‘Homework’ is a beautifully written memoir of the author’s experiences of growing up in the sixties and seventies. The ‘shiver of silent excitement’ that Geoff Dyer experienced as a book loving teenager was felt by me on the many occasions when his recollections mirrored my own childhood recollections. I laughed aloud at some of his anecdotes, but was particularly moved by his descriptions of his parents and his retrospective appreciation of the same qualities that had brought him into conflict with them as an adolescent.
‘Homework’ has a ring of authenticity about it and is thoroughly recommended.

I've read quite a few Geoff Dyer books, so I was interested to read his memoir, which is primarily the story of his childhood and early adulthood in Cheltenham, England in the 1960s and 70s. There's a lot to love here for those readers nostalgic for this era--Dyer's passion for collecting cards in albums, for putting together model airplanes, and for playing conkers with schoolyard friends feels refreshingly analog in our own iPhone age--but this nostalgia comes with Dyer's wry spin: "Writing this,...I am struck by how much rust there was in my childhood; was it, more generally, a rustier epoch or has it only become rustier in retrospect, part of the active corrosion of memory?". Dyer's eye for the piquant details of his remembered youth kept me turning the pages (even if I could have done with less detailed memories of his early sexual escapades) and the book as a whole reminded me a bit of "Little Heathens" by Mildred Armstrong Kalish (which I also recommend) in its ability to paint a clear image of a particular time, place and era of society using only the brushstrokes of one person's childhood.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Interesting memoir of growing up in post-war UK. The author captures the time well in this memoir. It will definitely appeal to Anglophiles and those looking for a coming of age memoir.