Rating: 
Summary: interesting, yet highly personal
Review: Having already read the book about du Pre by Carol Easton, I was interested in reading this, too. On the whole, this is a better book, yet it is deeply personal and painful at times to read. The reader begins to appreciate fully the strain on the entire family when one member is a temperamental genius.
Rating: 
Summary: Read between the lines and she is the greatest cellist
Review: Having read both this book and the ELizabeth Wilson biography it becomes apparent that she is arguably the greatest cellist of all time. It appears Ms.Du Pre suffered Multiple Sclerosis symptoms for many years before it beseiged her body. Complaints of vision problems, numb limbs and torso go back to her very early twenties. If this is the case, then she was recording, playing, preparing a legacy while handicapped in unimaginable ways. Her complaints of health problems fell on deaf ears for allthose years. Listen to her recordings, and you will quickly realize the great gifts she left behind. She has set standards that have yet to be equaled! This is the true genius of Ms.Du Pre.
Rating: 
Summary: Unmitigated trash
Review: Hilary is the sick one here. Jealousy is a green-eyed monster and she has desecrated the memory of her sister with this piece of you-know-what. And it's badly written besides.
Rating: 
Summary: tuffyb has got it in a nutshell.
Review: I agree with tuffyb who said it's a tedious book and it is. The family background is far too long, involved and frankly, uninteresting. Also, I have no desire to know that Jacqueline du Pre slept with her brother-in-law, among the many things in this hatchet job of An Intimate Memoir! I prefer to remember her on the concert stage making her unique music. However much the hurt, some things are best left unsaid and unprinted outside the immediate family circle. Truly. We still have Jacqueline du Pre's recordings and that's all we need now.
Rating:
Summary: Life is unfair
Review: I bought this book in Helsinki and read it with great excitement. I got hooked on classical music some 10 years ago. Jacqueline du Pré's version of Elgar's cello concerto was familiar to me as well as his fate, but the details of her life were not known to me. What Hilary and Piers share about her life is so intimate I can understand why some got offended. Yet her life was beautiful in many ways. But why did MS attack her? Was one of the reasons the stress that started to build up in her? What had publicity to do with all this? Hilary is a brave woman as her brother is a brave man. We can all learn from this book. Love is the main theme.
Rating: 
Summary: du Pre's amazing story overcomes the book's flawed writing
Review: I got this book for free when I bought the soundtrack to the movie. A good thing because the cliched writing and endless descriptions of idealized bacon and egg breakfasts made for tedious reading. But it's worth slogging through just to learn about the wonderful musical genius Jacqueline du Pre. In my memoir Project Girl I describe the burden of the "girl genius" and could relate so personally to Jacqueline's isolation and arrested emotional development. As much as they try to write away their guilt it is obvious from the book that both her sister and brother failed her consistently. It should be read if only if it inspires you, as it has me, to immediately order her CDs and a video tribute to her.
Rating:
Summary: an interesting experince just reading the book
Review: I have never read a book that made me feel so close to its characters. Jacqueline du Pre's playing is incredible, and her brother and sister describe her troubled career and pure genius in a way that is very touching. A wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: Mugs, Jackables and Hil--UGH!
Review: I read this book cover to cover because I was really interested in Ms. Du Pre, but it was really hard to stomach the cutesy names and the generally smarmy tenor--I guess it's hard for family members to be objective, but if I have to read one more time about these 2-dimensional beings "dissolving" into giggles, I'm going to gag.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating story
Review: I really enjoyed this book, with one exception - the description of the affair was difficult to read. Everyone involved comes out looking horrible, even Hilary. I really wished she would grow a backbone and confront her sister or her husband. Talk about dysfunctional families. Kiffer is a selfish jerk and Jacqueline just goes after whatever she wants, regardless of the impact on other people. It is to Hilary's credit that she stayed on speaking terms with her sister. however, I'd still give this book five stars because it takes guts to write about someone so well-known, and especially when such difficult material is part of your story. I think the authors showed respect for Jacqueline by waiting 10 years after her death to publish. It's unreasonable to say that's too soon, in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I saw the movie and abolutely loved it, so I bought the book and read it within one day. It's one of the best books I ever read. Excellent!!!!
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