Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived

While it becomes quickly evident how excellent is Penelope Lively's memory, reading this memoir opens up all kinds of doors. In the book there is a wonderful theme of how we think of the past, and what the past means to us. There is also more than a glimpse into the lifestyles of 20th century British colonial elite. As a child, Lively could straddle different realms, different cultures, and this is the fascinating heart of the book. She grew up with ruling class privilege in British-occupied Egypt, and yet she had a child's access to local village life. She had a devoted governess, but the grown Penelope realizes how little they shared of each other. There are many fascinating parallels of home and country, such as the weight of a distant, somewhat cold mother/land. Nowadays, there's a lot written about the phenomenon of the Third Culture Kid. Usually, and to speak very simplistically, this refers to American kids who grow up overseas and cannot feel any true attachment to the US, but who are not visibly connected to the land where they spent so much of their childhood. In the worst scenario, these people can end up with severe feelings of rootlessness, and with a sense of never quite belonging. Lively beautifully and sensitively writes of this lack of connection. Aside from Oleander, Jacaranda being a wonderful story of returning, it is a comforting read for those who are affected by Third Culture Phenomena. I urge ALL EXPATRIATE parents to obtain and read this book! My third culture daughter read it at age 15, and I would recommend it to others in her age group and cultural situation. Also great by Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger (Fiction).

This is not only a memoir of Penelope Lively's childhood in Egypt in the 1930's and 40's, but also a meditation on childhood perception and how it differs from the way one sees as an adult. Lively manages to present the direct, self-centered, sensual perceptions of a child; but she also writes of her later re-interpretations of her childhood experience with adult hindsight and an adult's complex, but clouded, vision. The last chapter, in which she "returns" to England -- exotic, inscrutable England -- is beautifully rendered, turning on its head the experience of the Westerner visiting the exotic East.

Penelope Lively's autobiography is dense with a beautifully arranged description of her unusual childhood and offers the reader a chance to imagine life as a young child growing up in a lifestlye with changing surroundings that only an adult should be handling! Lively's writing styles (very apt colloquialism for this sort of book) blend in with the content of her descriptions of her childhood and the humourous moments she had with Lucy, her nanny/best friend. Her travels are illustrious and vibrant allowing the reader the escapism into the lands of Egypt from Cairo to Khartoum! I love this book and the memories passed on from Lively through to me are treasures to read!I'd give this a six if it were possible!-PKane