Review of My Rude Awakening
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Dalia Chf
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Review of My Rude Awakening
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "My Rude Awakening" by Edward Charles Featherstone.]
My Rude Awakening is a highly provocative memoir that describes the early life of author Edward Charles Featherstone as he navigates his sexual awakening, his life as a military pilot, and the loss of his first love and a good friend. The narrative is very explicit and sexual, going into the gritty details of how an older woman taught Featherstone the highs and lows of intimacy between a man and a woman and how to best pleasure a woman’s body.
I have conflicting feelings about this book. The narration was very enjoyable and the reader can understand what the author is going through at any given moment. Featherstone leaves nothing to the imagination, both in terms of the physical and mental aspects of his growing-up years. My favorite chapter was the one about his grandfather, Edward Francis George Apsley. He was definitely a role model for the author and, in my opinion, gave him some of the best life lessons he could have gotten as a child. One of my favorite quotes from the book is his statement, “I wasn’t protecting my money. I was protecting my principles,” immediately after a robbery in which he was shot near the heart.
The time spent in the Middle East kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and without giving away spoilers, Chapter 30 about Mission Zero Nine broke my heart a million times over. The characters were all likable, from the author’s mother to Jamie to Fabrizio, who made me laugh out loud several times. Unfortunately, however, one of the main characters and Featherstone’s first love was not there. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision on the author's part, but I could only ever picture Gigi as a sex-crazed woman. Almost every scene she was in started or ended with them having sex. I understand that this book is about the author’s “rude awakening”, but I would have liked to have seen more everyday scenes between the two of them, especially during his R&R leave. It’s described as a great love story, so great that even Gigi and Charles’ families accepted it without batting an eyelid, but I couldn’t feel it at all.
I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. It’s provocative, emotional, very detailed when it comes to the years in military service, and impeccably edited. I did not find a single error in it. I felt like I got a glimpse of what it's like to grow up in the dazzling universe of Rockwell Manor, with all its privilege and not-so-ordinary routine. However, I couldn’t connect with one of the main characters, so much so that I almost disliked her. That’s why I’m deducting one star.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy reading gritty memoirs about the English upper class to get out of their world for a little while. However, if you are sensitive to crude descriptions of sex, I would be extremely cautious.
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My Rude Awakening
View: on Bookshelves
My Rude Awakening is a highly provocative memoir that describes the early life of author Edward Charles Featherstone as he navigates his sexual awakening, his life as a military pilot, and the loss of his first love and a good friend. The narrative is very explicit and sexual, going into the gritty details of how an older woman taught Featherstone the highs and lows of intimacy between a man and a woman and how to best pleasure a woman’s body.
I have conflicting feelings about this book. The narration was very enjoyable and the reader can understand what the author is going through at any given moment. Featherstone leaves nothing to the imagination, both in terms of the physical and mental aspects of his growing-up years. My favorite chapter was the one about his grandfather, Edward Francis George Apsley. He was definitely a role model for the author and, in my opinion, gave him some of the best life lessons he could have gotten as a child. One of my favorite quotes from the book is his statement, “I wasn’t protecting my money. I was protecting my principles,” immediately after a robbery in which he was shot near the heart.
The time spent in the Middle East kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and without giving away spoilers, Chapter 30 about Mission Zero Nine broke my heart a million times over. The characters were all likable, from the author’s mother to Jamie to Fabrizio, who made me laugh out loud several times. Unfortunately, however, one of the main characters and Featherstone’s first love was not there. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision on the author's part, but I could only ever picture Gigi as a sex-crazed woman. Almost every scene she was in started or ended with them having sex. I understand that this book is about the author’s “rude awakening”, but I would have liked to have seen more everyday scenes between the two of them, especially during his R&R leave. It’s described as a great love story, so great that even Gigi and Charles’ families accepted it without batting an eyelid, but I couldn’t feel it at all.
I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. It’s provocative, emotional, very detailed when it comes to the years in military service, and impeccably edited. I did not find a single error in it. I felt like I got a glimpse of what it's like to grow up in the dazzling universe of Rockwell Manor, with all its privilege and not-so-ordinary routine. However, I couldn’t connect with one of the main characters, so much so that I almost disliked her. That’s why I’m deducting one star.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy reading gritty memoirs about the English upper class to get out of their world for a little while. However, if you are sensitive to crude descriptions of sex, I would be extremely cautious.
******
My Rude Awakening
View: on Bookshelves
Latest Review: Little-Princess by Marie-Paule Mahoney
