Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir

Product Information

Chris Packham's memoir Fingers in the Sparkle Jar is a brutal, beautiful book that subverts the memoir genre through third person accounts of events involving him.

As usual, I have much less to say about a book that provoked a predominantly emotional rather than intellectual response.

I found the whole thing powerful and evocative, a very personal account of nature’s wonders and the perils of being different as a child.

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.It flips between periods in his childhood, his teens when he had a pet kestrel and his meeting with a psychologist when he is in his forties.

Chris seems remarkably unconcerned by these attacks, but he deserves our support even if he might shrug them off anyway.I knew quite a lot about Chris anyway but you just have to read this in his own sweet and unique words because it’s truly written so incredibly beautifully. Don't be fooled into thinking that this is a sweet story about a boy's idyllic childhood exploring nature, though. So searingly raw and revealing to be sharp and painful in places; so powerful and shining when Chris Packham describes the creatures that made his youthful world sparkle.

I'd seen some good reviews in the paper, and I enjoy watching Chris Packham on various nature programmes on TV. He is a confirmed outsider - almost overwhelmed - but determined to do things his way, on his terms. The timeline flicks around, with the Summer of 1975, the Summer of his kestrel, playing a centralised role.Be they victorian glass vases, 1930’s tea pots, art deco brooches to a nice Vivienne Westwood jacket.