No comments about The Retrial of Joan of Arc: The Evidence for her Vindication.

3 comments about The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates: 1973-1982.

1. This is an intimate peek at the personal musings of an amazingly talented and prolific writer. It closely follows her career moves and family life for ten years with forays into her childhood and school years. It is a great privilege to witness the inspiration and thought processing of one of the great writers of our time about the dozens of books she worked on during that decade in which she was driven to produce continuously to prove her worth to herself, striving for perfection while fearing it was unattainable.
   Embarrassed by her prolificacy after being criticized for it, Oates dives into other interests that happen along (piano lessons, playwriting, book reviews, etc.) to try to distract herself from her incessant writing. "My image is of someone obsessively writing and producing and publishing feverishly..." (p.99). She wants very much to write more slowly, to be more "normal," but once she gets going on an idea she is unable to pace herself. "...Notes on "Bellefleur." More from Raphael's point of view. But slowly. Slowly. I want to take months, years, with this..." (p.263). But despite her desire to write this 592 page novel slowly, her first draft would be completed in eight months and the revision completed in another month and a half.
   By the time I reached the middle of the book I was fairly certain of her obsessive/compulsive tendency. Her urge/need to write has a stranglehold on her mind, except when she is obsessing on something else (like music). The hunger - so common in her early characters - is nowhere to be found in the Oates of the journal. What I do find is a marked lack of interest in food. Maybe the physical hunger and cravings for food, with which she endows her characters, is her way of exploring these emotions and feelings to find out what she is missing. In Oates, that hunger/longing is manifested in a powerful creative urge. Only when she is actively involved in classroom instruction or visiting with friends and colleagues, can she push her writing voice away from the forefront of her mind. But even then, the voice is not stilled - merely muffled. Her mind is always writing, writing, writing, the words tumbling over one and other, recording themselves, to spill out later at the slightest beckoning. "I have all I can do to contend with the images that rush forth, in the fullness and complexity of my ordinary days" (p251).
   This journal is so intimate and soul-bearing, I am repeatedly struck by her generosity in sharing it with us. One wonders why, since she can't possibly need the money or the name recognition. Perhaps it is apologetics for her phenomenal prolificacy (she has written at least 70 books and probably closer to 100) - a need to convince her critics that she labors as hard over her work as any other writer does. Whatever her reason, as a longtime fan, I am grateful for a chance to get the story behind the writer. I closed the book reluctantly and with hope that more decades of her journaling will someday be published.



2. Yea, she writes more than anyone else, but looking into this--an era that some might argue is the best period of JCO's career--is just another reminded why this reader no longer reads her work: it's just not that interesting anymore. There's just so much material by her that's available that's second rate, it seems odd that she's publishing a volume that even she has admitted she has not read. My guess is that if you don't have enough of JCO's books on your bookshelf, you might want to add this one. Or you could ask yourself, "Which work by her do I most want to reread?" If there's an answer to that question, I'd take that book off the shelf, and then ask yourself if it was worth the second look.



3. REVIEW BY BARBARA LIPKIEN GERSHENBAUM SEE ALL MY REVIEWS
   
   People write journals for different reasons which are usually not created for public consumption; at least not while the writer is still alive. Nevertheless, this phenomenon has been known to happen and THE JOURNAL OF JOYCE CAROL OATES 1973-1982 is one such book. Oates is considered the most prolific American writer to come out of the twentieth century and move seamlessly into the twenty-first. If nothing else, this journal humanizes her, which offers fans and readers further understanding of the woman, the writer, her love of teaching and the body of work.
   
   In "A Note on the Text" editor Greg Johnson explains why the ten years between 1973 and 1982 make up the entries chosen to create "THE JOURNAL OF JOYCE CAROL OATES: the magnitude of Oates's "4,000 single-spaced typewritten pages" is too much of a project for an editor to complete in a timely fashion. With this in mind he chose one year of "the uniformly high quality ... the journal entries ... [which he] intended to provide an accurate view of Oates's primary concerns" at that time in her writing career. These pieces "focus on her work, her writing process, and philosophical concerns." However some of her very personal experiences and interactions with family, friends, colleagues and students have made their way into this truncated version of her journal.
   
   In her Introduction Oates tells readers that she actually began to keep a journal from 1971-1972 when she was in London and feeling somewhat homesick. " ... This journal seemed to me at the start a haphazard and temporary comfort of sorts, that would not last beyond [that particular time,] yet, astonishingly, ... the journal has endured, and is now thousands of pages housed in the Syracuse University Library Special Collections. My understanding with myself [was] that the journal would remain haphazard and spontaneous ... never revised or rethought; it would be a place for stray impressions and thoughts that shift through our heads constantly; [it] would be a repository ... for experiences and notes for writing."
   
   The Introduction goes on to explain how Oates rationalized, ruminated upon, questioned and analyzed the entire process of journaling. She wonders if she will be too exposed if her journal is published; will the public read it and somehow sense a blurring of her fiction and these entries? If a journal is considered a private place, it is transformed into something else when others read it ... [one] of "the risks of journal-keeping."
   
   She continues her comments: "What I have seen of this edited/abridged journal, so capably presented by Greg Johnson, affects me too emotionally to make its perusal rewarding: revisiting the past is like biting into a sandwich in which you've been assured, there are only a few, really a very few, bits of ground glass." She goes on to opine upon the reasons why she feels this way: "Does the uncensored journal reveal too much of me? Does the journal of the 1970s/1980s return me to a time in which ... my parents were alive" for example. What? Joyce Oates has not read the published version of her journal ... or at least she has not read all of it. When she talks about a "glass sandwich" readers will have a visceral reaction that will provoke them into thinking about having themselves outed in what they had begun as private writing.
   
   Every journal, regardless of its author, will be a collage of memories, dreams, desires, self-regard, internal turmoil, petty arguments ... warm reconciliation, satisfaction and a whole host of personal experiences seemingly of import only to the author. However, journals cannot help but offer readers a window into the writer's personality, a critique on her/his work so far, questions about her/his status in society: as a person, as a professional, as a careerist and in this case as a writer and teacher. Reputation alone is not enough to sustain the ego of talented people and this drives them to keep working. Their fans often want more ... they want to understand a body of work produced by the recipient of their ardor ... offered in a way different from formal biography or autobiography.
   
   THE JOURNAL OF JOYCE CAROL OATES 1973-1982 is rich in personal and happy reminiscences about her husband, her parents, her joy in gardening, her passion for entertaining, her respect and great regard for fellow writers and other luminaries she has known and/or continues to see. She is generous and humble. In assessing her life in 1981 about eight months after completing ANGEL OF LIGHT and A BLOODSMOOR ROMANCE she writes: "How gracefully things are taking shape, financial, professional, otherwise. ... In all, a lovely day. Amen."
   
   But not every entry is as bright as this one. An intruder invaded her office and "thrust something at me, a tiny package. A razor blade in it, I'm led to believe." Another encounter with violence occurs in the form of a tongue-lashing: "You're very anti-man, aren't you" ("must be confusing me with the feminists".) Oates writes in her journal: "The pointlessness of violence. ... Not simply for the criminal, but for the victim. I don't think I will, or could, learn anything from the experience. Or could I?"
   
   Perhaps she did. Oates speaks in a very American voice and imbues her writing with myths, history, family, ideas and ideals associated with the suburban, urban, academic, political and street images of the landscape of the United States. Some of her books are overtly violent and others use violence as a device to make a larger statement about the culture we inhabit. Yet, she never preaches nor does she knock the reader over the head with potentially vile ideas.
   
   As a matter of fact, when she talks about writing, the process of writing, the formation of characters, the flow of dialogue, the choice of setting, the pace of the plot and in what century or universe the book resides, she concludes: "If I wonder where my personality really exists, in what form it best expresses itself, the answer is obvious: in the books. Between hard covers. Hard covers. The rest is Life."
   
   Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
   
   (c) Copyright 2007, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
   (c) Copyright 2007, Teenreads.com. All rights reserved.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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5 comments about Dark at the Roots: A Memoir.

1. ....but it's just not that funny.
   Great title, great book cover, but stale as a 2 week old loaf of Wonderbread.
   Save yourself the money and effort....buy anything by David Sedaris instead.



2. Sarah Thyre is a BAD girl and she's written one of the most twisted memoirs to prove it. "Dark at the Roots" is shameless (in a really funny way), and one of my favorite chapters has to be "Smell It Like It Is." In it, Sarah explores her fascination with her father's collection of "Playboy" and "Penthouse" magazines.
   
   If I had known Sarah in elementary school, I'm certain she would have gotten me into a whole lot of trouble and I would have loved every minute of it!



3. I loved this book. Sarah is absolutely hysterical. I found myself laughing out loud in bed reading it at night. My only problem is that she hasn't written anything else. Please, Please, write something else, and hurry.



4. To call this book horrible would be like referring to the surface of the sun as "a little warm." What a disappointment! I love "Strangers With Candy", worship both Amy and David Sedaris, and consider Andy Richter hilarious. By all accounts, this book should have rocked my world. The only reason to crack the cover is the flattering photo of the author,(for those of you who watched, she was the scary ugly gym teacher in "Strangers"). The writing falls flat and you feel no sympathy for ANY of the characters. Every member of her family is truly horrible, including her mother, who Thyre tries to portray as a modern-day saint, but comes off as a complete whack job who shouldn't take care of houseplants, let alone children. The description of the book includes the word "hilarious." Don't be fooled. At no point in this ill-conceived jumble of words does anything triggering laughter occur. In fact, I might go as far as to say this book may be laughter's very antithesis. Sarah Thyre comes across as a self-absorbed, whining brat with delusions of grandeur. Everything about this "memoir" is unpleasant. After finishing, I literally felt grimy, as if I'd walked through a swamp. For those of you expecting some sort closure at the end, be prepared. The book just ends. I actually threw my copy away; in good conscience, it would have been wrong to pass it on to other people. They could spend time reading a good book instead of this dreck.



5. Funny, bittersweet, nostalgic, weird and endlessly entertaining. Thyre writes a wry and honest story of her childhood as the girl who drove everyone crazy, herself included. In this chronicle of a smart, funny, and amazingly dishonest child,I alternately chuckled and winced. As a wanna-be preppy princess, young Sara bangs from one social disaster to another, always trying to rise above her tacky reality . A plethora of pop cuture references and lashings of small-town Louisiana dialog opens a window into the not-so-distant past. At least it will remind you of those silly days when social success was greatly inproved by having a Lascoste croc on your shirt. At best you will appreciate that odd girl from the wrong side of the tracks; the girl who drove us crazy but fascinated us. Here we have a memoir that is neither obnoxiously cheerful or mordantly sad. In my book club we so often read memoirs or novels that painfully trace the sad story of someone with a horrible life who wins through to self-knowledge and some form of solace at the end. It's like eating a vat of cabbage, good for you but not very appetizing. In contrast, Thyre's memoir is like Pop Rocks on the toungue.

5 comments about Unshackled: A Survivor's Story of Mind Control.

1. This book is the best I have read on this subject. Mind Control by trama of little children growing up into adults for use by the power elite is just as sick as it gets. It appears this practice is not uncomon and is a criminal abuse of humanity behind the smiling faces of those who are in the know. I wish Unshackled was the only testamony of its kind, but there are many more cases like this, and countless others who were abused by trama and just dumped as duds. All for power and perversion. If you want to know more, this book is a very good read. A+.



2. This book is not an easy read, but it does contain some interesting information that makes it worth buying and reading. If you are into conspiracy theory it is a must have.



3. If I didn't already know that a lot of what Ms. Sullivan speaks of actually goes on, I would think she was an absolute nut. Sadly, most people do not inform themselves beyond the traditional mass-media outlets, and so do not know about things such as MK-Ultra, Project Bluebird, Larry King and the Franklin coverup, or Project Paperclip, all of which can be easily researched via the internet. These people will no doubt write this story off as the rantings of a deeply disturbed person, which I suppose they are in a way. This is a horrible tale of cults, unspeakable childhood torture the specifics of which I will not mention here, but they are unbelievably horrible, and this woman's struggle to get her life and mind back. It is told in a necessarily fragmented way, as she is still struggling to piece the whole picture together, and so it's not Hemingway or anything, but it is clear, concise, and easy to read, with extensive notes (from mainstream, respected sources) following each chapter. If the person who says she is Ms. Sullivan's daughter is who she claims to be, then I completely understand why she is so disturbed by her mother's book, it's a real headful for me so I can just imagine how it is for someone who lived this hell. As fantastic as it seems, this stuff really happens, it really does, and the sad thing is that it sounds so crazy that people just don't believe it. That's why it is allowed to happen. Of course I don't know if her particular story is true, but knowing what I do I am inclined to believe that it is. If you think this is crazy then do an internet search on the topics I mentioned, then order this book and educate yourself.



4. I have read a number of books by survivors and the horrific accounts of abuse all seem believable to me. I'm not sure who Emily is only hoping that it is not another means of disinformation. My cousin's wife had a nervous breakdown due to past ritual abuse. This is happening and it is real, make no mistake. Sad but true. If you really want an eye opener read this book. People need to start pulling their heads out of the sand.



5. Kathleen Sullivan is a very different person than when I first met her. Today, she is well organized, educated, and intelligent. When I first met her, she looked like the walking dead. Her eyes were blank and seemed to look right through me. I saw a very scared woman who didn't know if she was going to make it to the next day or the next hour. I felt very sorry for her, a single mother alone most of the time, taken advantage of at any given moment by perpetrators, especially her father who was also her "guiding counselor." I'm proud to have been her husband and supporting partner during her journey out of hell into the light she lives in today. During the hardest part of her recovery, I cried many tears because of her sorrow. I met and comforted the scared little children inside her. I wanted to lash out at anyone who would want to harm her. She did not deserve the grief, abuse, terror, and torture she endured for decades. I can attest to the grief, tears, sorrow and terror she relived, almost every day, as she wrote Unshackled. When I read the finished manuscript the first time, it was as if Ms. Sullivan was letting her light shine towards those who had never cared for her. I was amazed that her heart was still open to her former abusers and other detractors. I'm glad she wrote Unshackled. I give it 5 stars because it is quality work with far-reaching truths.

5 comments about Finding Angela Shelton.

1. It seems every time I work up the courage to really listen to someone else's story, or to share my own, it wrenches another crack into the shell of that hard kernel of hurt and self-loathing I carry around inside of me. This book helped place another crack without too much angst or tears, because Angela tells her story with openness and honesty.
   
   Angela sets off to film women around the country sharing the name Angela Shelton. She's searching for women's attitudes and outlooks. Not surprisingly, she finds many have been abused. Through her travels and interviews, Angela finds what she was really looking for all along - a sense of belonging and acceptance. A victim of extreme sexual abuse, Angela suffered from low self-esteem. At one point she realizes, "I have a flash of how my whole life, losing my virginity, my relationships, my work, everything has been affected by the beliefs that were set in place when I was little." Sharing others' stories helped her with her own. The more I talk about my own abuse history, or write about it, the healthier I become.
   
   The book is not perfect; for example I wish that it had been written in a more linear manner, and it seemed to drag in places. But it is easily read, especially given the subject matter, and I give it five stars for bravery and fulfilling a need. Angela represents all of us in our search to heal. She comes across as courageous and gritty, and I am thankful that she took on this subject.
   
   With at least one out of four women facing abuse during a lifetime, chances are good that even those not victimized know someone who has been. This is our story, our lives, and the more we talk about it, and normalize it, and recognize it, the faster we can heal, and help prevent future victims.



2. Everyone must read this book. This book is real, its not smoothed over, it tells you what really is going on which is what needs to be heard. Thank you Angela, THANK YOU. You are the most amazing person and you book, is written wonderfully.



3. This book is a must have for anyone who saw the film "Searching For Angela Shelton." Angela takes the reader behind the scenes on her journey toward healing. She allows us to see what the camera did not show. The book was a quick read and makes a great resource to go along with the film.



4. Reading Finding Angela Shelton was like reading my story. The details
   of what happened might vary, but the thoughts and actions were ME. It
   is beyond empowering to know that someone else experienced something
   similar and they have the same thoughts and fears. I used to think I
   was alone and that no one could understand, but there is something
   about another person sharing who has been there. When I read the
   truth, it resonated deep within me--in that place I protected fiercly
   all these years. Angela touched that spot and I will never be the
   same.
   
   Reading this book helped me to feel connected again, and that is huge.
   We are all Angela Sheltons and we are not alone. Her brutal honesty
   and irreverent humor totally captivated me, and I want to speak the
   truth, too. And I learned that the truth WILL set you free. You will
   become more than you ever thought you could. You will dream dreams and
   imagine a life beyond surviving. You will have a life beyond
   surviving.
   
   Finding Angela Shelton is a wake up call to survivors. Talk about your
   experience. Stop hurting yourself. Love yourself. We are more than
   what happened to us. We all have the capacity to move beyond our
   abuse, and this book is our roadmap to healing.



5. I couldn't put Angela's book down. Her personal honesty and sensitivity to all the Angelas' lives was phenomenal.
   
   Angela's humor and willingness to rise above life's circumstances comes through loud and clear. She is an amazing writer, who tells a gripping story about a remarkable journey.

4 comments about Princess Alice: The Life and Times of Alice Roosevelt Longworth.

1. I read this book about 10 years ago, skimmed it actually at the time, and enjoyed it for its gossipy detail.
   
   I re-read it in the past few days and realize how.....how shall I put this....mean-spirited it is. I believe that this is because of the style of Carol Felsenthal first and foremost.
   
   Now, Alice Roosevelt Longworth was no saint. She was a narcissistic trouble-maker, a beautiful and spirited and intelligent woman who could have done so much more with her life. Instead she delighted in bitterness , and witty and smart thought she was, her character was riddled with anger.
   
   Her childhood was tragic. Her mother died 2 days after her birth. Her father, Theodore Roosevelt, had adored her mother almost to the point of goddess worship. Received opinion is that Alice Lee Roosevelt, mother of the subject of this book, was warm, open and loving. And beautiful (this without the cosmetics that enhance beauty today.) It is interesting to imagine what would have happened if Alice Lee had lived on to parent her daughter in a different way.
   
   So, Alice Lee dies suddenly and unexpectedly two days after baby Alice's bith. What does Theodore Roosevelt do with this little girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to her late mother? Does he cherish her, nurture her, think of her as a connection to her late mother's spirit?
   
   No. He basically shuts her out of his life. He doesn't want to see her and pays scant attention to her. He ships her off to be raised by his sister Bamie, a wonderful woman who loved little Alice dearly and would also have made a good parent, Then he marries Edith Carew, who was a childhood friend of his and whom he had thrown over to marry the idolized Alice Lee. Edith Carew insisted on taking care of Alice, but her parenting was based partly, I think, on punishing this daughter of her rival -- how easy it was for her to pretend to care and then muck up this step-daughter's self-esteem entirely. It's really an ugly story, and it's almost painful to read about Edith Carew Roosevelt's subtle and uncharitable coldness toward the little girl whom she could pretend to care about -- when she was actually effecting a very subtle and uncharitable revenge.
   
   No wonder Alice Roosevelt was messed up.
   
   My problem with Carol Felsenthal's book is that she does not examine fully the reasons for Alice Longworth's troubled, combative personality. She takes a light and almost National-Enquirer type tone and, in the end, makes everyone seem like a cartoon stereotype. Does anyone come out of this book as truly likeable and a good person? Even Eleanor Roosevelt is turned into a buffoon.
   
   I wish someone like Joseph Lash or Edmund Morris would write, or would have written, a bio about Alice. (I think both gentleman have passed away, so I probably should say "I wish someone with their depth and even-handedness had written a bio about Alice.")
   
   I would suggest learning more about the sad ramifications of this woman's life by reading about other members of the Roosevelt family -- Alice is mentioned often.
   
   Does anyone else know of a better-written bio of Alice Roosevelt Longworth? I'm really interested in reading one.



2. A good biography I couldn't help but feel sorry for Alice. Her mother died at birth and there were many examples where her father didn't seem to care about her. Leaving her with her aunt to go out west. The second review gives more examples. A lot of her behavoir and wild antics seemed to steam from a lonely girl looking for attention from her family. No wonder Alice loved all the attention she got at as the president's daughter.



3. In her many years in Washington, Alice Roosevelt Longworth saw and considered all. The biting wit she so happily shared (she had a pillow made that said,"If you have nothing nice to say, sit next to me)
   with friends and, more pointedly, enemies is on view.
   
   It was not a happy life, death seemed too often and too soon to be a companion. Starting with her own Mother at child birth and continuing to include her Father, husband and Daughter. Privately she grieved but publicly she knew she had a responsibility to keep fresh the memory of the deceased.
   
   Never one to not do what wasn't acceptable, she cheerfully tells of being drunk in Japan, plotting to marry Nicholas Longworth, who would become Speaker of the House and writing a colume to rival her distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. (Mrs. Longworth's was more amusing).
   
   As hardcore biography this isn't a gem but as the view of a fascinating life it reveals what we need to know of a famous American. Certainly, her influence and power-which were real-did not extend beyond the beltway of Washington D.C. Too often viewed as a "society lady" by the country at large, (hence the title "Princess Alice")known outside Washington principally for a popular song, "Alice Blue Gown" she was the keeper of that now dead feature of that stimulating, intellectual life, the salon.
   
   What is noted is her great humanity that was never part of her public persona. Reaching out to a pre-married Eleanor (and subsequently being rebuffed and vilified by this same person) or allowing her home to be used as a hostel during a war, was all part of what was a very private person. She had discovered, and the reader can learn a lesson here, that to be very private, you need to be a bit public. Liked or Loathed, all of Washington came to her-if in some cases a bit reluctantly.
   
   Only in one instance did her instincts for the country she truly loved let her down;her involvement, along with Charles Lindbergh, in the abortive movement, America First. It was an episode she regretted, but, as was typical of the Lady, never quite apologized for.
   
   A subject such as Alice Roosevelt Longworth needs a book about them for posterity. She belongs to a group of people that while time will never entirely forget, the personality and importance of her and her times will be diminshed.
   
   It's an easily read book, an enjoyable glance at a character, in a time when character meant something more than a strange person, who in subtle ways had a pleasantly nasty way of influencing people. Enjoy her that way and this book is a good place to make her acquaintance.



4. This is a very readable book that moves you quickly along this biography of Alice, and her family. Page 16 mentions Teddy's attacks of asthma and cholera morbus, and his interest in animal specimens. Could this exposure to arsenic explain his problems? The book says the Roosevelt family was wealthy, but does not say how it was acquired. TR entered politics after his honeymoon, but the book does not tell why (p.25).

   Alice's mother died in childbirth. TR's mother died the same day. Expected happiness was replaced by unexpected sorrow. TR left for the Dakotas where he tried out cattle ranching; he lost most of his fortune in the 1886 drought and the severe winter. He returned to NY and the steady income of a Government job, and married again. Young Alice never knew her mother, but only her stepmother (p.37). Alice grew up lonely with no playmates (p.41). She caught a disease that left one leg shorter than the other. Alice enjoyed her semiannual trip to her Boston grandparents, who spoiled her (p.37). Her stepmother would tell her that her mother was stupid, her father wanted to give her away, and TR proposed to her first and was rejected (p.47)! What a heavy emotional load for an 8 year old! Page 49 tells more about this disfunctional family. Alice was the only female member of an all-boys club where the boys dressed in girls clothes! Alice rejected Christianity and grew up a pagan with no formal education (p.53). Would she be considered an abused child today?

   TR's enemies prevented him from a second term as Governor and shunted him off as Vice President. Then a lone gunman appeared and changed Administration policies. Alice began to socialize with the new-monied "Four Hundred" who disregarded old-money proprieties; TR and Edith held them in "high-minded contempt" (p.57). Alice had an income from her mother's parents. Was her behavior a way to gain attention from her parents (p.66)? Does this explain the rest of her life? There is a lesson here for any parents in a similar situation. Alice wrote "Father doesn't care for me ... as much as he does for the other children" (p.70). Alice was anxious to escape her parents by a marriage, like countless other girls from more humble backgrounds. It was a dynastic marriage: she got a rich heir of a Congressman, he got the President's daughter and a political ally. But change continued like a flowing river.

   Page 113 shows an old political trick. Get some background facts before meeting a new person, then feed it back as a compliment in feigned admiration. It works every time! Page 129 tells how a political deal was made to keep a Bull Moose candidate out of Nick Longworth's district. Page 130 gives another example of Alice's perverse personality. She bragged about having caused her husband's defeat (p.131)! I wonder if her problems were genetic, or caused by her environment? The rest of the book covers the next 60 years of her life.

   Chapters 10 and 11 make it seem that Paulina and the country would have been better off if Alice died in childbirth. What good has she ever done? These portrayals of the members of the Ruling Class will never be printed in your local newspaper.

5 comments about An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir (Back Bay Books).

1. Winner of the National Book Award for best autobiography, An Unfinished Woman candidly chronicles the life of playwright Lillian Hellman, America's leading female dramatist.
   
   The majority of this memoir emphasizes Hellman's unique relationship with mystery writer, Dashiell Hammett. She also reflects on her housekeeper, Helen, who was a close friend, as well as her relationship with writer-humorist, Dorothy Parker. Hellman additionally tells us of her trials and tribulations with writers like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Nathaniel West, and many others. Add to the mix her travels to Russia (twice) and her involvement in the Spanish Civil War --along with her `Hollywood' stories centered around Samuel Goldwyn and William Wyler -- and we get a delightful, lively, hard-nosed look back to an era when writers seemed to be the embodiment of intellectualism, style, and good sense.
   
   Throughout the memoir, Hellman comes across as having an iron-wit and a volatile temper. Her no-nonsense vitality and her passion for moral equity frequently conflicts with those around her. Hellman is most illuminating, though, when she allows us to see her vulnerability. Upon returning to Moscow after twenty-two years, she cries before she even gets off the plane. She writes, "I knew that I had taken a whole period of my life and thrown it somewhere, always intending to call for it again, but now that it came time to call, I couldn't remember where I had left it. Did other people do this, drop the past in a used car lot and leave for so long that one couldn't even remember the name of the road?"
   
   Possibly the best piece in the entire memoir is the chapter devoted to Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. Her on-again, off-again relationship with Hammett over thirty years reveals a fascinating homage to her "closest, most beloved friend." We are presented with the portrait of a man who was both complex and simple, and a relationship that was both tumultuous and inspiring. Several college text books carry this particular chapter as an example of prime autobiographical writing, and it's easy to see why. Hellman's trademark craftsmanship sculpts mishmash-memories into a compact, flowing character study of a remarkably interesting man.
   
   Although Hellman omits significant aspects of her life in An Unfinished Woman, her persecution during the McCarthy era can be found in Scoundrel Time, while details about her numerous plays can be found in Pentimento.
   
   Controversy still surrounds the accuracy of Lillian Hellman's memoirs (did she really fabricate autobiographical stories such as 'Julia'? -- included in Pentimento), yet the passages contained in an An Unfinished Woman are nevertheless dynamic and poignant. Hellman writes about issues that seem to obscure mere fact, and the "truth" she offers has a human commonality which goes beyond the boundaries of simple invention. It's important for those who fervently criticize her to keep in mind Hellman repeatedly tells us that she doesn't trust her memory, and her comments about reviewing one's life -- about the twists and turns of remembrance -- remain the underlying theme in all of her memoirs.



2. Suppose you get sick as a dog for a few days. Nobody knows what's ailing you. So, you buy 25 bananas and scarf them all down. When asked, you say, "Oh, bananas are creamy delicious and they go down smooth as velvet." Kind of poetic, but why did you eat them ? Did you get cured ? Yeah, well, the first book of Lillian Hellman's three volume autobiography, AN UNFINISHED WOMAN, bears a close resemblance to this little scenario. It was on the best seller list for months, we are told. It's certainly well-written, I won't deny that. But does it really tell you much about Lillian Hellman ? That's another story.
   
   Lillian Hellman came from a German-American background, growing up in both New Orleans and New York. Did she have any Jewish connection ? The book does not tell you. After dropping out of colleges, she got married. She stayed with the guy for seven years, but we learn zilch about him, nor about why she chose him then dropped him. Later, she became famous for writing a number of plays that were highly successful on Broadway. She became a nationally known author. Is there even a single word about how, why, where and when she wrote any of these plays ? No, nothing. In fact, if I hadn't heard of Lillian Hellman over many years, I would have no clue as to why reading this autobiography would be interesting. We learn of her close relationship to two black women, both servants in her home. This reflects the civil rights movement and political trends of the 1960s when she wrote the memoir. I am not sure they played such a central role in her life. She also talks a lot about Dorothy Parker and Dashiell Hammett, with the latter of whom she had a 30-year affair. (She had affairs with a number of other people, but they are not mentioned.) Hellman became a political activist early on and her heart went out to the left. She visited Spain during the Civil War and Russia several times. We get almost nothing of her political convictions; the book is apolitical. She finds the time, though, to show how she didn't have any interest in interviewing Stalin or in travelling with the Red Army. Did she have deep political commitments ? Was she a Communist sympathizer ? Other people say she was, but her beliefs play no role in this strange autobiography. What we get are very impressionistic, humorous, and self-centered portraits of Spain and Russia. Hellman defied the House Un-American Activities Committee but did not go to jail. Perhaps she was blacklisted afterwards, but the book does not tell us. On top of all this, she rarely introduces the people whose names she drops. There is no historical background to anyone and no information on how she knew many of the people either. I fear that this volume will, like O. Henry's stories, become so `period-specific' in future that the generations to come will not understand much due to lack of familiarity with the times, the people, and the issues. If little vignettes about famous people turn you on, you might like AN UNFINISHED WOMAN. To know Lillian Hellman, you'd better read something else.



3. Turns out much of what Lillian Hellman wrote in Pentimento was stolen from another person's life, but still, An Unfinished Woman, for which she won the National Book Award in 1969 (for autobiography) is quite a coup. Political activist, critic, and playwrite, Hellman cut a wide swath thru literary circles during her heyday in the 40s, 50s and 60s. This introspective collection of her journal entries and memories shines with her acerbic brilliance. Her circle of `friends' included just about all the famous people of her era: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, Faulkner, and of course Dashiell Hammett, her lover, friend, and confidant. This is a personal account of a life lived as if there were no tomorrow, a nearly romantic rendering of the flavor of a special era in this country, and the documentation of feminine empowerment before the word had even been invented.



4. A life where no living is done is a life not worth living. Like O'Neil, Shaw, Williams and Isben, Lillian Hellman (1905-1984, scriptwriter, playwrite, social and political activist and critic) wrote some of the most enduring and thought-provoking drama for the theatre in the 20th century, and the above 'proverb' could very easily have been her epitaph. An Unfinished Woman (Winner of the 1969 National Book Award for biography/Autobiography), the first memoir in her autobiographical trilogy (the two others being Pentimento: A Book of Portraits and Scoundrel Time), showcases a woman who had a 'steel rod' for a spine, a woman of stark liberty who would not compromise her beliefs nor truckle in the presence of those political, military and literary higher-uppers (Hemmingway is a case-in-point) whom she encountered who expected a cowering reaction due to their 'clout.' But that was something she never offered, for as Lillian Hellman said of herself when asked the question, "What are you made of, Lily?" Her cool response was, "Pickling spice and nothing nice." This 'confession' of glued-together memories and eloquent journal entries shimmers with quiet, concentrated reflection and introspection. Each chapter gleams and flashes like a beacon, slowly proffering insights into not simply a remarkable life but a frozen portrait of a bygone era - a period of class, dignity, wisdom, self-learning, an endless stream of wonderful things that are presently no more. She hobnobbed with the best and brightest, luminaries like: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, William Faulkner, Dorothy Parker, John Hersey, Averell Harriman, and of course, above them all, her truelove and literary confidant, Dashiell Hammett. As a globe-trotting cultural attache' to Russia, France, Germany, and other European lands, she lived and saw intrigue with those of her like mind. She was on the front lines (or very close to them) during World War II. She witnessed bombed out villages and destroyed lives, all the emotional and physical calamities that the horrors of war can funnel forth, broadcasting them for all to hear and imbibe. She participated (with some trepidation) in the PEN (Poets, Playwrites, Essayists and Editors and Novelists) Center Conference, conversing with intellectuals on the pressing issues of the time, but her reluctance was most unequivocal, for intellectual chitchat can, and for her, did quickly evolve into a bombastic mess on hyperbolic, pretentious proportions. She saw B.S., and she saw truth, not hesitating in the least to speak her mind or to write about it. From her reminiscences of her New Orleans girlhood with her beloved caretaker Sophronia, to her shuffling to New York, to her failed marriage and her father's infidelity, Hellman's life only crescendos. With corrosive verve, 'salty' wit and profound insight, Lillian Hellman lets the past truly come alive. In the end, she showed one and all that she was an 'empowered' woman before many thought that could ever be possible.



5. Lillian Hellman is one of the most important American women writers and this, her memoir, is a literary feast--witty, poignant, brash, and cynical; but as Hellman once wrote, "Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth." I love her plays and I loved this book!--Diana Dell, compiler, Memorable Quotations: American Women Writers of the Past.

5 comments about Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution.

1. This book was recommended to me when I worked for William Burroughs Communication. Oh, how I could relate, having been around artist junkies and wandering poets and moody, irrational alcoholic geniuses - and not being recognized as one myself (although much healthier by this time of my life). These women write about the life of US, the women who were also in those circles of creative insanity, putting up with violent, lazy, thieving, cheating men who said they loved us. Throughout history the lives of women in powerful movements wre hidden. They paid the rent, made sure there was food, made carbon copies of their lovers' work. But they also WROTE, beautifully, from the point of view of women who love their lovers, love their friends, and love finding their strength. These women grow as they age, becoming more compassionate and critical. After reading this, I was led to Jan Kerouac, Joyce Johnson, Diane di Prima, etc. - voices who wrote like mine, affirmed my life story. I read so much of the male Beats writing, and loved it, but didn't feel I was really in the story. Who were the women? They were us.



2. Denise Levertov never was, and never will be, a so-called "Beat" writer: she could actually write. (Which means she knew that the most basic rule of writing is: rewriting.) Any more than she will be diminished and narrowed by the so-called "feminists" who insist she was a "woman writer" therefore only suitable for women readers (to which ideological morons she delivered swift kicks to the teeth).
   
   And no amount of effort to drag her, kicking and screaming, into the "Beat" "canon," will succeed, or succeed in giving that "canon" a "class" and credibility it mostly didn't earn and doesn't deserve. Kerouac might have been able to write -- if, that is, he'd tried the language- and reader-respecting work of rewriting. But nothing will cure Ginsberg of the reality that he was 99 per cent vapid masturbatory windbag.



3. Any interested in the history of the beat era must have WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION: THE WRITERS, ARTISTS AND MUSES AT THE HEART OF A REVOLUTION. Much has been written on famous beat men but comparatively little on the women who also made their mark during the time: long overdue but better late than never is an exploration of the histories of these women, from Barbara Guest and Diane DiPrima to Jan Kerouac and Anne Waldman. A literary and social history which should not be missed.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. Yes, there were women writing as well, and doing all the other cool stuff at the time. Many of them are still writing or continued to write long after their affair with the "beat" generation. This book is a great introduction to these writers. It's very informative, has just enough of the good gossip and lots of really great writing.



5. For a group that is now remembered as a progressive voice in the ultra-conformist wilderness of the 1950s, the Beats were a surprisingly chauvinistic bunch of guys, all too ordinary for their time. That unfortunate fact helps explain the relative obscurity of most of the women who ran with, influenced and, in some cases, loved them. (You probably know that William S. Burroughs accidentally murdered his common-law wife while playing William Tell, but do you know her name?) This wonderful volume goes a long way towards correcting that oversight. Featuring previously unpublished letters, rare pictures and - best of all - a generous sampling of creative works, it's a near-perfect survey of the Beats' female contemporaries, lovers and even a few of their precursors.

   Although most of the women profiled here published at least one work in their own right at some point, many of those are not currently in print anywhere else. Additionally, some of the poems and stories here are previously unpublished, and in the case of many of the wives and lovers (referred to as "The Muses"), the works presented here are by far the most intimate look at their lives published thus far. In short, there's something here for everyone: a good starting point for newcomers to the Beats as well as a good supplementary piece for even the most serious students of women's literature.

5 comments about The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whiteley.

1. An incredibly beautiful journal written by a young child prodigy. It is lyrical and delightful. A wonderful book.



2. I'm a huge fan of Benjamin Hoff. Who is a spiritual writer that a guy like me (who doesn't keep "earth crystals" in pocket or wreak of Nag Champa) can get into. I could go on glowingly about the passion that Hoff applies while exploring his subject. I would be someone pointed out to me that Hoff had been discredited by Katherine Beck. So I'm kind of writing a dual review using Beck's book as a jumping off point.
   
   Some facts about Beck's book:
   
   1) Beck never really discredits Opal for writing the book when she claimed: she admits that:
   a) Opal was incredibly bright as a teenager, bizzarely aware of the latin names of plants and animals. beck admits that by 15 or she was already a prodigy. But never attempts to explain how that related to possibly she could have been a brilliant writer as a child.
   b) Beck claims in response to forensic information favorable to at least part of Opal's story, that Opal planned the hoax by saving old scraps of paper and crayons from her childhood for 10 or 15 years and moving with to multiple houses and states to write the diary, appearantly hedging against future forensic technology, then torn her work to shreds and left it in jeopardy in a place where it could have been destroyed just to really sell people on it's authenticity. Also as native of the Willamete Valley I've met people who can recreate her journeys, which would have been hard to fake from a distance. That's about as crazy as any claims Opal made about the book.
   c) Beck gives examples of other child authors of the time who she feels were better writers, so why would be inconcievable to her that a substandard counterpart would exist? She doesn't even touch on it.
   2) Beck doesn't like Opal at all, she doesn't like her writing, kind implies she was harlot and a racist, and worst of all for me personally; she's glib about Opal's crippling mental illness.
   3) Beck seems affectionate for amatuer Opalites but seems to think people like Hoff and Nassif are nuts and paints Boulton as criminally Naive. She doesn't seem think Opal should be taught in schools, or at least thinks its screwball.
   4) Beck takes no time to really examine the spiritual significance of the book, except to say she thinks it's pre-new age tripe. To Beck it was popular at the time because people were gulliable and if it's getting a comeback now it must be for the same reason.
   
   Even being horder of Opal related history I got bored because reading someone's account of how much they dislike someone who was at worst kind of a liar and bad writer (remember it's not like Opal was dictator or anything) gets really, really tedious after about 50 pages. Also discrediting the most widely discredited author of the last 100 years is not an exciting read. I think the Seattle Times called it "Myopic" which it is, that and commendably thorough and also kind of spiteful. I've been trying to find people to disscuss the book with who aren't Opalites, who dispise Beck. I did talk to one guy who hates Opal and Opalites for very personal reasons but he was a little bored by the book and didn't finish it. The same man read Hoff and praised his writing but didn't see Opal's appeal.
   
   Now, Hoff, by contrast, is over flowing with praise for Opal. Beck interestingly "uncovers" a fact printed in book. Hoff was in love Opal, or the concept of her. So we can't call him biased. He presents a rosy picture of the girl who obiviously had a darkside. At the same time I like Hoff because he comes to the most rational conclusion about the book: It was written by a highly functional abused little schitzophrenic girl, and likely futzed with later in her life. Opal is a tragic figure to anyone who sees beauty in her wierd prose and a non-sequitor for anyone who doesn't. Hoff isn't bias free but no one is biasless about Opal. Also his repackaging of the diary is in my opinion the definitive version. Hoff is a brilliant counterpart in the present day to Opal. Who is due for a looking over outside of the neigh-sayers and new-agers.



3. To say this is my favorite book of all time, my most treasured, the one I would grab in a housefire - that is just a beginning. Opal brings us into the innocence and wonder of childhood in a way that inspires us to reclaim that part of ourselves. There are haunting scenes that pull you to love her and precious glimpses into her imaginings that wake you up to the magic in life. As she trots around with critters in her pockets and on her shoulders with names inspired by the great writers, christens baby chicks in the barn and finds notes and ribbons left by the fairies in the woods, Opal delights us and opens our hearts to a more tender place.



4. This book is the diary of a six-year-old girl named Opal Whiteley, who grew up in Oregon logging camps in the early 1900s. She loved nature and her writing style was inimitably beautiful.
   
   Her diary was published first in 1920, but became the centre of a large controversy and was dismissed as a fraud. Mr Hoff discovered a copy of this book by chance in 1983, and was so fascinated by it that he spent years researching the life of Opal to determine the true story.
   
   It most certainly is no fraud. Mr Hoff opens this book with a very well-researched, unbiased biography of Opal which proves beyond doubt that this really was her diary written at age six. He follows this up with the diary (or what exists of it), and ends with the tale of his story of trying to meet Opal personally.
   
   The tone of the book, by the time you have read from beginning to end, is one of tragedy. However, like the lonely, brave tones of a bird chirping through the twilight its farewell to the setting sun and a day that shall never return, beauty sometimes IS bitter sweet; but the quiet love, the charming way Opal describes her surroundings, her pets, the people she meets, and the voices of the natural world which Opal understood so well balance out the sadness and make this book well worth reading and adding to your personal collection.
   
   Opal's story is at once a sad commentary on the way one small hint of a rumour can snowball into the destruction of a person's life and a celebration of childhood and nature. It is mostly the latter.
   
   This is a brief passage from the diary part of the book, to give you a sample of its simplistic yet profound loveliness.
   
   "And all the times I was picking up potatoes, I did have conversations with them. Too, I did have thinks of all their growing days here in the ground, and all the things they did hear. Earth-voices are glad voices, and earth-songs come up from the ground through the plants; and in their flowering, and in the days before these days are come, they do tell the earth-songs to the wind. And the wind in her goings does whisper them to folks to print for other folks, so other folks do have knowing of earth's songs. When I grow up, I am going to write for children - and grownups that haven't grown up too much - all the earth-songs I now do hear."
   
   Doesn't that just sound like such music?
   
   Please read this book. Take it to heart.
   
   And thank you, Mr Hoff, for your loving tribute to an amazing woman, and for the hard work you did to bring this masterpiece back into the public eye.



5. This beautiful, lyrical journal, written by a 6-year-old prodigy from the backwoods of Oregon, will have you gazing in wonder at fire hydrants and listening to the song of the subways. Opal has a direct relationship with every tree, horse, rat and blade of grass in her backyard, and is able to see every living thing as a gift from God.

   The story behind the publication of the journal is a sad one, but the diary itself is timeless and transcendent. Opal may have died in obscurity but her lovely spirit lives on in her work.

5 comments about The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam (Adventura Books).

1. This is a well written account of one woman's trip and love of Vietnam. At most times it flowed but there were times were I would see myself skipping over pages that didn't interest me. I was actually a little sad of her use of her male friend that she was with her first long stay in Vietnam. Makes me sad to think of her being American, I sure hope we all do not think of people as usable. At least you'd think she'd of said she was sorry. Besides that it was a nice read, nothing that blows you away but it's a good waste of a rainy day!



2. I can't add anything to the other reviews other than to say that if you enjoy reading about westerners living in Asia you will like or love this book. You should also read "Catfish and Mandala" which comes from a totally different perspective, but is also memorable.



3. i loved every minute of reading this book. i was captivated by ms. sachs' tales of coming to terms with her discomfort in a very foreign environment where communication was almost impossible. her writing is clear and expressive and personal. i look forward to reading her next book, and hope that there are more to come.



4. Her writing style is so playful, amusing, charming, and sensitive. Her observation of the environment and culture is so acute. She brought alive the scenes, the sounds, the liveliness of Hanoi streets -- just like the classic Vietnamese novels that we had to read while in high school. I bought this book for my wife, previewed it and then finished it. Highly recommended.



5. This is simply one of the most stupendous travelogues I have ever read. In fact, I can't think of a better one. Read it!