Circuits and Bumps

Circuits and Bumps
By:Philip Condon
Published on 2006 by Trafford on Demand Pub

This is essentially a memoir of childhood and youth. The author's childhood is an unsettled one, including family bankruptcy, a period in an orphanage for the children, and then only three years as part of a |normal| family before the war breaks it up again. Yet, thanks largely to the mother, it is not an unhappy childhood; and the memoir gives an affectionate look back at life in pre-War London. After a year as an evacuee, the author rejoins his mother and sister in Wales and enjoys a period of great growth and happiness, fostered by his love of family and by his passions for reading, music, climbing, and flying. As a result, although poorly educated, he confidently makes the transition from office boy to aircrew training. Following his demobilization, the author emigrates to Canada and spends four seasons in the Klondike goldfields. Then, having completed school by correspondence, he enters university and in his third year becomes married. This period, which he terms |Phoenix Rising|, ends with two shattering blows within the space of less than three months. He subsequently has a successful teaching career - but at the cost of later breakdowns and a life of solitude. This memoir is no mere narrative. With echoes of Dickens' Pip, Wordsworth, Bunyan's pilgrim and Mr. Chips, among other things it takes a glance at climbing, flying, gold-mining, teaching, recurrent dreams and dissociation. This is a tale of perseverance in spite of repeated disappointment - and it is a testament of love. ForeWord CLARION REVIEW For those interested in pre-War London, this book is a gem, but the author writes just as enthusiastically about teaching as he does about war, heartbreak, and disillusionment. The true strength of this book is the author's experiences, from his time as a pilot to the four seasons he spent in Klondike goldfields. ...It is clear that Condon has led a full life, and he has risen after every bump and dive. Thus, the phoenix is an appropriate section title and an apt symbol for the writer himself. KIRKUS REVIEW A deft, compelling autobiography of an Everyman. Thorough, organized and well-researched, Circuits & Bumps qualifies more as autobiography than memoir, heavily weighted though it is toward Condon's early years. Though his childhood was at times Dickensian - spent in part in an orphanage when his father was incarcerated and his mother hospitalized - the author, an admitted romantic, remembers himself more as Huck Finn than Pip. Blessed with an encyclopedic memory, Condon displays a keen eye for those seminal moments that most require years of expensive therapy to pinpoint. His are receiving his library card, seeing his first mountain and suffering a terrifying run-in with a threatening stranger - all have effects that took decades to reveal themselves fully. Though the author entered training for the Royal Air Force during World War II, fighting ended before he got airborne. Failing to earn his wings, Condon found himself adrift in the gloom of postwar London. Lured by the contrast of Canada's unfettered and pristine expanses, Condon emigrated. There he transforms into a virtual Sal Paradise and his narrative into a somewhat less manic, but no less idealistic, Anglo-Canadian On the Road. A stint at a mining camp in the Yukon led the young man to turn his attention to education, a decision that led to his matriculating at the age of 27 at the University of British Columbia. By his early 30's, Condon married his one true love, lost her to breast cancer, became a teacher and began suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The author wields some advantage over a contemporary audience due to the sheer exoticism of growing up in 1930's London. However, his magnetic tale is powered as much by the storytelling and language as by the subject matter. There's comfort in the grace with which he writes about his strug

This Book was ranked at 35 by Google Books for keyword childhood years a memoir.

Book ID of Circuits and Bumps's Books is gANzJgAACAAJ, Book which was written byPhilip Condonhave ETAG "V9ckrbD4OUU"

Book which was published by Trafford on Demand Pub since 2006 have ISBNs, ISBN 13 Code is 9781412099301 and ISBN 10 Code is 1412099307

Reading Mode in Text Status is false and Reading Mode in Image Status is false

Book which have "474 Pages" is Printed at BOOK under CategoryFiction

This Book was rated by Raters and have average rate at ""

This eBook Maturity (Adult Book) status is NOT_MATURE

Book was written in en

eBook Version Availability Status at PDF is falseand in ePub is false

Book Preview