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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Este libro es todo: las voces de una ciudad,
Leonard, la vida de una ‘mujer singular’. Vivian continúa sorprendiéndome de manera increíble la manera en que transmite tanto a través de sus historias.
Leonard, la vida de una ‘mujer singular’. Vivian continúa sorprendiéndome de manera increíble la manera en que transmite tanto a través de sus historias.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Este libro me ha ido enganchando según avanzaba, al principio pensé que se quedaba en otro relato experiencial de una escritora que me gusta; pero las reflexiones de Vivian Gornick sobre el amor, la amistad, la cuidad y las relaciones humanas me han resultado muy interesantes y me han llevado hacia mi propia reflexión. Breve e interesante ¿Qué más puedes pedirle a un libro?
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
i read another work of gornick’s, ‘approaching eye level’, recently and noticed that there is some overlap between both memoirs; some anecdotes are repeated. but that didn’t bother me because she is so so good at writing about loneliness, friendship, being stuck in your head, and the city. rather than constructing a single, linear narrative, The Odd Woman and the City strings together various vignettes from gornick’s life and somehow it’s cohesive, probably because the aforementioned themes shine so strongly. she’s the queen of observation for late 20th century/ early 21st century NYC.
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
funny
reflective
reflective
medium-paced
this is not a typical memoir, not a "birth-till-now" biography but short, collected, urban observations and reflections which subtly paint the picture of the illusive Odd Woman. the effect is an incredibly subjective portrait that reveals more about the reader than it does the author. She poses each of these observations as mirrors to see herself, and through her, ourselves too. The mirror remains foggy though; Gornick is an unreliable narrator passing on episodes filtered through her own perception.
And she doesn't necessarily care that you agree with her, she doesn't care to be likeable — she will go as far as pushing for dislike. One way she achieves this is by peacocking her brilliance (name dropping or citations requiring antecedent knowledge, convoluted sentences, words needing OED...) which strikes a violent contrast against the simplicity, the affordability of the act of witnessing life in the city. [note: don't get me wrong, I love a bit of pomp]
Common-ness of the elite is a concept proposed by Mary Oliver in her essay collection "Upstream". While both authors describe observation and wandering as general antidotes, Gornick's approach is less accessible: she keeps you at arm's length with the level of privilege and intellectual tour de force that frame her reflections.
Oliver is focused on the solace found in Nature, speaking to the elevated, picturesquely pastoral sides of the self. The city in Gornick's memoir, in its shameful ways and controversial opinions, directly addresses our vices and normalises them. There is comfort in that too.
And she doesn't necessarily care that you agree with her, she doesn't care to be likeable — she will go as far as pushing for dislike. One way she achieves this is by peacocking her brilliance (name dropping or citations requiring antecedent knowledge, convoluted sentences, words needing OED...) which strikes a violent contrast against the simplicity, the affordability of the act of witnessing life in the city. [note: don't get me wrong, I love a bit of pomp]
Common-ness of the elite is a concept proposed by Mary Oliver in her essay collection "Upstream". While both authors describe observation and wandering as general antidotes, Gornick's approach is less accessible: she keeps you at arm's length with the level of privilege and intellectual tour de force that frame her reflections.
Oliver is focused on the solace found in Nature, speaking to the elevated, picturesquely pastoral sides of the self. The city in Gornick's memoir, in its shameful ways and controversial opinions, directly addresses our vices and normalises them. There is comfort in that too.
[...] it is the openness with which we admit to our emotional incapacities—the fear, the anger, the humiliation— that excites the contemporary bonds of friendship. [...] What we want is to feel known, warts and all: the more warts the better. It is the great illusion of our culture that what we confess to is who we are.
I have lived out my conflicts not my fantasies, and so has New York.
Vivian Gornick no es para mí. Al menos en sus novelas autobiográficas.