If you read to escape into a happier world or a thrilling one where your “real” life is forgotten, you can skip this blog. I have just read two books written with style, grace and the courage to tell the truth about “real” life.
Diana Athill is a British literary editor, novelist and memoirist who has worked with the most important writers of the 20th century. Mailer, Roth, Naipaul, Updike for example. She retired at age 75 (in 1993) after more than 50 years in publishing. Somewhere Towards the End is her newest book. It takes a sharp-eyed, honest and humorous look at what it means to be ninety-one. Friendship, love, sex, family… all with only a tiny touch of sentimentality and absolutely no trace of self-pity. The writing is superb.
Athill was just awarded the Costa Prize for biography. From the Telegraph: “Diana Athill's prize is richly deserved and in no sense a special favour. Her writing has wit, bite and honesty. Such qualities are rare enough in any memoir and so are especially worthwhile in one that deals with the lives of the elderly – people we often either patronise or ignore.” For an interview with Diana Athill. For more Athill books.
Another beautiful and profound book is An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken. If you read The Giant’s House, her 1996 novel, you will remember her talent. Now, she has spilled the tears and grief of her son’s stillbirth into a memoir unlike any other. There is some humor and there are a few bittersweet moments, but mostly it’s about the healing powers of friendship in the midst of bottomless sadness. McCracken and her husband welcome a second, healthy son, but the death of their first baby has changed them forever. She concludes, “It’s a happy life, and someone is missing.” You will not forget this book.
Elizabeth McCracken's website.
