Combining the insight of Anna Quindlen and the comic storytelling of Garrison Keillor with her own singularly outrageous humor, Marion Winik has ca...
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reviews
Apr 10, 2009
Jeff
rated it: 
Winik is not writing autobiographical essays. She is writing confessions. Confessions of the types of venal, cruel, selfish things most of us do but keep to ourselves. Sometimes it feels uncomfortable that she is revealing so much of herself. That pure honesty is gripping.
Winik is funny and earnest and self-deprecating while remaining proud of who she is, flaws and all. She writes as if talking with a close friend drinking coffee at her kitchen table. Or drinking margaritas out More...
Winik is funny and earnest and self-deprecating while remaining proud of who she is, flaws and all. She writes as if talking with a close friend drinking coffee at her kitchen table. Or drinking margaritas out More...
Jun 22, 2009
JM
rated it: 
Live, love and enjoy!
That pretty much sums it up. She's an amazing memoirist with an amazing story. I don't enjoy cute sugary-happy safe stuff, nor do I enjoy crazy dead-baby doom and gloom. This is perfect for me. Quick and enjoyable and thought-provoking.
That pretty much sums it up. She's an amazing memoirist with an amazing story. I don't enjoy cute sugary-happy safe stuff, nor do I enjoy crazy dead-baby doom and gloom. This is perfect for me. Quick and enjoyable and thought-provoking.
Dec 27, 2009
Leanna
rated it: 
Very humerous and quick read. There were two sections that truly moved me ("16 Pictures of my Father" and "Visiting Steven"). Towards the back 1/3 of the book, she drifted into essays regarding subject matter I am not yet familiar with: motherhood, child rearing, sibling issues. I would recommend this for someone on vacation!
Aug 06, 2010
Annamary
rated it:
Short, personal essays written that are detailed, funny, and honest -- the author puts herself in the line of her own leveling gaze. My two favorites were "Telling" (read an excerpt here http://www.marionwinik.com/Telling.html) and "16 Pictures of my Father".
Dec 18, 2008
Leslye
rated it:
loved discovering this book...sad to read about the hardships and loss.
Jan 28, 2010
Nichelle
rated it:
Fast read and an interesting life told through many short essays - some I could really relate to, others not so much.
Dec 17, 2009
Kelley
rated it:
given to me by a friend and was VERY poignant and gut wrenching to me at the time as I had just lost my first daughter, Olivia in childbirth and Marion also lost her first born at full-term. We both also had sick husbands and a lot of her essays hit home for me.
Aug 05, 2008
BlueLikeTheSky
rated it:
Almost a four....Winik's voice is authentic and effortless. But when previously published essays come together in a collection, they need editing to avoid needless repetition. The lack of such a scalpel carved off a star for me, sadly.
Jun 04, 2011
Charlotte
rated it:
For it to be a good memoir, you have to give the negatives along with the positives. She did this. She bravely showed herself. This didn't really take me into another world. I felt like her experiences were not TOO removed from my own.
Mar 21, 2008
Ruth
rated it:
Fun to read her early writing. The best essay is "Traveling" which I think should have/must have been collected in some "Best Essays" book somewhere. Really lovely. And in second person!
May 08, 2008
Amy
rated it:
I read this book on my first visit to Italy in 1995, and was absolutely entranced by her life, her views and her fearlessly honest voice.
Jun 22, 2008
Diana
rated it:
The perfect balance of co-misery, honesty, and insight. A great book on a great and rainy day.
Jan 29, 2012
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