I’ll be honest – I never heard about the book or author, only bought it because it cost about two dollars. Plus, the blurb claimed that the reader would laugh their ass off.
However, “Unreliable Memoirs” by Clive James isn’t as hilarious as it promises to be & most of it is about him being an obnoxious brat, who is constantly giving his poor windowed mom a heart-attack. Any other mom would’ve probably bludgeoned him to death.
I imagine I would’ve died laughing reading this book as a 12 or 13-year-old, but the content isn’t exactly kid-friendly, so not like my parents would’ve gotten me a copy. Even though half the book is about Clive’s memories of being a pre-teen, there’s a decent amount of graphic sexual content involving the kids.
Clive talks about having the biggest crush on an older boy (for almost 2-3 years). I despised the fact that Clive constantly tries to prove that it was just a “phase” and that he is “not queer”. Not like he is a homophobe, just that he is annoyingly apologetic, even though it’s subtle. Well, the book was published in 1980, so maybe we could cut him some slack. But as a 21st century reader, I didn’t enjoy it much.
Some parts of this memoir were definitely hilarious. It’s like Enid Blyton’s “Naughtiest Girl” for adults, with a boy in the lead.