I don't read memoirs.
It's not that I think poorly of them; it's that I don't think of them at all. I'm very pleased to say
that Tania Grossinger's Memoir of an Independent Woman convinced
me otherwise. In many ways, it’s exactly what it says on the cover: a powerful
and personal tale of the life of an extraordinary and fundamentally Jewish
woman in during a time of great cultural change in America.
Structured as a series
of letters to the daughter she never had, Ms. Grossinger builds this story of
her life not as a timeline but as a set of thematic threads woven together
partly by time and place, but more by conceptual association. This is a wise
choice, creating a rambling, conversational tale covering themes ranging from family
to career-building to romance to mental health. She delivers it through
anecdotes about her early life at Grossinger’s, the resort hotel that attracted
America’s elite, to the who’s-who of historical personalities she met working
in PR, to her rocky relationships both familial and romantic, to her later work
as a travel writer. These little bits of history often touch on difficult and
personal subject matter, but Tania approaches all with commendable grace and
insight, reflecting as much on her own perspective and actions as the events
around her.
Before reading her book,
I had the good fortune to speak with Tania, who generously took the time out of
her book tour for a call. Speaking with her in advance brought her story
to life in a way I'm lucky to have experienced. With her voice and her unique,
rambling style of storytelling fresh in my mind, it was almost as if she were
reading the book to me herself. Few writers can convey their style of speech as
written word, but Ms. Grossinger does so with an understated grace that is
truly remarkable.
Often funny, sometimes
bitter, always fascinating and wise, Memoir
of an Independent Woman binds the personal and the historical into one
thoroughly charming whole. For anyone interested in what it means to be a Jew
in America, a woman in America, or a person in America, I recommend it. For
anyone interested in American culture or history, I recommend it doubly.
Memoir of an Independent Woman: An Unconventional Life Well Lived was published by Skyhorse Publishing in 2013.
It can be found here.
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