Our last book of 2013, done no favours by its hideous cover. What did we think of it? We read it because we wanted something short for December and it is widely considered a 20th-century classic. And yet I think it would be fair to say we found it somewhat overwrought and we couldn't help feeling a little sorry for poet George Barker being the object of such obsessive and possessive desire. Although he was no angel either, fathering 15 children by different women. According to Peter Wilby writing in The Guardian,
'He quarrelled bitterly and sometimes violently with friends as well as lovers and once threw one of his works on the fire – because, he said, his then partner had read it with a sneer. When a visitor tried to rescue it, he hit him over the head with a shovel. The same partner threw an ashtray at him and broke his teeth. Another bit his upper lip so firmly he required 40 stitches. A third partner, who left him for his nephew, was so terrified of the consequences that she settled and married in Birmingham, believing (rightly, as it turned out) that it was the last place he would think of looking for them.' (more here)
Smart meanwhile brought her four children up alone and worked in advertising to support herself, eventually becoming the most highly paid copywriter in England. And as if that wasn't enough she also wrote five books including By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, thought by some to be a poetic masterpiece. Reviews and scores over on the main site.
