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  • Pour Me

  • A Life
  • By: A. A. Gill
  • Narrated by: Dougray Scott
  • Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (264 ratings)
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Pour Me cover art

Pour Me

By: A. A. Gill
Narrated by: Dougray Scott
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Summary

A. A. Gill's memoir begins in the dark of a dormitory with six strangers. He is an alcoholic, dying in the last-chance saloon - driven to dry out, not out of a desire to change but mainly through weariness. He tells the truth - as far as he can remember it - about drinking and about what it is like to be drunk.

Pour Me is about the blackouts, the collapse, the despair: 'Pockets were a constant source of surprise - a lamb chop, a votive candle, earrings, notes written on paper and ripped from books' and even, once, a pigeon. 'Morning pockets,' he says, 'were like tiny crime scenes.' He recalls the lost days, lost friends, failed marriages.... But there was also 'an optimum inebriation, a time when it was all golden, when the drink and the pleasure made sense and were brilliant'.

Sobriety regained, there are painterly descriptions of people and places, unforgettable musings about childhood and family, art and religion, friendships and fatherhood and, most movingly, the connections between his cooking, dyslexia and his missing brother.

Full of raw and unvarnished truths, exquisitely written throughout, Pour Me is about lost time and self-discovery. Lacerating, unflinching, uplifting, it is a classic about drunken abandon.

Read by Dougray Scott.

©2015 A. A. Gill (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group

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What listeners say about Pour Me

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Moving story mangled by the narrator

The narration was so poor - pacing just plain wrong, no sense of Adrian’s emotional state and schoolboy level mispronunciations made it virtually unlistenable. I had to stop after an hour. I’ll read the book instead and try and get a refund.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great Story, Horrible Telling...

If you want to read this then I would recommend the physical copy. Mr. Dooogray Scott's narration must have been done in a single take because it is listless and, as many people have said, full of errors.

Fascinating author though. Can't fault the content.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sublime

This is a taught, unflinching and visceral account of a fragmented life. Not a word too long making sense of a life in two halves: one well remembered, one shattered by alcoholism. Lurches between philosophy and self deprecation without ever sounding preachy or indulgent. So many perfectly weighted paragraphs, this should be a standard text for those wanting a career in journalism or writing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Simply Brilliant

I really enjoyed this story and for me, the narration by Dougray Scott was perfect.

The quality of the writing is incredible.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

superb

Thoughtful and lyrical narration of a full and complex life. AA Gill, a journalist that WILL be remembered.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

every word hits

fantastically narrated by Dougray Scott. I couldn't stop listening. A beautifully descriptive memoir of a not completely beautiful life.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping, hilarious and mellifluous

An exploration of existence through the lens of a complex life. Gill’s writing is in its finest form, yet I can’t think of examples where it is anything other. Perhaps it’s more appropriate to say it’s just writing in its truest form: reflective but righteous; uneasy and caustic; honest yet hilarious.

I found Scott’s narration leaves a bit to be desired; mispronounced words and incorrect emphasis means some very powerful passages culminate in a whimper rather than crescendo.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Man of Letters reflects...

Wistful and poignant with great passages of warmth and humour amidst the sadness. His parents, his brother and the Tatler stand out. Also, the war reporting. The depiction of alcoholism is gut wrenching like watching a train wreck.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Doogroy does his best, but...

Cracking autobiography however you’re just settling into the brilliance of the words and the narrator drops his kecks and slaps you in the ear with a really weird pronunciation of a fairly normal word. Don’t let it stop you though...

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant

Wonderful...will listen to this again and again . Laughed out loud on several occasions and was overcome with emotion on many others.

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