THE DAY I BECAME AN AUTODIDACT

by Kendall Hailey ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 4, 1988

With this journal of her few years as a school dropout (because her high-school grades allowed her to graduate a year early and because she opted out of a college regimen thereafter), a patently nice young woman enters the family trade. Mom is a novelist, Dad is a playwright, and now Kendall Hailey, too, has her own card in the Library of Congress. Start with all the self-interested passion of a literate 15-year-old and follow her self-education through almost four years of countless classic books and only slightly fewer classic Hollywood movies. The drama is as exhilarating as meeting a favorite actor and as wholesome as cookies and milk. Halley's supporting cast includes a wise and witty father (""Apparently my father is right when he says he's never wrong""), a wise and warm mother (""Maybe she's not as happy dusting as I thought""), a cute kid sister, other assorted clever relatives, one childhood sweetheart who is ""embarrassed to kiss anyone in front of furniture, let alone people,"" and more authors, ancient and modern, than can be found in the latest edition of The Reader's Encyclopedia Her adventures include writing novels and screwball comedies and everything else, real acting in a work of her own, traveling to England several times, painting what Dad calls masterpieces, and loving a lot. It's kind of like Anne of Green Gables Goes to Holly-wood: ""I've been considering my life a lot lately,"" muses the author--and indeed she has. Sometimes she is Lynn Fontanne, sometimes Jean Arthur, and, on occasion, Jane Austen. But, if jejune is busting out here and there, Hailey is just antic enough to pull it off. This sensitive autodidact is as mannered and entertaining as only a bright teenager can be, and of course, that's plenty.

Pub Date: March 4, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION