Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life FROM THE PUBLISHER
As a boy, John Mortimer wanted to be an actor, as a young man a writer, but at his father's suggestion he also pursued a career in law - in which, as a defending barrister, he found himself establishing profound but short-term friendships with those accused of various crimes, including murder. The chief lesson he learned from all this was to refrain from judgment, a quality he maintained in his other life. For alongside his work as a lawyer, Mortimer indulged a passion for writing. As this second career took over his life, it brought enriching yet frequently volatile friendships: with Tony Richardson, John Gielgud, Harold Pinter, David Niven, and Neil Kinnock, among others, from the worlds of theater, film, the law, and politics. John Mortimer brought his two worlds together in the character of Rumpole, for whom his creator is frequently mistaken. Murderers and Other Friends is John Mortimer's summing up of himself through his friends. With wit, wisdom, and tenderness he has written the story of the second part of his life, of the strangely assorted characters that enriched it, and of his family at its heart.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
British novelist and playwright Mortimer (Paradise Postponed) begins this second volume of his autobiography at the point when he left his career as a barrister in the 1960s and was appointed to the position of Queen's Counsel. In entertaining and perceptive vignettes, his sequel to Clinging to the Wreckage (1982) recalls trials over which Mortimer presided that inspired the plot lines and characters populating Rumpole of the Bailey and the series that followed. Eventually leaving the law entirely, he devoted himself to writing. His reminiscences mention his friendships with actors and authors, including John Gielgud, David Niven and Harold Pinter. A principled nonbeliever (he refers to himself as ``an atheist for Christ''), Mortimer helped to found the ``20th of June'' group that protested the conservatism of the Thatcher government. (His collaborators in this effort included Pinter and various social activists.) Mortimer also describes the work he has done in adapting such novels for film and TV as Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)
Library Journal
In the second volume of his autobiography (the first was Clinging to the Wreckage, LJ 9/1/82), Mortimer, the former barrister turned author, writes, ``Old lawyers never die, they simply lose their appeals.'' Not so with Mortimer. His appeal will go on and on, not unlike his creation, that old darling Rumpole of the Old Bailey. Wise, funny, and only occasionally sad, Mortimer is as readable as his scripts on television are watchable. His writing, regardless of the subject-father, mother, wife, daughter, friend, murderer, house, country-is full of affection, fully grounded in a view so dimensional that one would wish for his eyes, his ears, his heart. His profile of his father and mother, of David Niven and John Gielgud, snippets though they may be, are of considerable interest and even memorable. His view of the difference between the writing of a novel and the writing of a play is not only practical but affecting. Mortimer's writing is the stuff of flesh and blood, wronged and wooed, and should not be missed.-Robert L. Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., Ind.
AudioFile - Beth J. Long
John Mortimer narrates this autobiography, which details events connecting family, friends, people and places he has encountered during his career as a barrister, screenwriter, playwright and novelist. This account begins with his work as defense counsel for bizarre homicidal characters and continues through his literary occupations. In an English accent he languidly recounts the pleasures of his pursuits and discoveries. Whether describing his relationship with David Niven or his preparation for a murder case, the excitement of these moments is more in the facts than in the telling. While the reading is understated and rather droll, this is a tale filled with absorbing, if idiosyncratic, folks. B.J.L. ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine
Home
