Reckoning Magda Szubanski
From Goodreads
Winner, Book of the Year and Biography of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2016
RecKoning MAGDA SZUBANSKI ABOUT THE AUTHOR Magda Szubanski is one of Australia’s best known and most loved performers. She began her career in university revues, then appeared in a number of sketch comedy shows before creating the iconic character of Sharon Strzelecki in ABC-TV’s Kath and Kim. Reckoning - Magda Szubanski - A Memoir Published on Mar 8, 2021 Read Reckoning Portable Document Format - A Memoir Ebook by Magda Szubanski book; Read Online Reckoning: A Memoir Portable Document.
Magda Szubanski Heath Ledger
Heartbreaking, joyous, traumatic, intimate and revelatory, Reckoning is the book where Magda Szubanski, one of Australia’s most beloved performers, tells her story.
In this extraordinary memoir, Magda describes her journey of self-discovery from a suburban childhood, haunted by the demons of her father’s espionage activities in wartime Poland and by her secret awareness of her sexuality, to the complex dramas of adulthood and her need to find out the truth about herself and her family. With courage and compassion she addresses her own frailties and fears, and asks the big questions about life, about the shadows we inherit and the gifts we pass on.
Honest, poignant, utterly captivating, Reckoning announces the arrival of a fearless writer and natural storyteller. It will touch the lives of its readers.
Magda Szubanski Interviews
Magda Szubanski is one of Australia’s best known and most loved performers. She began her career in university revues, then appeared in a number of sketch comedy shows before creating the iconic character of Sharon Strzelecki in ABC-TV’s Kath and Kim. She has also acted in films (Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet, The Golden Compass) and stage shows. Reckoning is her first book.
Review
This book was probably one of the most hyped books of 2016. It appeared that everyone who read this book, on the whole, only had great things to say about it so when I went to read it for book club I was really looking forward to seeing what all the hype was about.
Extremely detailed (perhaps too detailed at times) account of Magda’s life although the focus seemed to be way more on her father rather than herself leaving the reader wondering whether the book was about Magda’s dad rather than herself. Throughout the vast majority of the story Magda’s mother appeared to only be mentioned in passing. The relationship between Magda and her mother was confusing to me. Magda portrayed her mother as a harsh, almost unforgiving, woman. I questioned whether this was due to Magda’s mother’s upbringing or had she been toughened by the wars. I wondered whether underneath the story ran a desire to gain approval from her Father, as if she felt he thought her to be a disappointment.
Magda Szubanski Partner
The extreme detail and possibly unnecessary wordiness meant this book was extremely hard to get into added to the fact that autobiographies I read are of people I really want to find out more about. Magda on the other hand, whilst I admire her achievements and acknowledge that she has overcome many personal battles of her own, I feel I know all I want to know about her so I wasn’t overly invested in her story.
I did like the fact that there were many places that she mentioned which I am familiar with due to my family having relations who lived there or places we visited when I was a little girl. Places included, Croydon, Kilsyth, Montrose, Calder Hwy, Cohuna, Echuca, Kerang, and Swan Hill. She also mentioned The Brady Bunch which was a series that I had watched as a young girl.
| by Magda Szubanski
▼Members
▼Tags ▼LibraryThing Recommendations None Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all) 3.5 ( ) gumnut25 | Apr 21, 2020 | a beautiful, well-written search through her own Scottish, Polish, gay-not-gay life ( ) devilish2 | Mar 20, 2019 | There was a clear generational divide in views with this month’s read. Our over 60s found Magda to be noticeably self-absorbed and indulgent in the telling of her story. Most felt it a result of therapy sessions and although interesting and in some ways topical, it lacked the punch and depth to really engage. Those in the younger (albeit, not by much) category found Magda to be quite stimulating and thought-provoking. They found she came across resilient and easily relatable. Her struggle with her sexuality and father’s history took precedent over her career milestones, which enhanced the story for some but proved a weakness for others. There were comments surrounding Magda’s father/daughter relationship and whether she was able to come to terms with what she knew of his involvement in the Warsaw resistance. This obviously made a strong impression on her as a child, and may have halted their relationship in a number of ways. Was the writing of Reckoning her means of dispelling the demons left by such knowledge? Some believed so, but also believed that it was unsuccessful to the point of reconciliation. “She still appears a troubled and confused woman” was one comment. We found ourselves in lively conversation about the distinction between generations and parenting styles, and of course the highly publicised discussion on same-sex relationships. As a club we don’t tend to read many biographies, so for a genre shift it proved an interesting reading exercise which resulted in an even more interesting conversation. Thank you ladies, it’s been another great year! ( ) jody12 | Dec 19, 2018 | well written and enthralling memoir - of her father's Polish background and her mother's Scottish/Irish family - interesting that some of this was discovered through the show Where do I come from - she grew up in Croydon and went to school at Sienna Convent not far from my childhood p- laces and about her comedy career and coming out. ( ) siri51 | Dec 25, 2017 | Despite her struggles, this was a really great read. Was surprised by much of what I read and its given me a lot to think about, courage, depression, PTSD and the reluctance to come out. It was also a lot of fun, and I particularly enjoyed reading about Magda finding her stride in comedy, television and movies - now as a writer. Hope she writes more! ( ) tandah | Feb 13, 2017 | Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all) ▼Published reviews ▼Common Knowledge
References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in EnglishNone Heartbreaking, joyous, traumatic, intimate and revelatory, Reckoning is the book where Magda Szubanski, one of Australia's most beloved performers, tells her story. In this extraordinary memoir, Magda describes her journey of self-discovery from a suburban childhood, haunted by the demons of her father's espionage activities in wartime Poland and by her secret awareness of her sexuality, to the complex dramas of adulthood and her need to find out the truth about herself and her family. With courage and compassion she addresses her own frailties and fears, and asks the big questions about life, about the shadows we inherit and the gifts we pass on. Honest, poignant, utterly captivating, Reckoning announces the arrival of a fearless writer and natural storyteller. It will touch the lives of its readers. No library descriptions found. ▼LibraryThing members' description
|
Audible(0 editions) Project Gutenberg(0 editions) Popular coversRatingAverage:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||