Absolutely wonderful! This is the first of three memoirs by the poet, Tove Ditlevsen, who was born in Copenhagen in 1918. As the title suggests, it's about her poor childhood, which she writes about as though it's an object that she tries to hang on to as it becomes increasingly tattered. Tove has secret yearnings to write, but first she must navigate school, her relationship with her best friend Ruth, and her difficult mother. Tove's character is so vivid, so funny and poignant. I will definitely be reading the next two memoirs.

Rezension unter "Abhängigkeit"

Prachtig.

"Even though no one else cares for my poems, I have to write them because it dulls the sorrow and longing in my heart."

" I think about the fact that once the most important thing in the world was whether my mother liked me; but the child who yearned so deeply for that love and always had to search for any sign of it doesn’t exist anymore."

"I read in my poetry album while the night wanders past the window – and, unawares, my childhood falls silently to the bottom of my memory, that library of the soul from which I will draw knowledge and experience for the rest of my life."