Title: Not Becoming My Mother
Author(s): Ruth Reichl
Language: English
Published: 05 January 2009
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
ISBN: 9781741757538
Extension: EPUB
Size: 99 KB
Subjects: Biography & Autobiography, Nonfiction
Categories: Biography & Autobiography, Nonfiction
Best selling author Ruth Reichl examines her mother's life, giving voice to the universal unarticulated truth that we are grateful not to be our mothers.
In Not Becoming My Mother, bestselling author Ruth Reichl embarks on a clear-eyed, open hearted investigation of her mother's life, piecing together the journey of a woman she comes to realize she never really knew. Looking to her mother's letters and diaries, Reichl confronts the painful transition she made from a hopeful young woman to an increasingly unhappy older one and realizes the tremendous sacrifices she made to make sure her daughter's life would not be as disappointing as her own.
Growing up in Cleveland, Miriam Brudno dreamed of becoming a doctor, like her father. But when she announced this, her parents said, 'You're no beauty, and it's too bad you're such an intellectual. But if you become a doctor no man will ever marry you.' Instead, at 20, Miriam opened a bookstore, a profession everyone agreed was suitably ladylike. She corresponded with authors all over the world, including philosophers like Bertrand Russell, political figures like Max Eastman and novelists like Christopher Marlowe. It was the happiest time of her life.
Nearly 30 when she finally married, she fulfilled expectations, settled down, left her bookstore behind and started a family. But conformity came at a tremendous cost. With labour-saving devices to aid in household chores, there was simply not enough to fill the days. Miriam - and most of her friends - were smart, educated women who were often bored, miserable and silently rebellious.
On what would have been Miriam's one hundredth birthday, Reichl opens up her mother's diaries for the first time and encounters a whole new woman. This is a person she had never known. In this intimate study Reichl comes to understand the lessons of rebellion, independence and self-acceptance that her mother - though unable to guide herself - succeeded in teaching her daughter.
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