Too Many Mothers: A Memoir of an East End Childhood

Miss Taylor makes hard reading of this book by bringing in too many people into the story, many with the same name ie; george then little george and then little little george, two bobs, two garys, it seems that the book is not her memoirs but her whole family memoirs, 90% of the book is about her aunts and uncles lives before the author was born so they are not her memoirs.
if the book is to be beleaved then Miss Taylor seems to have spent her life with pent up aggression releasing it out on members of her family after they had died making light of their poverty, the book is just another way on cashing in on a so called celeb life, making the most of her 15 minutes of fame, when she is no longer famous then she may remember the truth and that she was no better then any of her cousins and their families.

Fantastic Holiday Read (0/0 people found this helpful)

What a lovely, funny book, I took it with me on holiday and couldnt put it down, I didnt want it to end. Fabulous writing, excellent book

Must have read the wrong book (2/2 people found this helpful)

Unlike the other reviewers I found this book completely boring in the extreme. Why Miss Taylor thought one would be interested in her somewhat crude family is beyond me,the book is neither funny or sad,the language is very disgusting,and why she decided to write about each member of her family is very confusing,and tiresome,and the chapters on Boxing Day 1956 meant nothing at all.The only chapter of any interest is the last one, and having finished the book, it is certainly forgetable. I hope Miss Taylor's next book will be about her career, which I'm sure would be of more interest.

my wife just loved it (0/0 people found this helpful)

my wife read this book and was for once very quiet,the feed back she gave was that its one of the best books she had read in a while,one minute she was laughing the next crying.Take it from me if my wife likes a book i know it she goes from houseproud too couldnt give a damn,so if you want a little peace guys buy your wife this
book. ps thank you roberta

A bewitching read from a bewitching author (5/5 people found this helpful)

I bought this book because I like Roberta Taylor as an actress, and would have been happy to read anything by her. I had expected a quick in-flight-read kind of a book. But it was a much better and richer experience than that. By the time I put it down, every character had been etched so clearly and memorably on my mind that I felt as if they'd all rented a large house in my head, and were carrying on their colourful lives up there.

Although it's all based on real-life characters and events from her own past, this isn't a book about Roberta Taylor, it's a book about life in the east-end of London in the first half of the 20th century. There's a real poignancy about it. You get the impression that the 1950s are such a watershed in Britain that looking back is like looking over a high wall.

She crafts the story for maximum impact and enjoyment, not to make herself the centre or focus of it. She does it brilliantly - the structure of the book leads to a tightly-woven cloth of overlapping and interwoven threads, with the same narratives sometimes retold from two or more perspectives. There's both a clear, forward-thrusting narrative, and a contemplative, side-stepping and time-hopping one which gives depth and suspense.

Far from being just another memoir by a celebrity, for my taste, this is up there with some of my favourites like Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet, or Cider With Rosie, or Under Milk Wood. Now that many of the places in the book have long since been glazed and steeled with new Docklands developments, this is a beautiful memorial to a past which is indeed another country.

Too Many Mothers: A Memoir of an East End Childhood

Roberta Taylor

Reader Reviews:

memoirs from hell (0/0 people found this helpful)

Fantastic Holiday Read (0/0 people found this helpful)

Must have read the wrong book (2/2 people found this helpful)

my wife just loved it (0/0 people found this helpful)

A bewitching read from a bewitching author (5/5 people found this helpful)

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