false 172050 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg 172050 9 557803 1970 Borrowed Finery: A Memoir total:116|5:20|4:42|3:39|2:15|1:0| 116 415 196 19 43740 3.63 1690 281 58983162 1391754 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.57 100 1970 4 0 false Tue Jun 09 07:38:05 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 07:45:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 65853585 1853394 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 4 0 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 02 06:42:36 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 06:49:50 -0700 2009 I agree with the reviewers who made the point that she told the story, in an almost detached manner, and showed that a person is perhaps greater than their surrounding circums...more...]]> 62280216 2160448 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 4 0 false Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 20:08:24 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 20:19:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 68737389 1434732 1843470 0805071849 9780805071849 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189095485m/1843470.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189095485s/1843470.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1843470.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 4.12 8 Desperate Characters. Born in 1923, she was abandoned at a Manhattan foundling home by her alcoholic father at the insistence of her panic-stricken, 19-year-old mother. Paul and Elsie Fox were in no way prepared to take on the responsibility of a child, although they couldn't leave her alone either. Fox's austere narrative unflinchingly describes the couple swooping down on their daughter, who was being raised in upstate New York by a kindly minister, for visits that were as alarming as they were intermittent. For reasons best known to themselves (Fox does not attempt to analyze their motives), they removed her from the minister's home when she was 6, then bounced her among relatives, schools, and their own disordered care for the next 12 years, from Hollywood and Long Island to Cuba and Montreal. The restraint with which Fox describes these traumas is a reproach to all those maudlin memoirs of family dysfunction that have been so prevalent in recent years. She demonstrates that you can write about painful experiences honestly without wallowing in self-pity, and her prose here is as perfectly calibrated as it is in her novels. Thank goodness that this sad story is leavened by a running counterpoint of short passages showing young Paula discovering the pleasure of words and the power of literature. Though she too had an unwanted baby at an early age, the book closes with a moving scene of the author's reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption. --Wendy Smith ]]> 1970 3 0 false Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 15:19:14 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 08:19:55 -0700 2009 72482499 791555 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 3 0 false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 14:16:22 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 14:17:04 -0700 2009 38846442 1532818 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 3 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Nov 28 21:07:20 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 21:08:05 -0800 2008 69219675 374577 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 0 0 false Fri Aug 28 09:38:52 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 09:39:47 -0700 2009 5946202 16873 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 2 0 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 11:42:20 -0700 2007 Wed Nov 07 09:32:42 -0800 2007 more...]]> 7819719 64544 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 3 0 false Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Oct 16 18:08:27 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 16 18:15:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 9671514 555899 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 2 0 false Tue Feb 17 18:54:20 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 28 13:50:33 -0800 2007 Tue Feb 17 18:54:20 -0800 2009 more...]]> 9601805 618043 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 5 0 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Nov 27 09:20:08 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 27 09:28:44 -0800 2007 33031191 369284 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 3 0 false Mon Sep 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 15:01:25 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 20:55:46 -0700 2008
Either way, this poor girl had horrible parents.

It's a quick read, but her life kinda depressed me.]]> 26457675 1278767 1843470 0805071849 9780805071849 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189095485m/1843470.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189095485s/1843470.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1843470.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 Desperate Characters. Born in 1923, she was abandoned at a Manhattan foundling home by her alcoholic father at the insistence of her panic-stricken, 19-year-old mother. Paul and Elsie Fox were in no way prepared to take on the responsibility of a child, although they couldn't leave her alone either. Fox's austere narrative unflinchingly describes the couple swooping down on their daughter, who was being raised in upstate New York by a kindly minister, for visits that were as alarming as they were intermittent. For reasons best known to themselves (Fox does not attempt to analyze their motives), they removed her from the minister's home when she was 6, then bounced her among relatives, schools, and their own disordered care for the next 12 years, from Hollywood and Long Island to Cuba and Montreal. The restraint with which Fox describes these traumas is a reproach to all those maudlin memoirs of family dysfunction that have been so prevalent in recent years. She demonstrates that you can write about painful experiences honestly without wallowing in self-pity, and her prose here is as perfectly calibrated as it is in her novels. Thank goodness that this sad story is leavened by a running counterpoint of short passages showing young Paula discovering the pleasure of words and the power of literature. Though she too had an unwanted baby at an early age, the book closes with a moving scene of the author's reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption. --Wendy Smith ]]> 1970 3 0 false Sun Jul 06 14:17:20 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 14:20:12 -0700 2008 76963618 2712279 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 4 0 false Fri Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 17:53:17 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 14 20:00:31 -0800 2009 3638085 228618 172059 0007137230 9780007137237 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398151m/172059.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398151s/172059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172059.Borrowed_Finery 3.20 5 Desperate Characters. Born in 1923, she was abandoned at a Manhattan foundling home by her alcoholic father at the insistence of her panic-stricken, 19-year-old mother. Paul and Elsie Fox were in no way prepared to take on the responsibility of a child, although they couldn't leave her alone either. Fox's austere narrative unflinchingly describes the couple swooping down on their daughter, who was being raised in upstate New York by a kindly minister, for visits that were as alarming as they were intermittent. For reasons best known to themselves (Fox does not attempt to analyze their motives), they removed her from the minister's home when she was 6, then bounced her among relatives, schools, and their own disordered care for the next 12 years, from Hollywood and Long Island to Cuba and Montreal. The restraint with which Fox describes these traumas is a reproach to all those maudlin memoirs of family dysfunction that have been so prevalent in recent years. She demonstrates that you can write about painful experiences honestly without wallowing in self-pity, and her prose here is as perfectly calibrated as it is in her novels. Thank goodness that this sad story is leavened by a running counterpoint of short passages showing young Paula discovering the pleasure of words and the power of literature. Though she too had an unwanted baby at an early age, the book closes with a moving scene of the author's reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption. --Wendy Smith ]]> 1970 4 0 false Fri Jul 27 07:07:26 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 17 02:22:23 -0800 2009 6600491 186808 1843470 0805071849 9780805071849 3 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189095485m/1843470.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189095485s/1843470.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1843470.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 Desperate Characters. Born in 1923, she was abandoned at a Manhattan foundling home by her alcoholic father at the insistence of her panic-stricken, 19-year-old mother. Paul and Elsie Fox were in no way prepared to take on the responsibility of a child, although they couldn't leave her alone either. Fox's austere narrative unflinchingly describes the couple swooping down on their daughter, who was being raised in upstate New York by a kindly minister, for visits that were as alarming as they were intermittent. For reasons best known to themselves (Fox does not attempt to analyze their motives), they removed her from the minister's home when she was 6, then bounced her among relatives, schools, and their own disordered care for the next 12 years, from Hollywood and Long Island to Cuba and Montreal. The restraint with which Fox describes these traumas is a reproach to all those maudlin memoirs of family dysfunction that have been so prevalent in recent years. She demonstrates that you can write about painful experiences honestly without wallowing in self-pity, and her prose here is as perfectly calibrated as it is in her novels. Thank goodness that this sad story is leavened by a running counterpoint of short passages showing young Paula discovering the pleasure of words and the power of literature. Though she too had an unwanted baby at an early age, the book closes with a moving scene of the author's reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption. --Wendy Smith ]]> 1970 5 0 false Sat Sep 22 08:30:51 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 08:30:51 -0700 2007 10436802 684328 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 3 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Fri Dec 14 14:49:51 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 29 15:24:35 -0800 2007 30650739 1276813 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 3 0 false Wed Aug 20 07:59:14 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 07:59:42 -0700 2008 24059355 362432 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 2 0 false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 09:01:36 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 09:02:02 -0700 2008 82100933 2785181 172050 0312425198 9780312425197 15 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135m/172050.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172398135s/172050.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172050.Borrowed_Finery_A_Memoir 3.58 116 1970 4 0 false Sat Dec 26 14:32:38 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 26 14:32:38 -0800 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=172050