James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, to say the least
Review: A mean-spirited attempt to capitalize on the success of Herriot's books. Even if Graham Lord's assessment is accurate, it is entirely unnecessary to imply that Alf Wight (James Herriot) fictionalized his accounts of life as a Yorkshire vet. Those of us who have read (and loved) Mr. Herriot's stories of his life in "Darrowby" will be offended by this attempt to convince us that much of the content was fiction rather than fact. Let the man rest in peace and let his many readers enjoy his stories, regardless of whether they were strictly true or not. Mr. Lord claims to be Herriot's friend and confidante -- no-one needs friends like that.

Rating:
Summary: Should have passed this one by
Review: Early on in Graham Lord's book on Alf Wight (known to the world as James Herriot), one begins to question Lord's frequent claim that he was a good friend of Wight. Although Lord certainly knew Wight, and as a reviewer, was apparently very helpful in getting the first Herriot book off the ground, his book is more of a hatchet job than a memoir one might expect from such a self-proclaimed friend.

Lord, for instance, dwells repetitively on the discrepancies between Wight's life and the life of the fictional James Herriot. Indeed, these differences are basically the central theme of this very sour book. It is, of course, interesting that Alf Wight's life, though parallel to that portrayed by the James Herriot character, was nonetheless quite different in many particulars. Lord seems to believe, however, that it is crucial that such differences be magnified and he treats all such differences as a species of lie by Wight. This treatment makes for a consistently peevish tone on Lord's part which makes the book heavy, dispiriting reading. Only an enemy of Wight could take much pleasure in this pseudo-muckraking.

Lord is also no biographer and no historian. He is utterly unable to drop his own preconceptions and prejudices in the face of contrary evidence. The worst instance of this lies in Lord's treatment of Wight's youth and early adulthood. Alf Wight grew up in Scotland, chiefly in Glasgow, during the period between the two world wars. Glasgow today is enjoying a rebirth and its Victorian-era buildings and monuments are being restored and gentrified. For most of the past fifty years, however, it has been a sort of British Detroit, an industrial wasteland of the extremely poor, a well of persistent high unemployment. Knowing this face of Glasgow, Lord incorrectly assumes that pre-war Glasgow was as bad, and that anyone living in it must have been dirt-poor and always living from hand to mouth. In fact, Alf Wight's father seems to have done very well for his family, and every move they made was to a better district and a larger home. Alf was even sent to a fairly posh private school in Glasgow as a boy. Nonetheless, Lord remains impervious to these clues, and takes every opportunity to talk about the Wights' supposed poverty and distress, which from his own evidence is patent nonsense. Similar failures to look past his own prejudices and preconceptions similarly mar the balance of the book.

Finally, it must be said that Lord, though a journalist by trade, is no writer. Perhaps he does better with the kind of breathless, tell-all yellow journalism demanded by Britain's tabloid press. He is utterly defeated, however, by the prose required by a serious book. His prose is leaden and labored at the best. His attempts at subtlety are embarrassingly obvious and heavy-handed. In short, the book is a plodding, badly written affair, which seems to have been given no editorial attention at all.

In short, the mystery is why Lord's book was published at all. The only answer can be the continuing popularity of the Herriot books and stories. Those books, in their warm humanity and poignant stories make a pointed contrast to Lord's sour, peevish book.

Rating:
Summary: An Inaccurate and Dull Life of James Herriot
Review: Early on in Graham Lord's book on Alf Wight (known to the world as James Herriot), one begins to question Lord's frequent claim that he was a good friend of Wight. Although Lord certainly knew Wight, and as a reviewer, was apparently very helpful in getting the first Herriot book off the ground, his book is more of a hatchet job than a memoir one might expect from such a self-proclaimed friend.

Lord, for instance, dwells repetitively on the discrepancies between Wight's life and the life of the fictional James Herriot. Indeed, these differences are basically the central theme of this very sour book. It is, of course, interesting that Alf Wight's life, though parallel to that portrayed by the James Herriot character, was nonetheless quite different in many particulars. Lord seems to believe, however, that it is crucial that such differences be magnified and he treats all such differences as a species of lie by Wight. This treatment makes for a consistently peevish tone on Lord's part which makes the book heavy, dispiriting reading. Only an enemy of Wight could take much pleasure in this pseudo-muckraking.

Lord is also no biographer and no historian. He is utterly unable to drop his own preconceptions and prejudices in the face of contrary evidence. The worst instance of this lies in Lord's treatment of Wight's youth and early adulthood. Alf Wight grew up in Scotland, chiefly in Glasgow, during the period between the two world wars. Glasgow today is enjoying a rebirth and its Victorian-era buildings and monuments are being restored and gentrified. For most of the past fifty years, however, it has been a sort of British Detroit, an industrial wasteland of the extremely poor, a well of persistent high unemployment. Knowing this face of Glasgow, Lord incorrectly assumes that pre-war Glasgow was as bad, and that anyone living in it must have been dirt-poor and always living from hand to mouth. In fact, Alf Wight's father seems to have done very well for his family, and every move they made was to a better district and a larger home. Alf was even sent to a fairly posh private school in Glasgow as a boy. Nonetheless, Lord remains impervious to these clues, and takes every opportunity to talk about the Wights' supposed poverty and distress, which from his own evidence is patent nonsense. Similar failures to look past his own prejudices and preconceptions similarly mar the balance of the book.

Finally, it must be said that Lord, though a journalist by trade, is no writer. Perhaps he does better with the kind of breathless, tell-all yellow journalism demanded by Britain's tabloid press. He is utterly defeated, however, by the prose required by a serious book. His prose is leaden and labored at the best. His attempts at subtlety are embarrassingly obvious and heavy-handed. In short, the book is a plodding, badly written affair, which seems to have been given no editorial attention at all.

In short, the mystery is why Lord's book was published at all. The only answer can be the continuing popularity of the Herriot books and stories. Those books, in their warm humanity and poignant stories make a pointed contrast to Lord's sour, peevish book.

Rating:
Summary: He didn't know the man well enough to write this book
Review: Graham Lord is not a hack or a fraud, but he clearly wrote this book without any cooperation from the family of James Herriot (Alfie Wight), and it shows in an abominable lack of actual information about Herriot's life before meeting Lord or of Herriot's life as a vet. He also makes far too much about the fact that Herriot was writing compelling stories based on actual incidents rather than serving only as a journalist, but since his connection to Herriot was only through his books and some occasional personal contact, there was little else he could write. The book is infuriating in the extent to which it substitutes information about the times in which Herriot lived for actual information about Herriot: knowing nothing of Herriot's life growing up, Lord talks endlessly about the life of other people who grew up in the same neighborhood as Herriot, and historical records and newspapers were obviously his primary source, along with people who didn't live in Thirsk and who had limited contact with Herriot.

The inadequacies of this book inspired Jim Wight (Herriot's son) to write a truly revealing biography entitled The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father, and Lord is to be thanked for that. He did his best with what little information he had, but there is no escaping the fact that he had too little information, and having read the son's memoir, I quickly found Lord's book unbearable and started skimming after a couple of chapters in the hopes of finding SOMETHING I hadn't already learned from Wight's book. I was not successful.

Rating:
Summary: Best recent biography, caring but honest look at Alf Wight
Review: Having met Mr. Wight more than once, this bio is honest, candid,and full of well researched material with plenty of interviews in my opinion. Written by a man who knew alf from a reviewer's standpoint, he dispassionately reviews both his writing and what made him tick.Joan, Alf's wife, comes off as the woman that I've heard most Thirsk residents describe.Not always an easy woman, but the one that Alf married and loved-not his first and great love, but a lifetime love. Surprising facts like Alf's salary never going above 20 pounds per week make one wonder why he didn't quit working for Donald Sinclair early on. Until his literary success, Alf was always in debt.He always treated his book paychecks as something that would disappear any moment,never living with any degree of ostentation. Joan's dislike of travel and leaving Yorkshire probably contributed to that. Any James Herriot fan will find this book a must-read and a must buy! He really was a gentle soul who occasionally suffered from bouts of depression but this book is anything but depressing.

Rating:
Summary: This book has the wrong sub-title
Review: I agree with most of the opinions expressed in other reviews - Lord seems to be determined to highlight the inconsistencies in Herriot/Wight's life. Even though it's a well documented and well written book, I really wonder about Lord's motivation for writing it.

One comment I haven't read so far, though, is that the book should be sub-titled "The Life of a Writer". Fully 1/2 of the book discusses his work as a writer - how he got started, how he got published, how he handled fame, etc. That was interesting, but - after reading 4 of Herriot's books - what I really wanted to know was what his daily life as a vet was like (what the sub-title implies). Unfortunately, Lord skims over those decades of Herriot/Wight's life, only focusing on dicrepancies between the Herriot books and reality. Overall, a disapointing read.

Rating:
Summary: Reply to the disillusioned Michigan reader
Review: I am sorry that your Michigan reader was disillusioned by my book - and baffled, too, since almost every reviewer in the USA, Britain, Australia and Canada has said what a warm, affectionate tribute it is. Yes, I did discover some details about Herriot that do not accord with his own claims but it is surely any decent biographer's duty to tell the truth. What is the point of a biography that doesn't?

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointed with this Book
Review: I bought this book after having read and re-read all the Herriot books for the past twenty years. I was eagerly looking forward to seeing pictures of a young James Herriot, a young 'Siegfried' et al. We fans already knew that the characters names were pseudonyms but did Lord really have to go to so many lengths in almost calling James Herriot a liar ? Why did he feel it so important to reveal so much ? I felt he and Eddie Straiton collaborated in trying to destroy what James Herriot had spent so many years building - a little corner of the world where we can all escape to in our hearts and minds. I wonder how many people will ever be able to enjoy re-reading James Herriots books again after reading this unnecessary 'expose'. Shame on you Graham Lord !

Rating:
Summary: Should have passed this one by
Review: I bought this book while visiting the Yorkshire Dales, after lapping up the James Herriot series years earlier. I was sooo excited to find the book and had romantic visions of reading about the real James Herriot while visiting his homeland.

Ohhhhh, how I wish I had picked up the book, soaked up the photos, and put the book right back on the shelf.

A classic case of raining on my parade; bursting my bubble; toss out ANY fitting cliche. It shattered all my illusions about James Harriet's life, experiences, and loved ones. If you are a sentimental fool like me and have read Herriot's books, pass this one byyyyy.

Rating:
Summary: A complete waste of time.
Review: I couldn't agree more with the other reviews posted about this book. It reminded me of the biography of John Lennon I once tried to read. After reading a very short time I put down the book never to reopen it, feeling as if I needed a shower. It's as if the author is trying to elevate himself by bringing down the subject by exposing all his "faults" to the world. Researching would seem to be the most important component to writing a biography (along with the ability to write), and neither are in evidence here. Graham Lord relies on information and viewpoints from only a few sources and none of them close family or friends. Much of the writing is spent on exposing Wight's inconsistancies between his real life and his writing. Why this is so important is beyond me. I believe Wight started every story with an idea based on experience, and expanded it into the charming chapter he presented to us in his books. I also believe many of the stories were accurate retellings of episodes in his career with only names and exact circumstances altered. Instead of focusing on what would be the central core to Alfie Wight's life and writing, Graham Lord has seemingly gathered all the peripheral innuendo and "juicy" tidbits surrounding that core and for some reason presented them here in his book. A real laugher for me is the chapter ending with the dramatic announcement of Wight's nervous breakdown. Simply awful, awful writing.
You would think the movies and television shows would only have a very small part in a biography considering how long Alfie Wight lived, but in this book far to much is written about them and many of the photo's used are also directly from them.
A book like this reminds me of a movie like "Plan 9 From Outer Space". It is so bad in all areas that you can almost derive some enjoyment out of reading it. If you want to read a real biography of James Herriot, done with real research, real writing ability and real inside information, read the biography by his son, Jim Wight. I find it interesting that this is Jim Wight's first attempt at writing and I find it quite good. Graham Lord has written many things and his biography is not so good. So you never know. Cheers.