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'Towards the end of his first serious suicide attempts, my father said the strangest thing to me...
'Growing up in 1970s Sydney, Tim Elliott had a loving stay-at-home mum, a professional father, three siblings, a private school education and endless opportunities to fish and surf at the nearby beaches.
'But this was not the idyllic childhood it appeared. A charismatic, well-respected doctor by day, Tim's father became a roaring madman at night.
'The house was our castle, and Dad was our king. He was an unpredictable king, tyrannous and moody, lethal one day, loving the next.
'This is an extraordinary memoir of growing up with a parent afflicted by mental illness: a complex elegy, powerfully told, loaded with love, rage and surprising humour. It is about the lengths children will go to protect themselves - and their families - from shame or harm, and how adapting to that adversity becomes and intractable part of who we are as adults. ' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Son a Survivor of Paternal Rage and Sorrow
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 May 2016; (p. 20)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography -
[Review] Farewell to the Father
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 7 May 2016; (p. 36)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography -
Betweenthelines
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Mercury , 14 May 2016; (p. 22)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography ; A Girl from Oz 2016 single work autobiography ; Rockhopping 2016 single work graphic novel This articles contains several book reviews. -
The Way to Deal with a Legacy of Despair
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7-8 May 2016; (p. 24) The Saturday Age , 7-8 May 2016; (p. 24)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography -
Layers of Entrapment
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 384 2016; (p. 22)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography 'One of the claims that is sometimes made for the memoir form is that it gives the author a degree of release from the past. Getting it down on paper can also be about getting it out – perhaps even out of the way. The title of Tim Elliott's memoir, Farewell to the Father, suggests that this may have been the goal here; that Elliott, in telling his story, would be able to farewell a man who, we learn, caused much suffering to both himself and his family. A great strength of this book, though, lies with the less satisfying, but I think more realistic, acceptance that definitive goodbyes of this kind are seldom possible. The past, and the layers of entrapment that may lie there, are much more complex than that.' (Introduction)
-
The Way to Deal with a Legacy of Despair
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7-8 May 2016; (p. 24) The Saturday Age , 7-8 May 2016; (p. 24)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography -
Betweenthelines
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Mercury , 14 May 2016; (p. 22)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography ; A Girl from Oz 2016 single work autobiography ; Rockhopping 2016 single work graphic novel This articles contains several book reviews. -
[Review] Farewell to the Father
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 7 May 2016; (p. 36)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography -
Son a Survivor of Paternal Rage and Sorrow
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 28-29 May 2016; (p. 20)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography -
Layers of Entrapment
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 384 2016; (p. 22)
— Review of Farewell to the Father : A Memoir of Love and Madness 2016 single work autobiography 'One of the claims that is sometimes made for the memoir form is that it gives the author a degree of release from the past. Getting it down on paper can also be about getting it out – perhaps even out of the way. The title of Tim Elliott's memoir, Farewell to the Father, suggests that this may have been the goal here; that Elliott, in telling his story, would be able to farewell a man who, we learn, caused much suffering to both himself and his family. A great strength of this book, though, lies with the less satisfying, but I think more realistic, acceptance that definitive goodbyes of this kind are seldom possible. The past, and the layers of entrapment that may lie there, are much more complex than that.' (Introduction) -
Father on the Edge
2016
single work
biography
— Appears in: Good Reading , August 2016; (p. 44-45)
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1970s