Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.91 (947 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1250022029 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-09-24 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Four Stars Carold God read. Shocking and visceral portrayal of gypsy life In the past few years, there have been literary scandals in which it has been revealed that stories reported to be memoirs of deeply troubled individuals have been made up out of whole cloth. So, any discerning reader much approach a pseudonymous work with some degree of skepticism. Having laid that caveat on the table, I must say that I found "Gypsy Boy" to be both deeply troubling and deeply moving. The degree of violence that made up the every day life of "Mikey Walsh" is almost unimaginable. From the age of five, the young boy from a historic Roma. "A Bit of a Let Down" according to 12XU. I was excited to read Gypsy Boy: the description sounded fascinating, and the reviews have been extremely positive, but it wasn't the read I was hoping for.While the story is an honest (one hopes) retelling of what by anyone's account was a horrible childhood, it felt less engaging that I hoped it would; a collection of terrible tales from childhood that could have occurred in many places with less of a connection to Mikey than I wanted to feel.The promises of new insights into Romany culture were a bit overblown as well: I didn't learn anything I did
He taught himself to read and write and now works at a primary school as a teaching aid and also picks up the formal education he missed out on as a child.. MIKEY WALSH left the Gypsy community and moved to London. It is the longest he's ever stayed in one place
Moreover, Mikey's personal story of being a misfit among misfits is both compelling and universal. Yet despite his gruesome experiences, he also praises the fierce loyalty and cultural continuity that have allowed Gypsies to maintain their dignity in the face of hatred for centuries.” Publishers Weekly“A gripping and heartfelt page-turner.” Booklist (starred review)“From family violence to the horrors of cockfighting, from stealing bikes from the local sports center to squeezing juice out of slugs as a remedy for warts, Mikey makes the gaudy world of Romany Gypsies in the U.K. Walsh analyzes the grotesqueries of Gypsy life in painful detail--garish trailers, stifling family ties, crime and crudeness, and the constricted options for women who are considered old maids at 21
A surprise #1 bestseller in Great Britain, this is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a little-seen world, one both fascinating and heartbreaking.. After centuries of persecution, Gypsies are wary of outsiders, and if you choose to leave you can never come back.This is something Mikey knows only too well.Growing up, he didn't go to school, he seldom mixed with non-Gypsies, and the caravan became his world. They live in a secluded community, and little is known about their way of life. Eventually Mikey was forced to make an agonizing decisionto stay and keep secrets, or escape and find somewhere to belong.Gypsy Boy shows, for the first time, what life is really like among the Romany Gypsies. It was a rich and unusual upbringing,