Cider
with Rosie is a memoir of a childhood. We are taken on a journey from the time
he and his family move to Slad, an isolated Cotswold village. We are introduced
to his chaotic but loving family life, learn of the shock of school, his
adventures with the opposite sex and his part in mischievous acts. He tells of
growing up without a father, his relationships with his mother, sisters and
friends, as he moves toward manhood. We hear of his sexual awakening with
Rosie, this loss of innocence and naivety and what it was like when he finally
lost the characteristics that made him the sweet boy he introduces at the
start.
In the first chapter Lee describes a
three year old's perception and
misconceptions: small in relation to objects around him, for example when he
got lost in the grass, on the family's arrival at their new home, "I had
never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me,
each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight". His sense of adventure
is communicated through the use of metaphors and similes. He describes things
in a very simple, natural way that makes you feel you are there in his world.
He uses wonderful descriptive detail and our discussion drew similarities with
Dylan Thomas and Thomas Hardy.
Whilst surrounded by a loving family, he tells of the harshness of
ceasing to be the youngest child. "I grew a little tougher, a little
colder, and turned my attention more to the outside world, which was now
emerging visibly through the mist". Lee says he grew a little tougher, as
a result of not been allowed to sleep in his mother's bed and he thought this
was the end of the world. But he was growing up and soon realised that there
are other things in life for him to discover: school, friends, girls and the
wonderful local characters and all their history. We particularly loved the
Grannies and their relationship despite never talking to each other, how
different they were and how they were able to teach the boys so much about the
older generation.
We speculated if Lee's encounter with Rosie was a key theme in
his childhood as he used this memory as the title. Laurie Lee has written about
the coming of age of the nation as well as the boy. The book gives a detailed account of a childhood
that seemed filled full with fun, adventure and typical childhood mischief. Yet
it is also about loss: loss of traditions, of innocence, of his father and the
loss those who never returned from the war.
This charming, autobiographical novel,
peopled with characters we all liked drew pictures of a rural world and upbringing, whilst long gone had
elements that we recognised from our own childhoods.