Both Sides of the Glass

You can view a free online evalution copy of issue 8 of the magazine – just click here.

Category:	Biography
Author:	R D Kear
Publisher:	Melrose Books
Price:	£16.99
ISBN:	9781906050153
Pages:
Reviewed in issue:	11

R S Kear has offered a highly detailed, although simply presented biography spanning nearly 80 years. A highly personal book, it belongs to the class of biography which is essentially most relevant and meaningful to those who are already acquainted with the author. That said, Both Sides of the Glass is packed with historical detail and vignettes of a society largely lost to the modern world.

Kear describes his growing fascination with horses, a love inherited from his grandfather, and a life in which horses were to remain at the centre. Kear also proved to be a successful businessman, running a contract cleaning business which grew into something of an empire. Coming from a poor but loving background, Kear’s success is all the more admirable, as is his full engagement in lifelong commitment to recording everything over the decades.

The title of Kear’s book reflects not only his window cleaning business, but also the transformation his life took – starting off looking through one side of the glass, and in his later years viewing it from the other, enjoying a financial security of which his widowed mother could only dream. Although Kear’s book is detailed and surprisingly engaging, its great weakness is the anecdotal and unsophisticated style. Kear acknowledges this in his forward, but acknowledging the weakness does not eliminate it. The naivety of expression which dominates some sections is not charming, but grating, and whilst Kear emerges as a kindly and admirable man, the book needs heavy editing to bring it up to marketable literary standards.

Go Back