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  <title><![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]></description>
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        <name><![CDATA[Dorothy Allison]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[One of the literary concepts I truly believe in is the idea of survival through storytelling - particularly in the feminist tradition. Allison is a primary example of the raw strength that comes from putting pen to paper (her novel Bastard Out of Carolina is simply amazing). Two or Three Things I Kn...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39051889">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
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  <date_added>Thu Dec 11 18:23:03 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 11 18:34:15 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[&quot;Beauty is a hard thing. Beauty is a mean story. Beauty is slender girls who die young, fine-featured delicate creatures about whom men write poems. Beauty, my first girlfriend said to me, is that inner quality often  associated with great amounts of leisure time. And I loved her for that.&quot;...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39911136">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[An autobiographical narrative by the author of <em>Bastard out of   Carolina </em>explores such topics as love and loss, beauty and terror,   and the intricacies of family love and hatred while illuminating the   rural poverty of the South. 50,000 first printing. Tour.]]>
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  <read_at>Sun Oct 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Oct 16 06:42:11 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Oct 19 13:49:03 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I got this book from the Strand for my first semester of college in 2000.  I was supposed to read it during a writing class about memoir.  I didn't read it, but I read an additional essay by Dorothy Allison and I liked that, so I always kept the book.  In retrospect that was my best class that term....<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35451008">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>29593011</id>
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    <id>1315725</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Powhatan, VA]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
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  <date_added>Fri Aug 08 04:29:46 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Aug 08 04:29:59 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Allison’s memoir employs many new strategies for me. She incorporates photographs into her work, whether they are successful or not, I don’t know, while I enjoyed them, they were at time distracting, as they had no identifiers. Allison also admits this text was originally meant as a performance ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29593011">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Peachy]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
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    <body><![CDATA[<strong>Dorothy Exposed</strong><br/><br/>Simply; candid, arduous, inspiring and eerily familiar. <br/><br/><blockquote>&quot;I am no longer a grown-up outraged child but a woman letting go of her outrage, showing what I know: that evil is a man who imagines the damage he does is not damage, that evil is the act of pretendi...</blockquote><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48234915">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/48234915]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Nova]]></name>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Jan 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 12 12:23:12 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jan 12 12:56:19 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I read this book in one sitting. While I sometimes grow tired of Dorothy Allison's seeming inability as a writer to grow beyond her own background, I also love the strength with which she relishes it, and re-tells it, over and over again, and grows strong in the telling, even telling about horrible ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42805527">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42805527]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 30 14:46:10 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Oct 30 16:41:39 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A moving memoir.  I recommend this to anyone who struggles with issues of abuse and lack of self acceptance.  Dorothy Allison writes of the struggle to find love and achieve full integration and acceptance of her self given her background.  She is generous and truthful.  Her writing is sparce but at...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76240971">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76240971]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76240971]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>45622837</id>
    <user>
    <id>1975074</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jen]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Tampa, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1975074-jen]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1233341410p3/1975074.jpg]]></image_url>
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    <book>
  <id type="integer">91873</id>
  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 06 21:32:07 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 06 21:36:15 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I don't think I've ever read anything more depressing or with a more defined writing style.  Allison has a way of bringing you whole heartedly into her life without you even noticing it.  This is a book of struggles, anger, and, finally, resolution.  There is also much truth in it.  For every story ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45622837">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45622837]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45622837]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>40224076</id>
    <user>
    <id>925949</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jude]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/925949-jude]]></link>
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  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Dec 16 09:29:10 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 16 09:33:57 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is what she promised us - the reality behind Bastard Out of Carolina. I love Dorothy Allison's relationship to story - and her insistence-by-example that storytelling can save parts of us we may have considered beyond telling or saving.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40224076]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40224076]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>45833249</id>
    <user>
    <id>2013259</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jean]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[West Roxbury, MA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2013259-jean-francois]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
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  <id type="integer">91873</id>
  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Feb 09 10:09:13 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Feb 09 10:30:48 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Dorothy Allison was more determined and ambitous in reality than  she portrayed in her book. I guess her aunt Dot was &quot;dead right&quot; when she said, &quot;Your like me.Got thath nothing-gonna-stop you look about you, girl&quot;.pg 35 ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45833249]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45833249]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>42532557</id>
    <user>
    <id>1142625</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tonya]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1142625-tonya]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
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  <id type="integer">91873</id>
  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jan 09 20:30:06 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jan 09 20:32:13 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I love the way Allison writes. I feel like her personality really comes out on the page. Her writing is so honest in this short bio. She is able to convey so well the kind of atmosphere she grew up in and how its affected her. ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42532557]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42532557]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>43657485</id>
    <user>
    <id>1924514</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kelly]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Austin, TX]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1924514-kelly]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1251953812p3/1924514.jpg]]></image_url>
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  <id type="integer">91873</id>
  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 19 20:13:13 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jan 19 20:13:13 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This was an interesting memoir, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I were familiar with any of the author's other work. But it was a very quick read (less than 100 pages) and wonderful writing.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43657485]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43657485]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>39078374</id>
    <user>
    <id>1764732</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Daniele]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Philadelphia, PA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1764732-daniele-paloumpis]]></link>
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  <id type="integer">91873</id>
  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Dec 01 20:09:38 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Dec 01 20:35:13 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[i literally read this twice in one night.  once to myself while at work, and once aloud with jen mcginn when i got home from work so that we could share it immediately.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39078374]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39078374]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>75617134</id>
    <user>
    <id>2251219</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kerre]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Montreal, BC, Canada]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2251219-kerre]]></link>
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  <id type="integer">91873</id>
  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702m/91873.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223646702s/91873.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91873.Two_or_Three_Things_I_Know_for_Sure</link>
  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="non-fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Oct 24 16:28:08 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Oct 24 16:28:08 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Everyone should have a 100 page book about their life.  The tragedy and the beauty.  Written honestly but in their own words, with their own boundaries.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75617134]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75617134]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>45822232</id>
    <user>
    <id>2012799</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Andrew]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[West Roxbury, MA]]></location>
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  <isbn>0452273404</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

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  <date_added>Mon Feb 09 08:17:55 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Feb 09 08:18:42 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[i have read this book and i liked it alot i did not expect alot of this story to come out the way it did but it is cool i liked it alot]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45822232]]></url>
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>80031490</id>
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    <id>1100065</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Emilie]]></name>
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  <isbn13>9780452273405</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">55</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 05 20:03:45 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Dec 05 20:40:47 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book's descriptions of  poverty  and queerness are eviscerating and empowering at the same time. I can't wait to lend it  to someone.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80031490]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/80031490]]></link>
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      <review>
  <id>52883963</id>
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    <id>1832562</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ruth]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
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  <date_added>Thu Apr 16 06:42:33 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Apr 16 07:35:15 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[&quot;I was born trash in a land where the people all believe themselves natural aristocrats.&quot; <br/><br/>Allison is under appreciated as a writer!]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52883963]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52883963]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>26279985</id>
    <user>
    <id>1201773</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Pat]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
  </title>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
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  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jul 04 05:23:26 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Jul 24 06:14:22 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book is very short, -- actually a one woman performance adapted to book form.  It was amazing because Dorothy Allison barred her very soul, and as you travel through her life of painful stories you gain an insight as to why people often follow a different path than others.  Our family histories...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26279985">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26279985]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26279985]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>74494561</id>
    <user>
    <id>1743057</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ann]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
  <published>1995</published>
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  <read_at>Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Oct 14 07:31:52 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Oct 14 07:33:01 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I loved the language and the gentleness of it. The family grown apart and reunited but in a storytelling way.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74494561]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Willow]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Allentown, NJ]]></location>
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    <![CDATA[Two or Three Things I Know for Sure]]>
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  <average_rating>4.09</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>856</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Allison's much-praised novel Bastard Out of Carolina was inspired by her childhood in Greenville, S.C., but in this memoir, adapted from a performance piece, she cuts even closer to the bone. &quot;We don't have a family Bible?&quot; the author's fourth-grade self asks her aunt. &quot;Child, some days we don't even have a family,&quot; comes the response. If Allison suffered horrors, notably rape by her stepfather when she was five, she has transmuted pain into stories, gaining control with maturity. Indeed, her title prefaces several hard-won aphorisms she uses to counterpoint her memories: &quot;No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be.&quot; Her mother was a beauty, as was her sister, but Dorothy, smart and plain, felt a legacy of ugliness, one she shook off slowly as her feminism and her heart led her to lesbian relationships, often painful, finally rewarding. She is now, in her 40s, a new mother, and her stories, and life, are a triumph of love over cruelty. ]]>
  </description>
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  <read_at>Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Oct 31 08:02:51 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Dec 02 19:28:39 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A short, not-so-sweet memoir about growing up in a southern family with nothing to do but wait to get out.  I have read other of Dorothy Allison's works and I find her absolutely compelling.  I read this book in one sitting (not a huge achievement, but I can rarely read more than 15 pages at a time)...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36621325">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36621325]]></url>
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