Hilary du Pré

Hilary and Jackie by Hilary du Pre and Piers de Pre
No matter what else I think of Hilary and Jackie, I have to credit the authors with what appears to be utter honesty, or a ‘tell all’ memoir; I’m not sure which it is. On one level Hilary and Jackie strikes me as a lovely book about a family for whom music is absolutely everything, almost obsessively so. The ‘everything’, unfortunately, centers on the cellist in the family, Jackie. Two thirds of the way through I still was unsure whether I liked the book or the characters at all; mostly I felt frustration, anger, and disgust that the family allowed and condoned Jackie’s tyranny over the family, all in the name of her emotional health, and later multiple sclerosis of which she died at 42 years of age.
The family tale is told by brother, Piers, and older sister, Hilary. After Jackie’s death, the two declined offers from others to write Jackie’s biography. Instead, they chose to read through all written material collected over the years including letters, news articles, journals. Their goal was to create a portrait of the real Jackie, as her family knew her. I would surmise that they succeeded. Though I sometimes had difficulty following time segments as Hilary and Piers volleyed their remembrances, I thought the book interesting. Who am I to judge other dysfunctional families?… (mehr)

I finally got to this one and enjoyed it, but probably not as much as my husband who is a cello player. It is a fascinating story of genius and the toll it takes on a family - the original title was "A Genius in the Family." I felt the new title - "Hilary and Jackie: the true story of two sisters who shared a passion, a madness and a man" was designed by marketers who wanted to capitalize on one of the more sensational aspects of the sisters' relationship and didn't really reflect the book written by both the sister and the brother of Jackie du Pre. The writing was frank and a little plain, but appropriate for the voices of non-writers.… (mehr)