 10
This novel has only 270 ratings and 29 reviews on Goodreads – if we would add these lines, then there would be 30 notes, but in ‘all honesty’, they will not add up to much, if anything, except to state that it does not look attractive to this reader
Which is the essence of the whole thing, however flawed, even nonsensical the conclusion, could be and indeed it is, this is a space where readers express opinions, but they are not ‘trained critics’, some are even frauds
In my land, I used to have the number one spot for effort, not the quality, I tried to see what the book says to me, and then take time to put some ‘thoughts’ (or crazy things passing through this head of mine) on the screen
So, I had the biggest number of ‘reviews’, until this cheat came up, and what he did was post hundreds of imagined takes on works, he just copied and pasted a few quotes from somewhere and he thus flooded the realm with fakes
Notwithstanding that, he is still number one, I tried to tell the site about it, but we just have to realize that Goodreads is not really good for much, if anything – if one would analyze what I put up, it is still mostly useless
Genuine, mostly, but not much better than what the crook puts on – I say mostly, because I also use quotes, and take advice from some classics, and I will immediately get to that, only this is not 100% taken from someone else
The criteria for reading is that it needs to bring about happiness, as in Eudaimonia, an ancient concept https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/... that involves achievement as well
In my case, I do not want to spend many hours (or a few) with a work that may be informative, challenging, but does not reward the reader with joy…or bliss may come, but it is a bet, you could win the jackpot, or lose big time
To The Hermitage https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/09/... by Malcolm Bradbury explains perfectly why we should (maybe must) read and what to avoid, we could say…
‘As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality…’ I extend the list and add Andrew O’Hagan to it, viciously, with no remorse
Maybe because nobody will still be around by this stage, and ergo no harm done, my vile dismissal of the one who is clearly a gifted author -he is on the 1,000 Must Read Novels list – will have no impact whatsoever
We can and should use The Theory of Thin Slicing, explained in the psychology classic Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/... by Malcolm Gladwell
the idea is that we take decisions, form opinions in less than a minute, hence why would I spend days with a book that I see from the start that it fails to overwhelm me – the plan is that I will get back to magnum opera that I love
one example is the magnificent, divine A Dance To The Music of Time https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/07/... and I need to find for this, and so much more
other incentives to stay away from time spent without enchantment come from Seneca, who said that ‘life is not short, we have time, unless of course we waste it’, and no matter how spectacular Personality is in the abstract, for me it fails to register as such
let me mention another psychology classic - Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/... by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, gives you the conditions needed for Being in the Zone
you are in control, nothing else matters, it is autotelic, there are clear (also meaningful) goals, time is relative, feedback is constant and instant, and finally, challenges meet skills, on the line between burnout and boredom
Malcolm Bradbury wrote that the personages from the great novels are much deeper, more interesting that the folks that populate the real world, so this is what I am looking for, and it did not look like Personality has this in store for me
It is evidently shallow, subjective, actually wrong, only this is the site where you get the opinion of individuals, who are not critics…a few are very good, and you should follow them, the under signed is not up there…
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
July 10, 2009
This is a pretty amazing book, the first I've read from O'Hagan, but it was hard not to be struck and impressed by the lapidary quality of it, all the little parts where the isle of Bute as a whole, and especially the Tambini family all seem to be so richly developed. The handle on dialect, period detail from the seventies as well as the period around world war two that plays such a role. The sentences are crisp and often beautiful as well.
So what's my beef? I don't really understand how it all fit together-- the individual stories, esp that of Lucia Tambini's tragedy, were very well realized, but I'm not really sure how they all fit together, or that they did. I'm likewise unsure about the gal at the center of the story, Maria. This might've been intentional, I don't know, but especially during her "productive" years, I felt like she was more object of observation than a seeing subject, and I missed that.... by the time I felt like I had access to her inner life to parallel that I felt I had of other characters, she'd already crossed into the weird alternate mindspace of anorexia nervosa, and that was another something that kept me apart from her.... Really, I do at least partly believe this distance is intentional, I'm just not sure I understand why.
A really complex, wonderful, sparkly piece of writing that part of me believes is less than the sum of its wonderful parts.
So what's my beef? I don't really understand how it all fit together-- the individual stories, esp that of Lucia Tambini's tragedy, were very well realized, but I'm not really sure how they all fit together, or that they did. I'm likewise unsure about the gal at the center of the story, Maria. This might've been intentional, I don't know, but especially during her "productive" years, I felt like she was more object of observation than a seeing subject, and I missed that.... by the time I felt like I had access to her inner life to parallel that I felt I had of other characters, she'd already crossed into the weird alternate mindspace of anorexia nervosa, and that was another something that kept me apart from her.... Really, I do at least partly believe this distance is intentional, I'm just not sure I understand why.
A really complex, wonderful, sparkly piece of writing that part of me believes is less than the sum of its wonderful parts.
July 2, 2020
I haven’t read O’Hagan in a while, so it was good to get reacquainted with his work. This was one of those books that the longer it went on the more I enjoyed it. There is an absolute riot of 80s pop cultural references that will be a delight to Brits and Scots in particular. The re-enactments of “Wogan” and “This Is Your Life” were particularly well done and had me laughing at the accuracy.
This story is loosely based on the real and tragic life story of Scottish child entertainer Lena Zavaroni, which adds an extra charge to the prose, O’Hagan colours this with some really lovely writing at times, and although this took a wee while to get into once I got to grips with all the characters this was a really enjoyable book to engage with.
June 4, 2011
This book took me forver to read and I totally didn't care at all. I took it for free at a hostel I stayed at and it blew. Thank god I returned it at the used bookstore in town and got some money to get it out of my hands.
Girl with italian roots grows up in the middle-of-nowhere-Scotland and has a great singing voice and becomes super sucessful. The story kept flash-backing to stories with the girls' families' past, but I couldn't keep anything straight. I am not really a fan when books do that because it totally confuses me. TV, totally love it (see LOST), but in books, I know it's lame, but I get confused easily. Whatever.
Grade: N/A
Girl with italian roots grows up in the middle-of-nowhere-Scotland and has a great singing voice and becomes super sucessful. The story kept flash-backing to stories with the girls' families' past, but I couldn't keep anything straight. I am not really a fan when books do that because it totally confuses me. TV, totally love it (see LOST), but in books, I know it's lame, but I get confused easily. Whatever.
Grade: N/A
August 10, 2008
O'Hagan shows a unique slice of Scottish contemporary history- the Italian community that has both integrated into and been held apart from Scotland's cultural identity. He wraps this into a story of a budding celebrity in the 1970s. The voices are a bit distant, but there is enough wry and loving humor to make the characters sympathetic and the story an engaging read.
January 21, 2021
Hugely disappointing, the more so because Andrew O'Hagan's writing can be so exciting, but this felt like being drowned in sheet after sheet of "character description" exercises, none of whom I found in any way likeable.
This isn't the first I've read where someone has taken a true story and used it as the basis for a novel; only Colum McCann's, about Rudolph Nureyev, really worked for me.
This isn't the first I've read where someone has taken a true story and used it as the basis for a novel; only Colum McCann's, about Rudolph Nureyev, really worked for me.
April 23, 2022
This book is based on the story of Lena Zavaroni. I remember her well and knew she died through an eating disorder. Maria Tambini is the character in the book and overall it was a decent read. However, quite a lot of the book focused on Maria's extended family and there was less information about Maria.
March 9, 2008
A young Scottish girl gets her big break on a reality TV show and is whisked off to London where she becomes a star, and realizes the immense struggles that ultimately accompany her new rise to fame. Interesting story, but felt a bit disorganized.
June 11, 2007
I loved the dialogue and insight in this story, as well as the Scottish experience, but because of the cliched plot points, I gave it just three stars.
August 24, 2019
Love his non-fiction but this wasn't so good.
July 28, 2017
Tried to read this book off and on for months. Just. Couldn't. Too. Dull.
January 27, 2025
An incredibly ambitious book! POV shifts are fantastic, the mix of fact and fiction intriguing. I loved it! Very very vivid.
February 8, 2025
Just wasn’t for me
February 2, 2024
He’s a sharp author, is Andrew O’Hagan. “Personality” certainly delivers a reflection on our celebrity culture, but he does it in a way that allows characters to be have substance, settings to deliver their sense of place, the inner world and the outer world of the novel the space and shape to unfold and land in the narrative. It would be much easier to just elevate Maria and burn her at the stake of the mainstream media.
Instead, we enter the minds and memories of characters through a carefully crafted series of techniques that never upstage Maria or her story. There’s conventional third person past tense, first person, dramatic layout, italicised thought and flashback. They are used masterfully to serve the greater story, yet each is rich in its own portrayal - the talent quest host’s reflections on talent and entertainment, grandmother Lucia’s mid-war affair (a novella within the novel), Michael’s journey with the war blind working for a charity. Each allows a rich colour to add its tone to the story, enriching the journey, broadening the tone and times and themes, but weaving those threads together to lift the final episode of the book.
It’s a book about loss, music, Italian migrants in Scotland, the war, romance, family, loyalty, manipulation, exploitation, the power and moral indifference of popular culture, obsession, mental health, eating disorders, love, the drive for fulfilment… Or it’s the rise and fall and read-the-rest-for-yourself of a successful TV talent quest winner.
Another fine work by Andrew O’Hagan.
NOTE
I would say that although it serves the story - quite powerfully - and although it is excellently written, the book does contain a graphic sex scene. Some don’t go for that so much. But for that, I think this book would make an excellent school text to study the subtle, successful, masterful use of multiple modes of writing. (Perhaps that’s not such an issue in schools these days.)
Instead, we enter the minds and memories of characters through a carefully crafted series of techniques that never upstage Maria or her story. There’s conventional third person past tense, first person, dramatic layout, italicised thought and flashback. They are used masterfully to serve the greater story, yet each is rich in its own portrayal - the talent quest host’s reflections on talent and entertainment, grandmother Lucia’s mid-war affair (a novella within the novel), Michael’s journey with the war blind working for a charity. Each allows a rich colour to add its tone to the story, enriching the journey, broadening the tone and times and themes, but weaving those threads together to lift the final episode of the book.
It’s a book about loss, music, Italian migrants in Scotland, the war, romance, family, loyalty, manipulation, exploitation, the power and moral indifference of popular culture, obsession, mental health, eating disorders, love, the drive for fulfilment… Or it’s the rise and fall and read-the-rest-for-yourself of a successful TV talent quest winner.
Another fine work by Andrew O’Hagan.
NOTE
I would say that although it serves the story - quite powerfully - and although it is excellently written, the book does contain a graphic sex scene. Some don’t go for that so much. But for that, I think this book would make an excellent school text to study the subtle, successful, masterful use of multiple modes of writing. (Perhaps that’s not such an issue in schools these days.)
May 9, 2024
Personality
I am on an Andrew O’Hagan rather obsessive read-a-thon - and loving it.
This is my third O’Hagan and it’s a rip-snorter. Just finished and I’m singing ‘Personality’ loud and strong.
Loved the set up of all of the characters in this book. Carefully revealed. Then, heck, we came to love them.
Many many topics. The war - God bless it. Italian internment. Child prodigy (?) - good/bad/indifferent - discuss. OK - this was the 50’s and 60’s. Even so! Keep reading this book only gets better.
Characterisations, spot on history, relationships, family interaction. Sadly, mental illness. Secrets and lies within a family. Absolutely super read.
Congratulations Andrew O’Hagen - you’ve done it again!
You’ve got to read this book - it will stay with you and you’ll love the ride!
I am on an Andrew O’Hagan rather obsessive read-a-thon - and loving it.
This is my third O’Hagan and it’s a rip-snorter. Just finished and I’m singing ‘Personality’ loud and strong.
Loved the set up of all of the characters in this book. Carefully revealed. Then, heck, we came to love them.
Many many topics. The war - God bless it. Italian internment. Child prodigy (?) - good/bad/indifferent - discuss. OK - this was the 50’s and 60’s. Even so! Keep reading this book only gets better.
Characterisations, spot on history, relationships, family interaction. Sadly, mental illness. Secrets and lies within a family. Absolutely super read.
Congratulations Andrew O’Hagen - you’ve done it again!
You’ve got to read this book - it will stay with you and you’ll love the ride!
February 24, 2025
Well-written and respectful fictional retelling of the life of Lena Zavaroni (herein named "Maria Tambini"), along with filling out the lives of her family/friends/acquaintances. Engaging and thought-provoking, while unavoidably sad/tragic in tone. 3.5 Stars rounding down.
December 31, 2021
A bit of a strange book but I’m glad I stuck with it. I didn’t see the end coming…..
September 28, 2023
Read and forgot it. Some interesting parts but won't be passing it on with any recommendation.
November 9, 2023
Great writer and a compelling story
November 22, 2023
Heavily based on the life of Lena Zavaroni but with much fictional input. Very well-written, a joy to read.
December 1, 2023
Unsure why he chose not to include Lena Zavaroni’s incredibly bleak death but there you go
April 21, 2024
Excellent read! Rushed through it, it broke my heart as I remember Lena Zavaroni on screen with Hughie Green and what happened to her!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews