Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory by Patrick McGuinness

Far removed from the current trend in celebrity biographies, Patrick McGuinness’ memoir is an unusual and striking foray into the past. The book is a collection of Proustian pieces, varying in length from a paragraph to a few pages, on subjects as diverse and ramshackle as sweet shops to ‘pissing in your chips.’ From this eclectic collection of musings, a picture of McGuinness’ childhood may be drawn, the reader piecing together the details to create an odd sort of fragmented narrative. McGuinness is renowned for his poetry, and here his lyricism seeps into his prose.

Set in the small Belgian border town of Bouillon, the text paints a picture of a past which is almost exotic in its quaintness. It is all too possible for a memoir to descend into solipsism, yet McGuinness extricates himself from potential self-indulgence with powerful universal observations on memory. He is particularly strong on the way in which the places of our childhood embed themselves in us, shaping our futures. ‘Most of my childhood feels more real to me now than it did then’, he writes; this remembered reality is shared with the reader, so vividly that it is almost disquieting. [Rosie Hopegood]