The Second Seduction

by Frances Lear

The successful New York career woman and the founder of Lear's magazine speaks frankly about her celebrated Hollywood producer husband; her role as mother, activist, and journalist; her alcoholism; childhood sexual abuse; manic depression; and more. 100,000 first printing.

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 1992

Reviews

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1997. Lear was the ex-wife of Norman Lear, television mega producer and this memoir details her early childhood as an orphan and her Dickensian childhood.

[Sarah J · Rating 2 out of 5]

randomly picked this up from an airbnb and enjoyed it

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frances Lear's autobiography at times spoke to my soul, and at time seemed like unreliable navel-gazing. She is less frank about her mental illness and addictions than I would have liked, but I can understand that just because you're writing a memoir doesn't mean you expose the most sensitive, intimate parts of yourself. In the balance, though, she does a fine job, through the lens of her personal experience, of getting at what it was and is to be a woman.

[Sandie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short read by the woman who was married to Norman Lear and who founded Lear's magazine. Reading of her early life sounds like fiction, how could so many bad things happen to one person? I liked the biography part of the book but the second half is more like essays on her thoughts and, really, not so much.

[Dale Stonehouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet and to the point, Lear chronicles in short chapters the major events, traumas and triumphs of her life. At times blunt without offending, she finally in middle age was diagnosed manic-depressive, helping to explain some of the mysterious behavior we all indulge in periodically.

[Katharine Holden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful. Well-written. I won't forget this short memoir any time soon.