5 comments about House of Happy Endings: A Memoir.

1. I really enjoyed reading this true narrative. It was as interesting as any good fiction I have read. I read his grandfather's books as a child, and loved them. So hearing about their author was intriguing. Of course, the most intriguing aspect is the dysfunctional family that this author endured. Many of us have at least one person in our family that is somewhat unbalanced. Poor Mr. Garis had quite a few more than his share. Besides the good read, I guess the take home message is that if he can come out of that household alive and well, then the rest of us have a fighting chance.



2. This warm-hearted book describes the terrible strain of a father's mental illness on the entire family. This is a very talented writer who invites the reader to her childhood home, set in a picturesque New England town, and introduced us to her remarkable family.



3. House of Happy Endings: A Memoir
   
   Leslie Garis's memoir takes you from her childhood to adulthood describing her loss of innocence in discovering her family dynamics. It is also a story of two marriages, her grandparents and parents and how children are affected by these relationships. Garis has managed to combine the fun days of childhood with the reality of her Grandmother's and Father's depression and how it affected her and her brothers. A wonderful story that starts out with a life so full of hope before reality takes hold in the mind of a child.



4. I grew up in a home filled with children's series books such as Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins and many others (not all of them series books, thank goodness). At the time, I thought author Laura Lee Hope was not just an author's name on the cover of Bobbsey Twins books but one that represented a single author, not a series of authors working for an organization. I thought of Laura as a kindly woman who sat down and thought of a new formulaic story for children, perhaps with a light shawl around her shoulders, sun streaming through the windows of her traditional home.
   
   Wrong! Instead, a group of various authors worked for Edward Stratemeyer to create many of those children's books. Stratemeyer was a shrewd man who hired writers to work for his syndicate, allowing him to maintain control and most of the profits.
   
   After reading the book, House of Happy Endings, written by Leslie Garis, I had a whole new perspective on the world of peaceful families, solid values and the sugar-coated world of those children's series books, ones populated with the names of Tom Swift, Baseball Joe, Dorothy Dale and the Bobbsey Twins. Our home had a fair number of these books, although I admit I found them a bit too formulaic for my tastes. Still, I have memories of those covers and the beaming faces and idyllic scenes that graced those covers.
   
   In the books I'd read, everything generally ended well and the children and adults went off to bed to dream happy dreams -never nightmares. I do feel compelled to warn potential readers of House of Happy Endings that if you have cherished memories of those books - as well as illusions of kindly authors spinning these lovely fantasy tales - ....you might want to avoid reading the book. But if you like wonderfully told memoirs that are both powerful and enlightening, I'd suggest you get a copy of this and sit down for a good read.
   
   Why? Because House of Happy Endings openly examines the life of one author, Leslie Garis, and her family and how their lives were seriously twisted by trying to live a life modeled on illusions of perfection like those reflected in the books. Leslie Garis's grandfather, Howard Garis, was the creator of the famed Uncle Wiggily books. He couldn't walk down the street without children clamoring for him to tell them stories about Uncle Wiggily and he'd often do just that. He was seen as a kindly gentleman who love children and eagerly looked forward to coming up with more tales to enchant them. The truth was far darker.
   
   Imagine being the son of the man who created Uncle Wiggily. The son of "the man who created Uncle Wiggily" was Roger Garis. Try to think about how that might impact your life. Intrigued? Then you'll want to pick up the book, House of Happy Endings, because Leslie Garis reveals exactly how intimidating it was for a budding writer (her father) to try to compete with the reputation of his own father. You'd think he'd want to avoid becoming anything but a writer but his father encouraged him to continue the family tradition even as his mother undermined him.
   
   By now it should be clear that the Garis household was definitely not one of life imitating art, of the sunny, cheerful Bobbsey Twins, but of a family struggling desperately to hold things together in the wake of impending crisis. Leslie Garis's father, Roger Garis, had terrible mood swings, drug addictions and the ill luck to be overshadowed by his famous father. She describes his struggles, mental breakdowns and odd behavior in an open, but also loving, style. I consider this book to be one of the best I've read in quite some time.
   
   At this point, you may be cringing and wondering why on earth anyone would ever want to pick up this book, one which tears apart the illusions anyone might hold about the beloved Bobbsey Twins and Uncle Wiggily and the authors behind them.
   
   Here's some quick reasons you should put this on your "to read" list of books:
   
   1. It reveals a piece of American social history, especially children's literature and book history, that is both personal and engaging. There are larger truths and insights here about what people wanted to read, the ideals they cherished and the type of books they bought for themselves and their children - especially in the 30s and 40s. Author Leslie Garis had rare access to some of the letters sent by those readers as well as the demands of the publishing company.
   
   Reading this allows one to get a "behind the scenes" looks at children's book series authors, their readers and the way the work was written and published. As a reader and a writer, I found it impossible to put down!
   
   2. The book is written with enough drama to be completely riveting but also a certain amount of restraint. This could easily have seemed like a "Mommy or Daddy Dearest" story but the author has the good sense to pull back from that and to simply reveal what life was like at The Dell, a family home bought with much hope and promise and one that was indeed expected to be a house of happy endings. Instead, life in that large home turned into a downward spiral and a steadily worsening nightmare. Leslie Garis was witness to it all and reconstructs the entire situation with amazing clarity.
   
   3. There is previously unrevealed information about the inside workings of the Stratemeyer syndicate. They really held dear the illusions they created, including the fact that there was one author named Laura Lee Hope who wrote The Bobbsey Twins. Even today, many unknowing readers assume that there was a single author who wrote all those books. I really enjoyed learning the truth as well as the impact that trying to keep secrets had on the Garis family. The Stratemeyers could be cruel, demanding and vengeful!
   
   4. The book is inspirational, although not in the way that many "inspirational" book fit that genre. It is a sideways kind of inspiration, one that can be intuited by reading the author's bio and learning that she went on to write New York Times Magazine profile of many authors, including John Fowles and Joan Didion and Georges Simenon.
   
   Before that, however, she had her own breakdown and struggles. For all readers of House of Happy Endings, one message could well be that life can be hard but resilience can be found even when all hope truly seems lost.
   
   5. Leslie Garis doesn't pull any punches. She describes the weaknesses of her father, grandfather, mother and grandmother in graphic detail. The family was like a turbulent cloud of dysfunction and yet there were happy moments and even touching ones. From hysterical fits to money troubles, Garis gives a first person account, first seen from the eyes of a child and then as the emerging woman she was becoming. No one was left untouched, from her brothers to Garis herself. All suffered from the family dynamics.
   
   Perhaps most touching of all is the plaintive question that opens the book but which I find to be an excellent summary of how Leslie Garis felt so much of the time, the question she seem to return to - time and again:
   
   "We were a nice family once, weren't we? "



5. This memoir shows the triumph of life over madness. Leslie Garis does a great job, and a courageous one, sharing memories of her growing up years in a household governed by a father with mental illness. It shows the pain and anguish of all involved. And, in 2007, this father would have gotten good medicine and the family life would have been totally different. It is hard to believe a family can live beyond the pain. But, they all did.

5 comments about How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years: A Memoir.

1. I recently read Ms. Ballard's memoir in 10 days while I was staying with my parents as my mother recovered from knee replacement surgery. It was the perfect book to read during this time--very funny and light--but also an honest, heartfelt tale. If you don't know who Kaye Ballard is, well, you should. She's a wonderful comic actress who's starred in films (The Ritz), on TV (Cinderella, The Doris Day Show, The Mothers-in-Law) and on stage (The Golden Apple, Carnival, The Pirates of Penzance, Follies). I saw her perform back in the '90s in a small cabaret called Toulouse in Chicago (now sadly closed). It was a horrible snowy night--and my friends and I were the only ones who braved the elements to see her show. And so Ms. Ballard--being the classy, talented dame that she is--performed for us. We all LOVED her--and you will LOVE her book. The lady knows how to write an honest, entertaining account of her fascinating life. So sit back, relax and let Kaye tell you all about her legendary 60-year career. You'll have a wonderful time--I know I did.



2. Loved it. Wish she had written more, could read her stories forever!!!! She is too funny...



3. I enjoyed reading this book very much - it gave real insight into the life of a single woman in show business. Kaye is a fantastic personality and very honest in this book about her career and friendshiips. She is a real lady with a great sense of humor. Nice photos too of some old favorites when they were younger. I would definitely buy this book again. A+



4. Kaye Ballard's name is well known in show business: she's performed in burlesque, nightclubs, big bands, and stage and here provides a memoir packed with anecdotes from her career. Her upbeat memoir comes packed with anecdotes from her 50-year career and will prove a real treat for any familiar with either Kaye Ballard's career or the world of stage and TV.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



5. If you're one of those people that think only of Kaye Ballard as one of the "Mothers-In-Law" from TV, or that funny album with the balloons on it, treat yourself to her wonderful autobiography, "How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years.!" Not only a fascinating story of the lady herself, but a warm-hearted look at practically the history of show business (Vaudeville, Broadway, Night Clubs, movies, radio & television). She's done it all, and you'll meet your favorites (and a few not-so) as only someone who's been there and done it can tell. Best of all, Kaye is her honest and humble self (What? A star with humility?) Yup, throughout her illustrious career, she's still the star-struck kid in Cleveland's RKO Palace worshiping the idols on the silver screen, and dreaming of Hollywood. Haven't we all been there? Starting as a teenager, performing in a Chinese restaurant (it's funny already!), through to today's still very active cancer-surviving octogenarian, here's Kaye at her funny, loveable best, sharing her successes and disappointments in one of the best autobiographies in a long, long time! Read it, you'' love it!

5 comments about Friends: A Love Story.

1. I really enjoyed reading Angela's contributions. Courtney's grew on me. The book was a thorough journey down the path(s) that led them to become [such] great lovers, and it's a very insightful and candid story. Alot of passion I felt through their recounting, and it even made me look at some things in my own life differently. Would recommend to men and women-- whether single, married, divorced.......or dating! I think it may change the way one looks at the opposite sex [a little bit]--



2. Oh... I just got this book and within three days I'm almost finished Angela and Courtney bring you into their world.. I want more more more.. I love their story it is so touching.. thumbs up...



3. Like most others, I highly enjoyed Angela & Courtney's story. I loved how the author alternated from her story to his bringing completion to the whole novel. I admire them both more seeing how they put their personal tragedies & demons out in the open but yet came out on top.



4. I'm not completely done this book. Bought it because I heard Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance speak on Oprah. The writing isn't very good, but I am enjoying very much hearing about their individual lives leading up to the point where they become interested in each other. I have started many books in 2007, but this is one I haven't been able to put down and will definitely finish!



5. I could barely put this book down! I enjoyed reading the candid story about Courtney and Angela. I appreciate all the sound advice given throughout the book concerning relationships. If you can get past some of the expletives used by Angela, you will find this book enjoyable. I wanted to put my "stamp of approval" on such a well written, down to earth story about a man and women who meet and fall in love. God truly has joined these two together and may the love they share sustain this marriage.

3 comments about The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Vol. 2.

1. This book is a good subject for the Civil War buff that delves into the personal accounts of a general from birth to retirement. This a must companion for "Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume One."



2. General Grant wrote this book while dying of throat cancer. He had been swindled by a dishonest Wall Street Broker and his trophies and possessions were stripped from him to satisfy the demands of his debtors. Bankrupt, suffering from a terminal illness and never passing a moment without acute pain, he produced this magnificent monument to his greatness. Those who denigrate Grant as a drunkard, butcher or bumbling President need to read this book in order to correct these errant assumptions. It is impossible to read this book and not realize that Grant was an inordinately intelligent man and one hell of a writer.

   Grant's Memoirs are a deserved classic in American literature and considered the greatest military Memoirs ever penned, exceeding Caesar's Commentaries. Grant wrote as he lived: with clear, concise statements, unembellished with trivialities or frivolities. The only "criticism" the reader might have is that Grant bent over backwards not to wound the feelings of people in the book. He takes swipes at Joe Hooker and Jeff Davis, but what he left unsaid would have been far more interesting. A compelling and logical reason why Grant was so spare in his comments was because he was involved in a race with death. He didn't know how long he could live and therefore, "cut to the chase."

   Grant's assessments of Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan and other military leaders are brilliant and engrossing. His style, like the man himself, was inimitable and couldn't be copied. In everyday life, Grant was a very funny man, who liked to listen to jokes and tell them himself. His sense of the absurd was acute. It's no accident that he loved Mark Twain and the two hitched together very well. Twain and Grant shared a similar sense of humor, and Grant's witicisms in the Memoirs are frequent, unexpected and welcome. There are portions where you will literally laugh out loud.

   Though Grant's Memoirs were written 119 years ago, they remain fresh, vibrant and an intensely good read. I have read them many times in my life and I never weary of the style and language that Grant employed. He was a military genius to be sure, but he was also a writer of supreme gifts, and these gifts shine through on every page of this testament to his greatness. All Americans should read this book and realize what we owe to Grant: he preserved the union with his decisive brilliance. In his honor, we should be eternally grateful.




3. General Grant wrote this book while dying of throat cancer. He had been swindled by a dishonest Wall Street Broker and his trophies and possessions were stripped from him to satisfy the demands of his debtors. Bankrupt, suffering from a terminal illness and never passing a moment without acute pain, he produced this magnificent monument to his greatness. Those who denigrate Grant as a drunkard, butcher, bumbling President need to read this book in order to correct these errant assumptions. It is impossible to read this book and not realize that Grant was an inordinately intelligent man and one hell of a writer.

   Grant's Memoirs are a deserved classic in American literature and considered the greatest military Memoirs ever penned, exceeding Caesar's Commentaries. Grant wrote as he lived: with clear, concise statements, unembellished with trivialities or frivolities. The only "criticism" the reader might have is that Grant bent over backwards not to wound the feelings of people in the book. He takes swipes at Joe Hooker and Jeff Davis, but what he left unsaid would have been far more interesting. A compelling and logical reason why Grant was so spare in his comments was because he was involved in a race with death. He didn't know how long he could live and therefore, "cut to the chase."

   Grant's assessments of Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan and other military leaders are brilliant and engrossing. His style, like the man himself, was inimitable and couldn't be copied. In everyday life, Grant was a very funny man, who liked to listen to jokes and tell them himself. His sense of the absurd was acute. It's no accident that he loved Mark Twain and the two hitched together very well. Twain and Grant shared a similar sense of humor, and Grant's witicisms in the Memoirs are frequent, unexpected and welcome. There are portions where you will literally laugh out loud.

   Though Grant's Memoirs were written 113 years ago, they remain fresh, vibrant and an intensely good read. I have read them in! their entirity 30 times in my life and I never weary of the style and language that Grant employed. He was a military genius to be sure, but he was also a writer of supreme gifts, and these gifts shine through on every page of this testament to his greatness. All Americans should read this book and realize what we owe to Grant: he preserved the union with his decisive brilliance. In his honor, we should be eternally grateful.

5 comments about Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chögyam Trungpa.

1. I really wanted to like this book. I am a practicing Tibetan Buddhist of the Drikung Kagyu lineage, and I really wanted to come away from this book with a better understanding of Chogyam Trungpa. I wanted to be able to stop thinking of him as a womanizing drunk.
   
   Unfortunately, this book didn't help me. The author spends a great deal of time explaining away Trungpa's behavior by stating that he just wasn't like other people and that the normal rules didn't apply to him. It felt like someone who is abused making excuses for her abuser. I didn't gain any clearer dharmic understanding of Trungpa's outrageous actions or his reasons for having affair after affair after affair, drinking to excess, or taking drugs.
   
   Brilliant teacher he may have been, but from what I read in this book, he doesn't strike me as any sort of a dharmic role model or a spiritual friend on whom I could rely.
   
   In addition to not feeling like I gained any sort of higher understanding of the main character, I feel that the book dragged on and on and on. It read at times like a list of dates and places, overly specific and uninteresting. The author seemed to be trying to account for every event in her and Trungpa's lives and explain how and why it showed Trungpa's brilliance. It got boring long before the book concluded.
   
   I give this book three stars because some of it is very interesting, and it gives a decent account of how Shambhala Buddhism came to be, but it doesn't offer any sort of scintillating window into who Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was.



2. this is a good read because mukpo doesn't try to convince anyone, including herself, of anything. she tells her story as it happened and is happening, willingly opening herself to possible criticism and raised eyebrows. this is a real life, a real marriage, not, as her husband said, "one of those suburban couples" who pretend everything is real when it isn't. trungpa may have had some issues, but he profoundly impacted many lives. whether his impact was positive or negative is irrelevant--buddhism does not judge.



3. "Enlightened Master"
   "Egomaniac"
   "Genius"
   "Fraud"
   "Compassionate"
   "Cruel"
   
   It is difficult to imagine one person attracting so many different sobriquets.
   
   Yet Chögyam Trungpa gathered all of these and many more.
   
   A recognized reincarnation of the Tenth Trungpa, he came to India after the Chinese invasion of Tibet and faced enormous hardships. He eventually came to Britain and met and married the sixteen-year-old Diana Probus, who took the name Diana Mukpo, and finally wrote this extraordinary memoir, almost twenty years after his death. They were married for a tumultuous period of seventeen years during which he established meditation centers throughout Europe and North America, attracted a large number of students and founded Naropa in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired University in the United States.
   
   Chögyam Trungpa was a key figure in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, and apart from the testimony of his personal students, he has left a substantial body of written works, many of which are widely recognized to be spiritual masterpieces. He was always controversial and heavy alcohol abuse contributed to his early demise.
   
   I never met Chögyam, but I well remember many of my Buddhist friends being scandalized by his behavior. Most of them had acquired an extraordinarily ascetic view of Buddhism that many still hold today. The idea that an Enlightened Master may smoke, drink and have sex is anathema. They have an idea of the way that a spiritual being should behave, and if he or she does not, well that simply proves that they are not enlightened! I have known so many people who never realized that this view of spirituality is a projection based on just one spiritual current. There are many others, and it is a sad reality that rather than practicing tolerance, many of the different spiritual schools and traditions really dislike each other.
   
   This book paints an intimate portrait of a master of "crazy wisdom." It is particularly fascinating to see the juxtaposition of the early life of someone born into a life of privilege in England, with a man born in poverty half a world away. And what an unusual and complex man he was, with a colorful and powerful personality. Not only was he someone who transmitted teachings, he was also believed to be someone who found and uncovered lost poetic and philosophical treasures.
   
   This is a very personal book, but it is not a rose-colored one. Diana was not only Rinpoche's wife she was also his student, and he did many things that must have been very hard on her. There was evidently a clash of cultures and even though she was very young when they got married, she was concerned about some of the questionable decisions that were being made. Though at the end of it all, she says that she has "no regrets." The book gives some extraordinary insights into the inner workings of Tibetan Buddhism during its early encounter with the West. Though not designed to be a book of teachings, it contains a great many acute observations about the Buddhist path.
   
   This is a book that will be of interest not only to Buddhists, but also to anyone who would like to learn more about the development of meditation and spirituality in the West.
   
   
   
   Richard G. Petty, MD, author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life



4. This is an amazing and compelling story. One of the few spiritual bios that is a total pageturner!



5. I was a close student of Trungpa Rinpoche for 16 years. I never closed a door in Diana's face; I did spend a bit of time caring for Taggie, yet even though I was "close in" to Rinpoche's family, I did not appreciate or have much empathy for Diana's challenges or for the fact that she was facing them at such a young age. Now at 60, having raised 4 children and being grandfather to 4, I humbly beg her forgiveness and bow to her strong Dharma Heart.
   This book is a generous and bold revelation of life with a rare Great Being. It will help any spiritual seeker break out of their limited notions of spiritual life and practice.
   The way in which Diana perservered in preserving and strenghtening her own spirit under extraordinary circumstances will be an inspiring example for any reader. It with help you develop a mature relationship to meet your own challenges on the path.

5 comments about Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under.

1. A fantastic "second act" by McDonald...if you happen to read this one first I would suggest All Souls as the follow-up. Both are simply fantastic!



2. After reading the author's first book, I prayed for a part two. To my disappointment this is not it!. It's as if an alien had possed the author and decided to re-write "ALL SOULS". Does this mean, the book was bad, no it does not mean that. It means that, the first book was written from such a different mindset (Night and day), has HUGE widespread appeal, and was so perfect (priceless): that somebody must have given this author some bad advice or false encourgement. Furthermore, while there are small parts that have that "wow effect" , the punk rock aspects, I overdosed on and sufficated this volume for me. If you ever read Mary Karr's "CHERRY" then I hope that will kind of enlighten you has to what my babble is trying to do, eventhough that was sort of a part two . In conclusion, while this author has a vast amount of heart, soul and talent and will most likely write more great books. It does not change the fact that I feel "Easter Rising" was a let down.



3. So sang Mission of Burma, whose final concert, among so many others in the early 80s, MacDonald attended, as he struggled to break out of his Boston confines. This brisk sequel to "All Souls" (also reviewed by me recently on Amazon) concentrates more on the writer himself, whereas the earlier book explained his family of ten siblings (nine surviving but three to die tragically as young men and a sister in a coma) in South Boston. I found lots that sounded familiar. The tour when he first saw the Clash was the same one I went to, and my first "real" concert too. He conveys the culture clash also, as Mikey Dread's patois reminds Mike of his grandfather's Kerry-accented chatter. He learns about English culture and European ideas through the then small alternative music papers and song lyrics guide him into Camus and Marx. His education, as a dropout from prestigious Boston Latin, takes him into a vividly described underground scene, as the caché of hanging out in clubs and shops leads him into the NYC squats and speed. I'm not sure how or if he manages to attend classes to completion at UMass-- this decision barely gets an aside. Mostly, Mike appears drawn to the same flirtation with the dangers that mark his family and his neighborhood. Finally, the darkness of his own family, after mental illness, bank robbery, and sudden trauma claim his siblings, snaps him back.
   
   However, there's no easy escape from Southie. The narrative tends to jump forward, and without the previous book, you'd have a hard time filling in the gaps. This is my reason for four stars: not that the lacunae are unexplained, but for the skips in the chronology that make it difficult to keep track of what happens when to him over three decades.
   
   Therefore, after Mike's accounts of punk, hanging out, and getting out of the Old Colony before succumbing to it, the story leaps to London, where he sees the sights on the cheap, and then two trips to Ireland. The first is to Donegal, and while the inside dust jacket promises "two healing journeys to Ireland that are unlike anything in Irish American literature," there's only a familiar, if well-observed, story of the strange intimacy many returning Yanks have. The woman who gives you a lift, figures out in her head you're her fourth (or fifth) cousin, then drops you off with a casual farewell as if this proved but an everyday occurrence on a rural back road. The crowds with women who all look like one's grandmother, and the faces that finally mirror your own. The 'green jumper' that all 'big fellas' from America supposedly stand out by as they tramp and gawk among the bemused natives. And, for Mike, the racial undertones that link the Irish to blacks as surely as they have separated them in his hometown.
   
   The coda, as it were, finds himself at thirty-two accompanying his braying Ma as she in her "Irish whisper" plays the accordion to tunes denouncing the Black and Tans and praising the IRA in the streets of London, complains over her headphones about the English, and generally making a spectacle of herself in the manner that readers of "All Souls" will smile at again. Yet, when she sees her father's cottage in Kerry, her son notes her change. Deeper voice, bent back, slower gait. In the ruins of her ancestral house, she finds her mother's cauldron and the shards of what had furnished the cabin. "Standing next to the dusty heap on the floor, I looked at the perfectly preserved picture of the Sacred Family hanging above the fireplace, with a banner that read BLESS THIS HOME. It was the one intact thing in a house that was in ruins. I couldn't take my eyes off it." (241)
   
   As in the first memoir, MacDonald tends to underplay such dramatic moments in favor of unadorned storytelling. I'm not sure if the audience which longs for shamrockery will take to Mike's more sober tales. This narrative moves efficiently, and MacDonald does not call attention to himself or his woe so much as place it in contexts-- of the club scene, of the pub milieu, and of the psychological devastation that takes him in and out of counselling, hospitals and therapy to ease his aching head. These encounters with the academic and then medical establishment do not, as you might expect, pit a rebel hero against an uncaring system in McMurphy vs. The Combine stereotypical countercultural conflict, but Mike learns self-reliance and gradual acceptance of his own power to overcome the demons that attack so many around him.
   
   Somehow, this manages to be one of the few recent books about Irish sold in America that lacks a paean from Frank McCourt, although his brother's quote graced the back hardcover of "All Souls" and may this in paperback. Whereas the first book evidently took time, this one may have been hastened by the four writer's retreats that he acknowledges, and funded by his screenplay for "All Souls" that's been optioned.



4. What's an old guy,72,reading a book abot an bunch of young people growing up in Southie,South Boston,in the 70's and 80's;in an area wracked with drugs,violence and with little else of interest than rock music? I remember the days when School Busing as a form of Intregation was creating great upheaval in America and much of the news about difficulties seemed to come our of South Boston. I had never read much about Southie;so thought that it might be of interest as I have read much about the struggles of ethnic groups making their way in America.Most cities have had ,and still do,their areas where people ended up ,who lived outside the "mainstream",and had to do whatever it took ,just to survive...but survive they did!
   I must admit,I found the book a little outside my interest in music , performers ,songs and band names;but it still held my interest and I found it better and better as I continued.By the time I finished,I felt it was one of the better books that I had ever read on the life,struggle and success of someone who overcame obstacles and an enviroment that to someone like myself would find totally discouraging. What a training ground,and anyone who managed to survive had to be remarkably strong. It shows that for anyone to survive and succeed,inner strengths,family ,determination,and taking on responsibility for oneself are the roads to success and not the reliance on government programs and social agencies.
   When you see what the author did to make a success out of what he had to start with ;anyone else who finds themselves in similar enviroment should ask themselves; "So,What's my problem?
   I found the author to be a great new,for me, addition to my list of favorite "Irish" writers and I have now put him in the company of my favorites; the McCourts,Roddy Doyle,Brendan Behan,Liam O'Flaherty,Toby Harnden,Brendan O'Carroll,Morgan Llywelyn,Pete Hamill,and many others.
   Particularly,when the author arrives in Ireland,and he gets to meet the locals and observe the Irish culture;it seems that great gift of writing really blossoms.The way he can write about people,and especially how he can bring that wonderful mother to life in his writing shows,without any doubt, that he is a "gifted Irish Writer" .That seems to be a skill one has to be born with and it has been a fundamental ingredient of Irish culture sice the beginning;where communication was done by storytelling as opposed to writing.
   How's this for observing and writing for which the Irish are so good at?
   
   "And when she came back to the silence of Danny's grave,she carried on in a great mood about what a beautiful spot it was.Then she did what she'd told Buddy she would do,pulling the accordian onto one raised knee and breaking into "Danny Boy".
   This opened every water faucet that had been closed so tightly that evening.Hannah,Mikey,and Catherine stood frozen,staring at the gravestone with hands folded,their tears falling in steady streams.I was terrified,the way I always was when Ma opened people's faucets.I wasn't sure if Ma was being appropriate,since I didn't know Danny's family at all well. Buddy had requested the playing,but I figured Ma ould do it when we were at he grave alone. Ma's red hair flew in all directions with the wind,exposing gray streaks at her temples,which I was seeing for the first time.She struggled to hold up the heavy accordian while standing,raising one thigh to prop it,and was soon balancing the whole spectacle on one foot. It was just past twilight,the sky was a deep dark blue,and the white stone of the religious statues shone out against the the backdrop of evening. Saint Patrick leading the snakes out of Ireland,the three children of Fatima kneeling in front of a serene Mary,Jesus' crucified body floating above us,his wooden cross invisible in the night.
   Ma wailed the verses and settled down to a lullaby for the last line,
   "I simply sleep in peace until you come to me."
   We stood quietly for a few moments. I wasn't sure we'd be welcomed back at the Riordan's that night. Catherine broke the long,uncomfortable silence by soaking us all in a parting spray of holy water.Then she doused the grave.And we all went back to the cars in what seemed like a sudden descent of pitch darkness."
   I can't wait to read more from this wonderful author.Keep it up Michael,you're really gifted.



5. I read and highly enjoyed MacDonald's previous autobiographical book, "All Souls", and was interested in his latest book. I was not disappointed. Whereas "All Souls" has more of a focus on the author's family and the events of the 70s and 80s, "Easter Rising" is about specifically how MacDonald was able to pull himself out of the cycle of poverty. Here are some of my own observations.
   
   I found MacDonald's journey into punk music fascinating. After his schizophrenic brother Davey committed suicide, he was looking for a way out of his own world. In punk music, he saw the musicians looking to destroy their world and create something new, and he immediately identified with them, wanting to destroy his own world that suicide and violence had ruined. In addition, I thought it interesting that he learned more about politics and history from the lyrics of punk music than through his classes at Bostin Latin.
   
   MacDonald's journeys to Ireland proved to be cathartic. When he was 19, he traveled to London and Paris and ran out of money. He called his grandfather for money, but he would only give it to him if he promised to visit Ireland and some of his relatives. He hates Ireland at first, but then grew to love it. When he saw his biological father, George Fox, at his funeral, he relates that since his father lived outside of South Boston, he was hoping that he had a connection to the outside world. That's ultimately what he found in his relatives in Ireland.
   
   His journey from the mindset of "South Boston is the whole world" to wanting to get out of there is quite emotional. After the death of Davey, then many other of his family members, he wanted to escape. At first, he would venture into downtown Boston, then New York, then finally out of the country. Growing out of the tribal mindset of his hometown was an important part of his development.
   
   In conclusion, "Easter Rising" is a must-have for anyone who enjoys autobiography and American history. It gives a more intimate portrait of the author than "All Souls" did. One needn't necessarily read "All Souls" before "Easter Rising," but it's helpful. Finally, it's a moving story of personal growth that has a wider appeal than to people from Boston.

2 comments about Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace.

1. In an opening letter to her readers, Kathryn ("Kitty") Slattery says, "All of us have a story to tell. When we choose to share our stories, extraordinary things can happen." Most memoirs focus on a certain theme --- a thread that runs through the author's life. And here Slattery draws out "the story of my mother and me --- two very different people." In these pages, there is keen insight for daughters who have wished for better mothering. It's not that Kitty had a stereotypically abusive mother, but one with a perfectionist bent, a self-absorbed view.
   
   Kitty's childhood home looked a lot like that of other baby boomers --- a successful corporate father and a devoted wife who tended her family. (Did she really wear pumps as she vacuumed?) Kitty's one sibling was 10 years her senior, which plays into the family dynamics. One day young Kitty discovered a document that implied that her older sister was a step-sister, that her mother had been divorced before marrying Kitty's father. But Kitty's mother wouldn't answer her questions. "Don't be a snoop," she said. And, "This is none of your business... And it's certainly nothing for you to worry about." But Kitty was a worrier. "With the discovery of the birth certificate in the breakfront, my world had been turned upside down and inside out. The fact that things were out of order, and that things might not be as they seemed, scared me to death."
   
   Kitty obviously needed a mother who would listen to her, explain mysteries rather than withhold information, encourage her rather than ridicule. As Kitty saw it, "she was not exactly the kind of mother I wanted and needed." Nor was Kitty the perfect daughter, primed to catch the perfect man. "Oh, Kitty," Mrs. Mother said one day. "You think too much... Boys don't like girls who think too much." A little overweight (having once bought clothes in the "`Chubbette' department at Sears") in high school, Kitty felt parental pressure to take off the extra pounds. Dieting led to self-purging --- and this in the late 1960s, before magazine articles explained the phenomenon, before eating disorders took Karen Carpenter's life. It was Kitty's dark secret --- like her father's chronic drinking.
   
   In college Kitty committed her life to Christ, a turning point in her life, though not the end of her struggle with bulimia. That abated only after she realized it was a not uncommon disease; she no longer felt uniquely dysfunctional and found the inner resources and community support --- principally a secure relationship with the man she married --- to live on an even keel.
   
   In the last third of LOST & FOUND, after Kitty has children of her own, she works on mending her relationship with her mother, even bringing her into a "mother-in-law apartment" in her suburban home. Here she comes to a new understanding of her mother that one can hope for in middle age. She sensed God saying, "I'm giving you this time with her." For what purpose? Kitty wasn't sure, but, looking for grace, she eventually found out.
   
   --- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence



2. Each of us experience times in life when we feel alone and disconnected. The lack of relational intimacy with the people we love can be especially painful. It often contributes to unhealthy behaviors as a means to cope with the pain. In the stories of individuals who break their addiction, you will nearly always find one person or a group of people who helped heal the wounds of the addicted with love and encouragement.
   
   Lost & Found is the poignant story of Kathryn Slattery, a contributing editor of Guideposts magazine and author of several books. In the book, Kitty describes her disconnection with her mother and father, the onset of bulimia, how her husband Tom's love and encouragement helped her overcome bulimia, and finally how Kitty reconnected with her parents.
   
   I enjoyed this book. As a writer and speaker about the importance of connection in organizations, I was interested to see that some of the same dynamics that affect relationships in the workplace were also at play in Kitty's story. Lost & Found helped me see several examples of how connections are diminished and how they can be restored. Excessive criticism, lack of transparency, perceived indifference, geographic dislocation and alcohol are the agents of disconnection in Kitty's story. Kitty's husband Tom becomes the primary agent of re-connection and it is his affection, steady optimism and encouragement that help heal her wounds and give her the strength to overcome bulimia. Eventually, with time, healing and self-reflection, Kitty is able to reconnect with her mother and father.
   
   I recommend this book. On one level, this is Kitty's story; on another, it is a study of the powerful effect of relationships and connection in our lives. It will be especially valuable to those who feel disconnected from their parents or other family members. I imagine most of us feel that way with at least some of our family members. It will help you think about what contributed to disconnection in your own life and how to restore it. Lost & Found is an ideal book for a book group. It would stimulate a lot of discussion around the connections and disconnections in our lives. These conversations tend to be healing too.

5 comments about The Kids from Nowhere.

1. I picked this book up while visiting my daughter in Alaska. As an educator from a very small midwestern district, I could relate in so many ways to the sutle communication styles and cultural secrets of these students. Many of us teach on "islands" where financial and social poverty play a huge role in our day to day contact with students. I could not put this book down. In so many ways I saw many of my own students in the characters, and quite unfortunately, saw some of my teaching peers in the negativity of certain Gambell staff members. I will share this title with my collegues and intend to reread it myself. It is a wonderful and inspiring novel for all teachers in remote areas.



2. In the 1980s an amazing thing happened. Siberian Yupik kids, who lived on a remote island in the Bering Sea and who spoke English as a second language, won national academic competitions. Their teacher was a writer who took the teaching job in order to support his young family and writing, but the experience turned him into a dedicated teacher as well as award-winning author. The Kids from Nowhere is his story of teaching junior high and high school students in Gambell, Alaska.
   
   George Guthridge went to Gambell to teach in 1982. His students were Siberian Yupiks, who called themselves Eskimos, who got their water from the village's tank, and who missed school to participate in the subsistence activities of their families and community. Located on the northwest corner of St. Lawrence Island, Gambell has a view of nearby Russia on the rare clear day. When he arrived, the Gambell schools had discipline as well as academic problems, and teacher turnover was very high. The school district was considering closing the high school.
   
   Coming from the "outside"--outside of Alaska, Guthridge had much to learn. He learned about Eskimo culture, teaching methods, public school politics, and academic success. His story is also the story of the kids he coached. These kids had the typical Eskimo shyness. Guthridge learned to read the raised eye brow that meant yes, and the lowered brow that meant no. He learned to listen to the silence exchanges among the students--and the discussions in Yupik.
   
   Guthridge was assigned to coach Future Problem Solving at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. Initially, he did not know what Future Problem Solving was. It is a method of solving a problem set in the future, and a program to teach youth problem-solving skills. Given an assigned topic, the students were to identify at least 20 problems that could go wrong, chose one of the problems, solve it at least 20 ways, develop criteria for evaluating the solutions and then evaluate their solutions, identify the best solution, and write an essay about the solution. In competition, all this had to be done in two hours.
   
   Guthridge's challenge was to teach assigned Future Problem Solving topics like nuclear waste and genetic engineering to students who had seen neither a tree nor an escalator. At times teaching was frustrating, very frustrating. Gradually, Guthridge began to apply the tools of writing to teaching. He developed the "what because why" format to focus on the relationships inherent in any topic. He kept repeating to the students, "Original thinking is precise thinking," and he placed emphasis on research. He ignored grade-level complexity, and he borrowed techniques from Superlearning and educational philosophers. He also had to teach competitive strategies to kids in a cooperative culture.
   
   He also remembered that he was coaching and teaching kids for life. He sent a smelly sock home with any student who insulted another student. The kids were to participate as a team and support each other. In the end, both the junior high and high school teams won national championships.
   
   Guthridge tells his story with grace, modesty, cultural sensitivity, and skill. He stayed in Gambell for six years. He now teaches through the University of Alaska's campus in Dillingham, Alaska, and he continues to write short stories and novels. With full respect for cultural differences, Guthridge reminds us that kids can learn--even "the kids from nowhere."



3. You can almost hear the "Rocky" theme as you read the final pages as these Yuupik kids do the impossible!



4. Although these kids are from a remote sub-arctic island most will never travel to, anyone who has worked with youth as a teacher or other group leader will, or should, recognize them. Turned-off kids, trapped in an alien (to them) school system, who need someone who believes in them--we can find them anywhere. Suffering teachers trying to find themselves while unwilling to give up on impossible assignments--we probably know a few of them too. In my case, I have visited that community several times and even know some of the families involved. This is an authentic telling; the kids' victories, with Guthridge's unique facilitation, actually happened.
   As a former high school teacher myself, I couldn't put the story down. Guthridge's remarkable honesty about the task he took on, his sometimes desperate struggle, his empathy, sometimes remorse, for the situation he had put his own children in, and how he painfully learned day-by-day along with the students made it for me. His tragi-comic relations with the other faculty are priceless. Although I have never felt quite that alone, I, like him, have gotten ill over teaching at times, and laughed myself sick over it too. The book made me wish I could go back and give teaching another run. George is a master story teller as well as a master teacher.



5. This book was well worth it's read. It is realistic to Alaska, heartfelt, inspiring and humbling for all of us who believe in kids and want to make a difference in their lives. The stories are great in their depth of emotion and in bizarreness, and for those who know Alaska Education, you know that they can be true.
   
   As for the author, I met George out in Dillingham, AK while he hosted me at his B&B, the Thai House. We had some great discussions about language development, reading, writing and all the perils of teaching and/or being an itinerant in Alaska. As a person, he reminded me that countless people have felt the same stresses in education even though time and place separate our experiences. He inspired me to read his book as he spoke of his journey through the education system. From the moment I picked this book up, I wanted to read more and more just because it was real to me, and in very simple language.

5 comments about King's Gambit: A Son, A Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game.

1. After reading this most interesting book I'm not sure why Paul Hoffman thinks that chess is the most dangerous game. I think it's because he believes the game is addictive, not because some prominent players have been mentally unstable, including two world champions, the uncrowned Paul Morphy and the briefly crowned Robert J. Fischer. Both Americans deserve the epithet "the pride and the sorrow of chess," but I don't think we can blame chess for their mental problems. Both were clearly paranoid, and in Fischer's case we can say schizophrenic as well. And of course Alexander Alekhine was an alcoholic, and any number of chess players have been and are eccentric and/or socially backward, some in the extreme.
   
   At any rate, this is simultaneously an emotional memoir about the author and his bizarre father, an excellent reportage on the contemporary game, and a well-researched mini history of the game. Hoffman, whose "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers" about the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos, became an unlikely international bestseller (see my review at Amazon), writes beautifully and doesn't mind exposing human foibles, although he is noticeably generous to himself and his friends.
   
   Hoffman's chess rating as revealed on page 18 is 1915 (Class A, just below "expert," which is just below "master"), but in his encounters with some of the game's famous players in simuls and in offhand games, he appears to be stronger than that. As he notes, a Class A rating puts him in the top ninety-five percent of all US tournament players. (p. 18) So he is clearly strong enough to understand the world of competitive chess. And he does. He also understands the personalities and it is here that he shines. Whether he is writing about perhaps the greatest player of all time, Garry Kasparov, or about some nut job like the murderer Claude Frizzel Bloodgood III, who as a prisoner in 1970 or 1971 is said to have played 1200 postal chess games at once, Hoffman's prose is vivid and he makes the personalities come to life.
   
   Kasparov doesn't fair entirely well, with Hoffman showing him to be mean spirited when he loses and vindictive. But Hoffman's friend, Canadian GM Pascal Charbonneau, for whom he served as second during the World Championship matches in Tripoli in 2004, shines forth as both well balanced and likeable, as well as being one heck of a chess player. Nigel Short with whom Hoffman spent some time, comes across as a bit juvenile and something of a sex addict, but relatively modest for a chess genius.
   
   Stories, stories, and stories. Some of them like scenes from spy novels. Hoffman in Moscow under a KGB building, quaffing vodka and smoking a hookah pipe...In Tripoli being detained by Gadhafi's henchmen, fearing for his life, or at least worried that he might end up in a Libyan jail...In Washington Square Park, NYC, watching the hustlers and maybe being hustled.
   
   There's an excellent chapter on women in chess where Hoffman devotes some revelatory ink to the American women stars, Jennifer Shahade, Irina Krush and others. By the way, why is it that chess players seem to have a disproportionate number of their names beginning with the letter "k"?--Krush, Kasparov, Karpov, Keres, Korchnoi, Kalvelak, Keene, Kieseritzky... Yes, I used to play the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit. And I bet Hoffman did too, or does, since he loves gambits, although he doesn't mention it in this book. Maybe he's saving it for a surprise. Be forewarned: it's unsound, but you gotta love the name. And did you know that Hungarian whiz kitten Judit Polgar, the youngest of the famed Polgar sisters, became a grandmaster at the tender age of 15 years, four months and 28 days? It took the great Bobby Fischer 15 years, six months and one day to achieve the same title.
   
   An interesting mini story in the book is that of Bruce Pandolfini who, although only a National Master (below International Master and Grand Master), parleyed TV exposure during the Fischer-Spassky titanic into a lucrative chess teaching career in which he made more money than just about every chess player who ever lived. Hoffman has him picking up a couple hundred grand a year teaching kids at upwards of two hundred bucks an hour the finer points of the Sicilian Defense or how to win a bishops of opposite color ending. (In my experience being two pawns up helps a lot!)
   
   My favorite story in the book is a short one that appears in an endnote on page 412. It concerns Soviet GM Alexey Suetin who got an old Belorussian master as a second for opening preparations. Only trouble was that instead of helping Suetin, the old guy accurately predicted just what would happen to him against a couple of opponents. And so it did.
   
   If this isn't the best nontechnical book on chess ever written it will have to do until the real thing comes along. You will be entertained even if you don't know your Alpin Counter Gambit from your Maroczy Bind. And if you do, you'll stay up half the night reading this fascinating tour through the land of pawn grabbers, Elo's and MCOs, mating nets, The Luzhin Defense (novel by Vladimir Nabokov, made into a movie) zugzwang, Grob's Attack, smothered mates...
   
   Which reminds me of something. I once won a game against a chess master with a smothered mate--via the familiar 1. Nh6 (discovered and double check with knight and queen) 1....Kh8; 2. Qg8+ RxQ; 3. Nf7 checkmate!
   
   I know, I know--another case of "Chess nuts boasting by an open foyer." But you could look it up. The score was published in Isaac Kashdan's Sunday chess column in the Los Angeles Times in the middle sixties when I was an undergrad at UCLA.



2. Reading this book made me want to read Mr. Hoffman's other books, which seem to be out of print.
   
   I do not know what impression this book could make on someone who doesn't play chess. Myself, I can't imagine my life without chess.
   
   So, if you play chess, love chess and it's history, it's hard to imagine you won't find this book interesting, entertaining and instructive.
   
   At least one reviewer didn't like the fact that the relationship between the author and his father is the thread that leads through the book. It didn't bother me at all, in fact, it's what holds the book together.



3. A very interesting read about top-level chess players. The author points out repeatedly that many of the Grandmasters in chess exhibit some pretty serious personality flaws that almost border on mental illness. I gather that the stress involved in their matches causes these problems to magnify. Paranoia being a primary concern of several players. If you thought Bobby Fischer was the only chess player with "problems" this book will make you rethink that view.



4. This is a very well written book and entertaining for chess fans.I really like the dynamics of the Father and Son relationship portrayed in this book ,the Father here is a real character,part pathological liar part comedian.A man who has to invent fantastic stories to compensate for a childhood of neglect,which I found sad.I knock a star off because of all of the exposed scandal of the chess world in this book. The story of the Libyan tournament is also very entertaining and well written. All and all an excellent read.



5. The account of a man's journey through the chess world. Beginning as I young child, Paul Hoffman was fascinated by chess. He developed strong skills into college where he ultimately gave up the game he loved. Only after some years of adulthood, did he take up the game again. The book is the narrative of his adventures with chess. Along his journey he has played, met, and interacted with numerous grandmasters. His accounts of these men and women are interesting because of the strange personalities that chess seems to breed. Chess is a game for the genius as well as for the crazy. The book deals with his difficult past, his lying father, and his quest for completion. Anyone desiring to dig deeper into the chess culture needs to read this great book.

5 comments about Fierce Attachments: A Memoir.

1. Vivian Gornick's Fierce Attachments makes for an exciting and thought-provoking read. Her memoir has a relatable simplicity written through an innovative perspective. She presents her narrative with great analysis and at the same time provides a light-hearted feel.
   Every scene is full of life. Unconventionally, Gornick chooses to stray away from chapter divisions--it in no way takes away from the story. The story, in fact, flows better without chapter titles previewing the next memory. Every memory is described extensively passed tangible objects in the room. She goes beyond showing and enables the reader to feel the emotions in the room: "The living room...Here you took a deep breath, held it until you were smothering, then either got out or went under. In the kitchen...You could breathe. You could live" (68-67). The reader has gone past visualizing and is there. Every character and scene developed enhances the story.
   The scenes chosen are just important to the memoir as the writing. After Gornick presents an eventful memory, she moves to a walk in the city with her mother. Each walk filled with dialogue reflecting the emotions of the juxtaposed memory. It is clear how the tumultuous relationship with her mother influences her choices and her persona. A great example appears in one of her few heartwarming connections with her mother. She, after a close neighbor Nettie tries to console her, discovers "Mama was where [she] belonged" (71). Gornick accompanies this memory with that of her walk down a sunlit Eighth Avenue where she predicts her mother's defensive reaction before it happens. In a new state of mind, she "[becomes] irritated but [remains] calm. Not falling into a rage..." that she knows she usually would (74).
   The memoir lures the reader in. With no dull moments, the reader is left without an opportunity for a bathroom break. The descriptive scenes with relatable reflections put this memoir above the rest. Fierce Attachments is a fierce read.



2. This memoir is Gornick doing a hatchet job on her mother. Gornick's mother is a pathological arrogant narcissist who verbally abuses everyone around her, including and especially Gornick. The dimension of it that Gornick seems not to see at all is that she is identical. She abuses her mother and everyone else with the same pointless malice her mother turns on her. It is two hundred pages of two pathological personalities who make themselves and everyone around them miserable. Their constant discourse is arrogance, insult, accusation, blame, and dismissiveness. They never stop bickering bitterly with each other and everyone else. Gornick is as blind to what a loathsome person she is as her mother is. One tires of them quickly.
   
   The proposition that Gornick can write comes from her inserting pompous epigrams at the end of each section. Few of these are original and none are good enough to bear the weight she puts on them.
   
   This is a thoroughly unpleasant book and well worth skipping.



3. Upon first reading Fierce Attachments, I thought that it was an acceptable novel- interesting anecdotes, good dialogue, etc. However, after thinking it through and re-reading sections, it became painfully clear that Gornick has no deep insights to tell us, and because of this lack of original and profound thought, she writes about cliched things in a cliched manner. Yes, the novel can be entertaining, especially if the subject matter holds interest. In my opinion, get it from the library. It's not worth the money.



4. I think one would be hard put to find a reviewer who thinks that Gornick can't write, or that she doesn't have insights that other people feel are incisive and/or applicable to their own lives. I will not dispute any of this; this is an excellently-written book that does a wonderful job exploring the mother/daughter relationship. (Not being either one, I'm somewhat handicapped at commenting on how accurate it is in that area.)

   I do think, however, that one should be aware of Gornick's take on what constitutes a memoir. Gornick has written that she views the lives on which a memoir is based to be the "rough draft." She feels that the "memoir" does not need to be held to the strict standards of truefulness that other non-fiction is. (For details on Gronick's take on what a memoir is, please read her piece in Salon: http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2003/08/12/memoir_writing/index.html

   Personally, I find her explanations unsatisfactory, and her justifications to be rationalizations at best. I do not get enjoyment from the literary technique of an unreliable narrator, no matter how many literary persons find it to be a brilliant technique for exploring whatever (the universality of subjectivity, the unreliability of supposed objectivity, the capricious nature of life, or what have you), and similarly I have trouble with the concept of a "memoir" that is, at it's base, a piece of fiction. Perhaps I am a philistine, but I much prefer something like "The Ladies Auxiliarly," which, while certainly *based* on the author's life, does not pretend in any way to *be* life.

   That caveat aside, I *do* honestly think that this is a very good book that many will enjoy. Just caveat emptor, is all.




5. The truth is, Gornick could write about the hard bit of cheese left over and I would thill to it. She is a superb stylist and I've read all her books greedily -- precious objects that they are. This book, with its dark and painful attachment to her mother laid bare for us -- and how this attachment has acted upon all her other attempts at attachment -- is kinetic both intellectually and emotionally. She repeatedly tiptoes up to that taboo -- the lack of love that keeps a mother and daughter so intimately entwined -- and lets us stare over the lip of the abyss. I see myself, I see so many women. She is an incredible writer. Every hard won word is worth the wait. A true gem.