Cider with Rosie

By: Laurie Lee

Narrated by: Laurie Lee

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Cider with Rosie is a wonderfully vivid memoir of childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a village before electricity or cars, a timeless place on the verge of change. Growing up amongst the fields and woods and characters of the place, Laurie Lee depicts a world that is both immediate and real and belongs to a now-distant past.

©1989 Laurie Lee (P)2009 Random House Audio Books

The writing is superb!

Reading Laurie Lee's book was a magical journey into a past before my time. And having the author read it - made it that much more special. A truly remarkable book.

Terrific

A poem in prose, A story almost sung, A history of a time and place now gone; Ficas good as "A child s Christmas in Wales"__orbetter

Wonderful Book

A beautiful and gripping tale. And what a treat to hear it in the author's voice.

Nostalgic

This book was a favorite of a dear loved one who has passed away. The poetic imagery of life in post World War 11 England is magical. It’s a young boy’s perfect description of how he views his younger years and his surroundings. It’s a book I’ll read over and over again.

A voice of the past

What made the experience of listening to Cider with Rosie the most enjoyable?

Listening to Laurie Lee read his memoir, Cider With Rosie, is like slipping into the early part of the last century. His voice, and his wide ranging use of metaphor, simile, and extensive vocabulary take one deep into the heart of an isolated Cotswold village, and it's tight knit (incestuous) community. A different time, and looked at from today, one that was far from perfect. Still, it is evocative and a world that is lost; and therefore worth recalling.

What about Laurie Lee’s performance did you like?

Hearing LL read his own work is like listening to Eliot read his. A treat.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

too long

Any additional comments?

Marvelous

Marvelous storytelling

Beautiful portrait of a time and place … the words are poetic and Lee’s narration is marvelously soothing and soulful. A time capsule for the Cotswolds, and full of loving, sensitive portraits of the young author’s family, neighbors, and friends, most of all an ode to his mother, one of the most vivid characters you’ll ever come across in a book.

Unforgettable Work

Stunning prose provides a lovely glimpse of a long gone magical world. A real joy.

It Grows on You

This memoir of a turn-of-the-century Welshman written and performed by the same person at an advanced age is rhythmically and melodiously performed but leaves one somewhat disatisfied. It's a first person glimpse into life in a poor family in the beginning of the 1900s through probably the beginning of World War II. For that reason it's edifying, but somewhat disturbing in it's frankness about sexuality of a young and growing male. This reader happens to be disappointed at the interjection of what sometimes seems unnecessarily gratuitous sexuality into everything nowadays. The character development was insightful, anyway.

Cider with Rosie

I'll admit, at first I didn't enjoy the author's voice. Soon however, without noticing when, it felt right. After all, this is his story. Who better to tell it?
He was reminiscing about a way of life that was vanishing even as he and his family lived it. Yet as the story progressed, something altogether more interesting began to emerge.
There is a darkness in this story that is partially hidden by his poetic writing. There is also light and hope. Most of all, there is an almost terrible yearning that runs from cover to cover.
It’s a surprisingly sad tale, not simply the story of a world now vanished but, more powerfully, a familiar cry for all childhoods, for what we misinterpret and what we fail to miss until it’s gone.

Chaotic nonsense

If this had not been a book for my bookclub, I would have abandoned it before finishing the first chapter.