You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
this is my second read of this book and I enjoyed it for a second time. I have to admit that I didn't fully remember it when I started the reread but it came back and I happily kept reading.
This is a really good memoir - there is a thread of realism and critical self reflection that is refreshing and that serves - for me at least - as a reminders about how to understand how you moved through your past and defined who you were without lapsing into regrets and self criticism.
This is a really good memoir - there is a thread of realism and critical self reflection that is refreshing and that serves - for me at least - as a reminders about how to understand how you moved through your past and defined who you were without lapsing into regrets and self criticism.
Low key memoir that paints a vivid picture of 1950's Manhattan. With few words Cantwell conveys the state of her mind and marriage perfectly clearly. I'll bet anything Matt Weiner read this cover to cover, furiously taking notes.
This is exactly the kind of book I love to read: NYC back when you could afford to live there, when you could have a perfectly acceptable party with a cheap bottle of wine and a dish of olives, when women were just starting to come into their own, sometimes painfully so. Cantwell's description of her New York is vivid and brings the era to life.
If you like Sylvia Plath, you will like Mary Cantwell. They wrote in the same era so much of the environment they speak of is similar. She has the bluntness of the beat era but the femininity to truly show what her life was like as a woman trying to write in a man’s world.
I’m throughly enjoying this memoir of living in New York in the 1950s and 1960s. Mary, a young woman from New England, moved to the big city and made a life here. She speaks French, works for fashion magazines and lives in Greenwich Village with her literary critic husband. They travel to Europe and occasionally go to semi-glamorous cocktail parties
3/5
Professional Life, Romance, Motherhood
“In the end there was a September night when I sat, legs crossed under me, in the big blue wing chair in the dining room and cried until it seemed my intestines would spill from my mouth, afraid to put my bare feet to the floor, afraid the chill would be irreversible.”
Certainly deserving of memoir and lyrical, yet apart from the ambiance of New York, the story didn't grasp or feel nearly as engaging as the language around it.
Pros:
-- vividness of professional life in New York in the 1960s
Cons:
-- clinically told, detached tone
-- rambly, not much of a story?
Professional Life, Romance, Motherhood
“In the end there was a September night when I sat, legs crossed under me, in the big blue wing chair in the dining room and cried until it seemed my intestines would spill from my mouth, afraid to put my bare feet to the floor, afraid the chill would be irreversible.”
Certainly deserving of memoir and lyrical, yet apart from the ambiance of New York, the story didn't grasp or feel nearly as engaging as the language around it.
Pros:
-- vividness of professional life in New York in the 1960s
Cons:
-- clinically told, detached tone
-- rambly, not much of a story?
This was a "high 3 stars" for me (I.e. 3.5). It was a quick, short read, but slow to start for me. I though it was more of a story about a marriage than anything. I liked how she organized the sections of the book by the address of the apartments she inhabited. I did find myself wanting to know more about aspects of her life that she only hinted at in the story - her strained relationship with one daughter, for example. I also had trouble with her referring to her husband as "B." rather than his name at first. I could follow her descriptions of the city because I have been to NYC but wondered if that would be problematic to picture if you had not. Overall, I was sad reading this, and I'm not sure if I was supposed to have that reaction!
Obviously right up my alley.
Still thinking about and rereading
I loved it so
Still thinking about and rereading
I loved it so
Lyrical memoir from a woman who worked in women's magazines in the 50s and 60s. Great story about her struggle to balance work with domesticity and her feelings about marriage and children. Also, lovely detail about all the places she lived, her friends and all the things they thought were cool. The writing is beautiful and the author casts an honest eye on herself. Quotable!
A very interesting story about a woman in NYC during the 1950's and sectioned off by the places she lived in the city. Quick and very engrossing read.