 A Genius in the Family (1997)
Representing one of music history's most genuinely tragic
figures, the life of Jacqueline du Pré is not all that well documented
outside of the UK, where she was much more of a superstar than she ever
was in the US. The prevailing account of Jackie's life turns out to be
quite heavily romanticized, even though it is rooted in basic facts: the
child prodigy and young adult superstar forced to give up the cello after
being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Hers is a terribly ironic story
that is easy to turn into somewhat of a myth. This book, written by her
older sister and younger brother, offers an account of the du Pré family
that is extremely honest, stripping away the "Such a shame" type of
attitude commonly attached to discussions about Jackie and offering a
portrait that is at times brutally frank. It is not a pleasant read,
overall, and is definitely not recommended to people with zero interest
in the subject, but then what the hell do those people know?
Hilary (clearly the primary writer of the book) and her brother
Piers are exceptionally brave to put forth such an open book, aiming not
at a "definitive" biography of their sister the celebrity but more at a
memoir of a very unique family that revolves around a very unique
individual. Truly, it's difficult to think of an artist, or for that
matter, anyone at all, quite like Jacqueline du Pré … a passionate,
utterly instinctive and natural musician with a bawdy sense of humor and
no social skills whatsoever, thrust into a large-scale celebrity
lifestyle at a very young age and then literally struck down in her
prime. Obviously, the "early years" part of the book (recounting the
family history and the siblings' childhood and adolescent period) is the
happier part of the book; it is related with a great deal of nostalgia
and affection for a clearly bygone time. I must say, the du Pré's have
incredible memories for detail, as they vividly recreate English life in
the 50s as a backdrop to the many exciting events of their youth. It is
a great strength of the book that it does not stay focussed on Jackie the
whole time, and instead offers a very thorough depiction of the entire
immediate family. This will make the book accessible to non-musicians,
although admittedly the appeal of a book like this is its central
figure – the celebrity. But Hilary in particular does an excellent job
of painting a picture of Jackie the human, warts (or ought I to say
farts) and all.
The chronology of Jackie's exceedingly rapid rise into the big
leagues of classical music is thrilling to read, and bolsters any and all
admiration you have for her going into reading the book. Hilary
struggles with her own feelings of being a "failure" compared to Jackie,
and takes a lot of well-deserved pride in her own early musical successes
before it became clear who the huge talent in the family was. Hilary and
Piers explore the dynamics of the family intensively, and it is a
valuable piece of writing for that reason as well. For the child who can
not help but be great, there is no struggle, although the rest of the
family must find roles around or behind the shining star. The parents
can not "choose favorites" yet obviously cater to the gifted child, and
this creates a lot of tension that, in this case, never gets accurately
resolved as the child grows up and is diagnosed with a terminal
disease – in a sense, Jackie got nothing but support throughout her life,
and her siblings were forced to make a lot of personal and emotional
sacrifices. Amazingly, they do not sound embittered, but it's also
fairly surprising that they don't play martyrs either – they don't hide
the frustration of growing up in the shadow of a person like Jacqueline
du Pré, and are often painfully honest.
As the book (and Jackie's disease) progresses, things get
considerably less tidy than the sort of idyllic childhood years. A lot
of the book's revelations about Jackie and about the family are shocking
and in some places, you feel very much like you probably shouldn't be
reading it. It's somehow even more personal than diary writing, even
though the language is very proper and "stiff upper lip" British. The
physical and neurological breakdown experienced by Jackie over the course
of almost fifteen years living with MS is recounted in excruciating
detail. Previously, I'd always wondered why every account of du Pré's
life that I could find essentially stopped at the diagnosis, adding that
she occasionally tutored students and participated in charity events
before dying in 1987. I always thought it was odd that these biographies
would gloss over more than one-third of Jackie's life, especially given
that it was nearly her entire adult life. After reading A Genius in the
Family you come away knowing why writers would shy away from addressing
the disease period. It's not pretty. Diehard fans will find it almost
unbearable to read, and it gets very bizarre in a few places. Suffering
from MS, Jackie becomes something very much other than "the celebrity" or
"the sister," and this is a really harrowing account. And yet you also
get a definite sense that the book needed to be written, that the cards
needed to be out on the table. Again, Hilary and Piers are brave to work
through the pain in such a public manner, and the book has additional
value in the literature of MS.
Some of the downsides of the book are that there are many long
passages of narrative that simply get boring, even though they are
charming patchworks for the quilt. Lots of picturesque descriptions of
specific places and people that ultimately do not add anything more than
color to the memoir. Not that I'd want it to be all about music or all
about the disease, or whatever, but being essentially the "life story" of
a family, it inevitably drags a bit in places. Jacques Cousteau himself
could have bored you to tears with too many slides, I'm sure. Also,
Piers du Pré comes off as a pretty nerdy sort of fellow, and his memories
seem very much less relevant to the book as he was not nearly as close to
his sisters as they were to each other. I can hardly fault the man for
having a sort of lame life, but nevertheless it is much more often his
parts that drag than do Hilary's. Also, one area I think could have used
a bit clearer exploration was Jackie's relationship with Daniel Barenboim
(superstar pianist/conductor and Jackie's husband) – I sensed that much
was not being said because Barenboim would not have it said in public.
He comes off alternately as passionate and remarkable and as a total
bastard, with the lasting impression being very ambiguous. For example,
although he was Jackie's husband to the end, and was emotionally
devastated at her death, it is pointed out that he didn't live with her
for the majority of her illness and in fact had another wife and kids by
the time of Jackie's death. Hilary refuses to condemn the man but leaves
some conspicuous questions unanswered, making me feel that there is much
more here than the lawyers would allow.
A Genius in the Family is a great book, although its audience is
limited. Not everyone will want to wade through over 400 pages of family
reminiscences to get to the "juicy parts" (which are more shocking and
gruesome than titillating). People interested primarily in Jackie's
career will find much of value, but also a whole lot that is not related
to the music. People who have dealt with multiple sclerosis in their own
families will be bored by the career stuff and find little optimism in
the account of the disease. But Hilary and Piers du Pré have succeeded
in accomplishing their aim of depicting their sister Jacqueline as a
person – a person gifted with the ability to communicate on the highest
spiritual level through music, but also a person who can't resist a pun
like "standing ovulation." This book at once begins to unravel the
enigma of Jacqueline du Pré, and overall, adds to the mythos for those
who can stand to know the truth behind the "genius."
Review by Henderson |