I have just read Jim Neat for the second time and thoroughly enjoyed it, even more than the first read.  It really gripped me and I was caught in the storyline by the simplistic but clever use of his language. The variation of style  including prose and poetry was appealing and helped me to focus on the reading more than usual. I  have been unable to study texts or tv programmes whilst in lockdown (as I know others have). I shall be reading it again in the future.

Jane Parle

 

It’s been some while since I have read a book from cover to cover without being able to put it down.

In Mary J. Oliver's, Jim Neat, I found myself absorbed to the point of pausing all incoming communications.

I followed Jim's story - a narrative that seamlessly glides through episodic installments, confessional poetry, case history, letters, unsent postcards, diary entries, pioneer archives and judicial injustices that contribute to both the man and a life that is quite extraordinary.

Mary’s research and writing of the book took over 10 years, and her ability to condense the narrative down to 145 pages is quite remarkable.

The text flows with the ease of a novel, while all the while one is reading fact after heart-wrenching fact as the most uncanny events push Jim into circumstances that the majority of us would not recover from. His enduring ability to bounce back is staggering and lies in his passion, honesty, and a belief that 'True Love' must be protected at all costs. Buy this book, read it, and you will not be disappointed. If anything, you will be left wanting to know more.

Roz Hopkinson, Artistic Director at STANCE Theatre Company

 

Yesterday and into the night I read your book, Jim Neat. You pack a lot into such a small book! It's a fascinating story of a sensitive, intelligent Everyman during difficult times. Jim makes some bad decisions but many people care about his well-being. Queenie, Dr. Fletcher, Prof. Schofield, your mother, Kate, and others.

The poems and prose poems are wonderful. Jim's 1982 letter to you is deeply moving. There are many other similar moments. Jim's letters from Algeria, Siracusa, Bari, and Milan are also fascinating. The book is a condensed epic!

Clarence Major, American artist and writer

 

Jim Neat travels the real-life journey as excavated by his daughter, artist and poet, Mary J. Oliver, in this courageous and intimate book. Its prose and poetry, alongside photographs and sketches, place a life in the context of its time, beginning with Neat’s incarceration, to World War 2 and then on to the poet’s own surprising journey. 

 

A tale of a daughter’s search for her dead father’s past could be enough for any reader but it becomes quickly apparent that this journey is just as much about disclosing truths as it is about erasure.  Letters carefully edited with strike-through texts reveal the bleak and often painful realities of its time not just withheld from family and friends but from the self.  Details unfold chronologically with frequent flashbacks that flow like an epic film.  When Neat’s brother-in-law arrives home from WW1 eyes bulging, arms, legs, head jerking, he can’t get out of the front door, scuttles on all fours behind the settee, mouth opening, shutting, opening, Neat’s sister advises, Best you go on home, Jim and in those few lines we see the toll of war from multiple perspectives. 

 

Characters appear and disappear, some with lives so brutally marred by their times your heart will break open and then mend itself again as the book moves through Neat’s life contrasting the dark corners of human history with the joys of love and the passion of a man who reinvents himself in every chapter. 

 

There’s a Dr. Fletcher, one of the heroes of Neat’s life who through the profound and patient methods of creating a safe space for Neat at Whitby Hospital to unburden his trauma through gentle conversation, writing and meaningful work create a haven without drugs or forced treatments and an opportunity for transformation. 

 

There’s Queenie, Neat’s sister and lifelong friend whose own colorful personality leaps into the frame and stays alongside other key figures as Neat’s life unfurls. 

 

Because Neat’s mind and depth of perception convey his own experiences without pretense and Oliver’s sensitive and sculpted prose and poetry know just where to take off and where to land, you will find yourself slowly turning Jim Neat’s pages back and forth as you live each sorrow and joy of this astonishing and lasting work.   

Lois P. Jones, author of Night Ladder & poetry editor of Kyoto Journal