An Alcoholic, Eccentric - how truly English
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I have the audio book read by Clarissa and thoroughly enjoyed this candid report of the ups and downs of her life. Born into a privileged family but with the downside of an alcoholic and abusive father, Clarissa details how she initially used her intellect to survive by taking to the bar then abused herself by taking to the bottle. A committed Countrywoman, skilled cook and clever raconteur, she details how her cooking skills helped her survive both the loss of her mother, her career, and the death of a dearly loved friend. I am glad you got off the bottle Clarissa - so you will live that much longer to remind us that we must not let those who are anti everything ruin our enjoyment of simple pleasures like real Country Life - oh and cooking with cream!
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An excellent autobiography by a fabulous lady
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This book is wonderfully written, very readable. She gives a very honest account of her alcoholism without descending into self-pity or born-again anti-alcohol evangelism, which is refreshing. You don't need to be a member of the Countryside Alliance or a foodie to find this life story funny, fascinating and poignant. Wonderful book, fabulous lady.
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Fantastic, funny, sad, moving and story of survival!
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I loved it! Clarissa is so funny and very clever! Sadly, she had been affected by alcoholism brought on by the loss of her mother, that said, her father was an alcoholic so the addictive gene is there!
She has had an eventful life to say the least and although was struck by alcoholism and the truama of what happened to her in her earlier years she is a born survivor and an example to all! You can recover and pick yourself up and even better with the support of friends - she has lots of them.
This book was laugh out loud at points - you could actually hear her speaking as you read. There were of course very poignant times too which affected her deeply.
She was never afraid of hard work and proved that even although she was a barrister, when she hit an all time low she took a job in a country manor as a cook! She had no qualms about doing so either. A lesson to us all!
A fine read and well worth the money - I loved it and recommend it to anyone!
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This book 'ain't a mucher,' I'm sorry to say!
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'Spilling The Beans' is an amusing title and the dust cover portrays the author ('hideous' in Roy Hattersley's reported comment, though I don't commend him, either), but the work itself ain't a mucher (as some of us country folk say). One wants to be generous to an author who has suffered a lot and, by her lights, has come through to have a 'splendidly enjoyable life,' but her account is clearly not consistent with the facts in some places, and is not well-written or edited. Clarissa Dickson Wright's fans will still love it, I suppose, but I was pleased to put it down at its end and then to get on with some decent reading.
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Cracking good read!
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Well, first let me say if you like autobiographies, then you'll love this book and I thoroughly recommend it to you. Clarissa's family history is interesting and she has lived an unusual life. Last but not least, it is written in such a way that you can hear her distinctive voice all the way through it. Hence the four stars.
For me, she dropped a star and the book was slightly spoilt by her banging on about the need for various cruel bloodsports at the end of the book. This together with her repeated admission that from a young age she cannot look at an animal or bird without wondering what it tastes like left me with the feeling that there is something of the 'Hannibal Lecter' about her.
I rarely watch TV and so have not seen any of the TFL or subsequent series. My interest was kindled by her appearance on Desert Island Discs and other than this, I mainly have this book to judge her character. She says that "All of us are an accumulation of the traits, genetic tendencies, geographicals and peculiarities of our forebears". It seems to me that Clarissa's bloodline on both sides has cruelty and alcoholism running right through it (the ancestor who murdered a black servant boy by putting him in the bread oven; the maternal grandfather and of course her father). So I think she can no more help her bloodthirsty love of cruel sports than her alcoholism. She has conquered one genetic tendency, how sad she evidently has no wish to conquer the other.
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