A bracing vindication of the rights of women through one remarkable woman’s postwar story.
A debut memoir that recalls the writer’s struggles to succeed and find happiness despite the obstacles—familial, social, legal, and personal—that stood in her way.
Crosby grew up in the postwar Bronx facing a verbally and physically abusive mother, a family that made her a scapegoat, and a society that expected her to conceal her talents rather than threaten male egos. Head-turningly beautiful, a superior student, an accomplished pianist and swimmer, and pious, Crosby had dreamed of becoming a nun—a dream that she hid from her family because she knew they would mock her. Instead, she earned a degree in chemistry from Fordham University at a time when she had to get her diploma through the School of Education because women weren’t allowed to get degrees through the science department. Crosby’s job opportunities were limited by sexism, but she worked as a research assistant, earned a master’s in philosophy, became a forensic criminalist, and taught chemistry at Santa Monica College in California. Along the way, she married and later split up with her husband; she had two children, three abortions, and a miscarriage. She details her battles with addiction and her recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous; money, health, and legal worries; family tensions; and relationship troubles in this memoir. The title reflects Crosby’s anguish about wanting to be “good” in the way she was taught but also wanting to follow her heart. She ends with a firm statement of her intention with this memoir: “to honor lives lost long ago, to uphold the freedom that is essential to all moral choices, and to claim the right to my own life at last.” Younger readers may find it difficult to believe the number of impediments that women faced before feminism’s gains, but Crosby delivers convincing and blood pressure–raising descriptions of the injustices she encountered. She lays out her own contradictions with rueful honesty, such as not using birth control despite engaging in an active sex life or trying “to fix the whole world when I could barely pay my rent.” The book can become tedious, though, in detailing minutiae. Readers may feel compassion but also fatigue by the end given the author’s long memory for slights and her forays into triviality. Still, the story sparkles with compelling details (Crosby dated Buzz Aldrin for a time) and remains undeniably sympathetic.
A bracing vindication of the rights of women through one remarkable woman’s postwar story.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-36684-4
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Ballingly Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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