Whenever I hear the phrase ‘This boy…’ I think of the Beatles song of the same name, and perhaps it inspired Alan Johnson to use it as a title for his autobiography since he has always been a big fan of the group.
‘This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood’ was published in 2013 and it is our book club choice for this month. Whoever chose or suggested it for our reading group, well done them! It is fascinating, absorbing, gripping, shocking, amusing, interesting, well-written… I really recommend it, even to those who might think (like me) that they don’t enjoy biographies and autobiographies.
Alan Johnson is a Labour politician who has often been seen as a party leader, and potential prime minister, but who has never made it through the party leadership elections. He was born in 1950 and worked from the age of fifteen, and eventually became a postman. Strongly political he became the leader of the Union of Communication Workers, before becoming a member of parliament. In government he had several important roles, including Home Secretary, Secretary of State for Health, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Minister for Higher Education and Minister of State for Employment Relation.
However, Alan’s autobiographical memoir only traces his life as far as his marriage when he was still only quite young. he has written a second volume, but I’ve not yet read it.
Alan was born only five years after the end of the war and lived in London all his life; parts of London when he was born was still a war-torn wasteland as a result of the bombing raids. His father was feckless and the family lived in the most dreadful, heart-breaking poverty despite his mother working several jobs. This was made worse by the fact that she had serious health issues, and tragically she died when Alan wasn’t even a teen-ager. His mother had divorced his father, so when she died Alan’s sister who was only sixteen herself became his guardian and brought him up.
Unlike many politicians, who come from wealthier backgrounds, have moved from school to university to a political career, Alan has lived an ordinary life, and seen the worst and the best of ordinary people because he was an ordinary person himself. He knows what it’s like to be hungry, cold, afraid, to have to hide from rent-collectors and to go round the streets picking up bits of coal.
This might make the book sound a depressing read; well, despite the dreadful situation the little family found themselves in, there was love, and there was music, and friends and adventures for the young boy. It really is a gripping read, well-written, interesting, and at times funny.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Boy-Alan-Johnson/dp/0593069641
Lois Elsden 
One Comment