This collection of essays is, of course, uneven, but I enjoyed more than half of the essays, thus the rating. The essays are divided into 4 parts: autobiographical, books, messy lives and Internet-related articles. The last section is mostly terrible (Roiphe admits she rarely uses FB and hates Twitter), while the middle two sections are the best. With her PhD in lit, and her obviously long-time love of Mary McCarthy, Roiphe's best when casting a cold eye on her fellow writers and peers.

I am admittedly a little biased: I met Roiphe at the Mary McCarthy Conference that Bard College hosted in 1993. We chatted, shared a few drinks: she was somehow related to or family friends with my advisor who introduced us, and, I later believed, saw some connection between us. She's a few years younger than I am, and at least acting more confident and extroverted than I am (and I can be extroverted), but I admired her even then. Her essay on McCarthy from that conference is excellent.

McCarthy's name comes up a few times in this collection--and each time I smiled.

I do with the essays were dated: clearly some are over a decade old, and though Roiphe included a footnote explaining any necessary context, that wasn't enough for me. I don't believe she barely uses Facebook anymore: I'm "friends" with her and she posts fairly regularly. And I do wish she'd reconsider Twitter. I think McCarthy would have made the most of the medium, as Joyce Carol Oates does--and I have no doubt that Roiphe could, too.