Cheap Hilary and Jackie (Book) (HILARY DU PRE, PIERS DU PRE) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hilary and Jackie

1) This was originally called "A Genius in the Family". It makes no sense (other than business sense) to retitle it "Hilary and Jackie". It is no more about or by Hilary du Pre than it is by or about Piers du Pre. It is especially absurd to put photographs of ACTORS on the front and back cover.

2) The amazon.com amateur "reviewers" who have abused this opportunity so as to hurl invective at Jackie or her family remind me of the strangers depicted in the book who send letters to Jackie and say such hurtful things as her conversion to Judaism is responsible for her multiple sclerosis. The authors are telling you what happened; they are not asking you to pass judgement. (For that matter, nonsensical psychobabble buzzwords such as "dysfunctional" and "enabler" should be expunged from the language.)

Ad rem: In the main, this a gripping and surprisingly well-written story, considering that neither of the authors are professional writers. Don't get that idea, however, that it is in any way comparable to something like Hemingway's "A Movable Feast"; it isn't nearly THAT well written. Hilary does a better job than Piers, lapsing into banality significantly less often. Piers is better at describing Jackie than his life apart from her. We never catch his supposed enthusiasm for flying. His stilted account of his religious awakening seems wholly gratuitous and artificial.

Considering that there is scarcely a whiff of didacticism in these pages, it is surprising that you end up learning so much of trenchant value about music, en passant, as it were.

An All Consuming Gift
An All Consuming Gift

This is a tough book to read. Ostensibly it is the story of the famous cellist Jacqueline du Pre as told by her older sister Hilary and her younger brother Piers. What emerges, however, is a testament to how one person's overwhelming needs and passions can color and overshadow the lives of those around her. Both Hilary and Piers talk about and relate the main incidents in Jackie's (Jacqueline's nickname) upbringing and life, but woven into those incidents are their own struggles to find and maintain their identities in a family that was focused around a star. Hilary in particular, a gifted and promising musician in her own right, was dealt a heavy blow as her younger sister's gifts began to emerge. Although still encouraged to pursue her musical studies, she was clearly assigned a secondary role when it came to time and attention from her mother. Soon the entire household revolved around Jackie - her physical needs, lessons, friends and performance schedule.

The book would be easier to get through if the authors were able to include some insight into what went on in their family. Hilary says she thinks that the unusually close bond her mother formed with Jackie had to do with her father dying shortly before Jackie was born. Beyond that, the sad and convoluted tale simply spins itself out with both Hilary and Piers feeling caught in the maelstrom of Jackie's dramatic, often troubled career and personal life.

As Jackie becomes more and more isolated and driven by her gifts, Hilary marries and starts a family to escape. Meanwhile Piers, who has flatly refused to have anything to do with music, becomes a pilot in order, as he puts it, "...to be appreciated for being me, not just the baby brother of Jacqueline du Pre." Even Derek du Pre, husband of Iris and father of Hilary, Jackie and Piers, buries himself in work, trying not to mind that his wife never has time for their relationship. Even with their own lives firmly established, however, no one in the family is safe from Jackie's needs. In fact, the habit of sacrificing for her is so ingrained in everyone that they are constantly putting their lives on hold and dropping whatever they are doing to take care of her.

The greatest tragedy of this complex family saga is, of course, the loss of Jackie to multiple sclerosis. Anyone who has heard a performance by Jacqueline du Pre will find that this story of her life is much like her playing - intrepid, intense, and driven by a passion that left no room for moderation. "Was it worth it?" I asked myself as I finished the book and set it aside. "Or was the price that was paid to foster Jackie's genius too high?" I'll leave it up to you to decide.

Unmitigated trash
Hilary is the sick one here. Jealousy is a green-eyed monster and she has desecrated the memory of her sister with this piece of you-know-what. And it's badly written besides.