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Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Chris Packham
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
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Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
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Summary
Every minute was magical, every single thing it did was fascinating and everything it didn't do was equally wondrous, and to be sat there with a kestrel, a real live kestrel, my own real live kestrel on my wrist! I felt like I'd climbed through a hole in heaven's fence.
An introverted, unusual young boy, isolated by his obsessions and a loner at school, Chris Packham was only at home in the fields and woods around his suburban home. But when he stole a young kestrel from its nest, he was about to embark on a friendship that would teach him what it meant to love - and that would change him forever.
In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Chris brings to life his childhood in the '70s, from his bedroom bursting with fox skulls, birds' eggs and sweaty jam jars to his feral adventures. But pervading his story is the search for freedom, meaning and acceptance in a world that didn't understand him. Beautifully wrought, this coming-of-age memoir will be unlike any you've ever heard.
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What listeners say about Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Tsundoko and Tea
- 05-06-19
Beautifully described
Wow! I love everything about this book.
As a mother of an autistic child, I can really appreciate his honesty about things he found tough and his pains growing up being misunderstood.
I adore the language Chris uses and the way he describes everything is an absolute delight!
A really lovely book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew Bibby
- 16-10-18
My all-time favourite book.
I've smiled, laughed, choked back tears, and cried through this book. Can't recommend it enough.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 14-05-17
I smiled...
I found myself smiling sometimes happily, sometimes though sadness. I feel a connection though love of detail, animals, drawing, bullying. I might have to read it again! I like Chris even more now than before.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Astra
- 06-06-20
A wonderful lockdown companion
This has been a wonderful companion to my sewing scrubs during lockdown. Being of a similar age to Chris it has brought back lots of memories of my childhood and teenage years. It was a privilege to hear such brutal honesty in Chris Packham's own voice (even the acknowledgements) and I look forward to hearing the next chapter in his life.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-05-22
eloquent and passionate
excellent narration honestly written. moving observation about nature, childhood and being true to oneself.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Melanie Abbott
- 17-07-22
Loved it
Chris is a great story teller. Really enjoyed listening to every obsession, interest and just how he experiences the world.
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- Hilary Ellis
- 09-07-20
Perfect!
There aren't many books that I have listened to that have straight away put me into the author's world, but this one did. Chris has a way of describing things and situations like no one else in my opinion........his description of reading his dinosaur book at the dinner tablet is pure magic and at one point I realised that I was nearly breathless as if I was saying the words. I will listen to his story again and more than likely again! It's a perfect story of highs, lows and every other emotion inbetween. Thank you Chris, you are a genius.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-04-20
A must for any 70’s kid with a love of nature and the great outdoors
I am a similar age to Chris and this book brought back many memories. It made me laugh (and cry) and helped me through 2020 lockdown with glances back to my own childhood. Well done and best wishes for the future.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Richard Smith
- 17-09-16
Utterly transcendent
Not a linear story, not a classic autobiography, nor even a typical wildlife book, but so much more than any of these.
Honest, powerful and lyrical, allowing us to enter his world and see it through his and others' eyes.
Best book I've read in ages.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Kindle Customer
- 08-06-20
A Genuine Privilege With A 'But'
I am so, so glad that I chose this book to listen to and to read. On the superficial level it was a delight to be reminded of items from the past, not least (Watneys) Party Seven can of beer that held seven pints. I had entirely forgotten they existed. Added to that Packham’s passion for Punk explained much I never could understand. The Key to this book is the subtitle of ‘Lessons in Life and Death’. The way in which Packham’s love, social rejection, alienation, isolation, awkwardness, sufferings, joys, skills, thrills, exaltations and disappointments are drawn is superb. To say it is a privilege to read the book sounds a bit ‘naff’ but it is true. His descriptive skills are rich and brings the reader into his world. There are significant sections which are prose poetry and these deserve reflecting on at leisure. The narrative’s shifting between times and first/third person points of view are very well done and telling. This book deserves as much attention now as Barry Hines’ ‘A Kestrel for a Knave’ did from it publication in 1968 (it also deserves to be filmed). The authenticity of the narration by the author has its drawbacks. The speed with which he performs some passages is so swift that you fail to appreciate and register what is being said - and this disappoints you when those passages are so wonderfully good. I tried to listen at 0.75 speed, but is was ineffective.
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