Time to Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography

One reviewer said of this book, ". . . parts about the more technical aspects of book writing and publishing . . . tend to be dry and would hold more appeal to writers and those in the publishing business." These were the parts I liked best, and I'm not a writer. But I am a reader, and I've read and enjoyed most of P. D. James's books and the other books she discusses.

James kept a diary during the year she was seventy-seven. She records what's happening in the present and reflects on aspects of her past. In the present, James is constantly traveling, giving talks, and spending time with friends old and new. She appears to be a very busy person. All this traveling about, though not exactly boring, is not exactly fascinating either. To me, the more interesting parts were about the past and especially her thoughts and opinions on other writers, mainly mystery writers. Ms. James is another big fan of Jane Austen's, and an appendix gives the text of a talk she gave to the Jane Austen Society on mystery in EMMA.

Ms. James's outlook on life is that most things were better in the past (with the big exception of sanitary protection). She appreciates her relatively good health and independence and is grateful for each day, storing up good memories to sustain her as she grows older.

James is too refined to speak ill of anyone and is unwilling to reveal personal details about her life with a mentally ill spouse. She is quite willing to share her opinions on public issues, but she's reluctant to give us the inner P. D. James.

Still, I was more interested in this book than the other one I was reading at the same time, V. S. Naipaul's A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS.

If you're a mystery fan, you'll probably enjoy James's remarks about other mystery writers of the past.

After an uneven beginning, Time to Be In Earnest, settles down to an earnest and enjoyable memoir (it is in diary form, covering a year: 1997-1998).

P.D. James has a distinct voice, comprised of dignity, reserve, confidence, practicality and intelligence. This voice or persona flows throughout the book. Not a reader of P.D. James' mystery novels, I have no way of knowing if this voice appears in her fiction. It is not a quiescent voice and therefore, not lightly ignored. It does give the reader an image of the author's personality, an image that may or may not be accurate.

P.D. James has an eye for detail, a quality that can bog down many a memoir and almost does in this case. However, there is something lesiurely, even unaggressive, about the wealth of detail, and it is intermingled with reflections on religion, nature, life, entertainment, writing and much more. And if you enjoy well-written pictures of nature, the prose of P.D. James will certainly delight and satisfy.

In fact, there's a bit of everything in this autobiography for everyone. I found the comments about writing and true life detective cases most interesting as well as P.D. James' experiences in WWII. There are references to Chatsworth, the House of Lords, the BBC and more prosaically, P.D. James' cat, the Civil Service and the work on her house.

There is always the suspicion in reading autobiography that it will be like watching other people's home movies: just a tad deary and confusing. This is not the case of Time to Be In Earnest. The smoothness of the writing carries the reader past all unknown faces (and it's fun to "meet" the few known ones). One gets the experience of the author's life as it happens. Many--if not most--memoirs/autobiographies are the analysis of events after they have been lived. This is true of sections of Time to Be In Earnest as well (and the analysis is always interesting) but the process of living alongside someone is what sets this book apart.

It is not a book to rush through. Read it a bit at a time and catch the very English flavor of a very English lady.

P. D. James is the only mystery novelist of whom I've read the entire oeuvre, apart from Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, and I don't really know why. A sense of obligation to the reigning British Queen of Crime? Appealing length and density? Although I do remember one excellent book, Original Sin, it is perhaps not surprising I found this "fragment of a biography" more entertaining than her novels, since a lot of what she terms "character buildup" and "scene setting" always seems to me a terrible drag on the narration. As a personal diary, it is too organized - no wonder, since it was intended for publication from the start - and there are no spontaneous bursts of emotion or painful self-examination that is so exhilarating in Sylvia Plath's journals. With James it is all carefully laid out, a prosaic entry too often expanding into an essay on government, the art of the crime novel, civil justice, etc. But still, the writings betray a highly intellectual mind at work, and a winning perseverance that has triumphed over pain and hardship.

It has taken me over a year to fully appreciate this "fragment of autobiography". There are no strict rules for autobiography writers to follow, except that they talk about the themselves. P.D. James, the acclaimed British mystery writer, does that in her own, 'Time To Be In Earnest', and the reading experience is one which leaves a definite impression.

At first read-through, the book leaves one with a slight sense of having been cheated. Most celebrity autobiographies written in today's age wallow in over-exposure. We get to know what goes on in their minds, their businesses, their homes, even their bedrooms. Even when the subject is dead, and a *biography* is written, the author attempts to portray the person as emotionally as possible. With 'Time To Be In Earnest', Ms. James does not make us suffer through any of that. Her life story is told in a charming "daily (sometimes) journal", which reflects on the news of the day, and then nicely segues into memories of her past.

We get to know much about P.D. James's childhood, her parents, siblings, home-life, etc. She is purposefully vague about her marriage, but she *does* provide sufficient information about it that we get the idea. That is what is so elegant about her book - it is informative, without being messy. What I found *most* fascinating were her views on the world of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Some things I agreed with her on, some things I did not. But all of her 77 year-old ideas gave this particular 25 year-old much to think upon.

'Time To Be In Earnest' truly tracks the 77 years of not only a highly-successful British woman's life, but of the country itself, and of the world that has come, gone, and is here today. .

P.D. James has given her readers a rare glimpse into her thinking. I saw the daily events as ways to connect with what she wanted to say about her beliefs and about her very interesting and productive life. I have read all of her books and was pleased to be able to understand the author behind the mysteries which she so skillfully writes. I also enjoyed her glimpse into a world which is fading fast - a world where character was important and manners counted for a lot.