3.5
The Odd Woman and the City
ByPublisher Description
A memoir of self-discovery and the dilemma of connection in our time,
explores the rhythms, chance encounters, and ever-changing friendships of urban life that forge the sensibility of a fiercely independent woman who has lived out her conflicts, not her fantasies, in a city that has done the same. Running steadily through the book is Vivian Gornick's exchange of more than twenty years with Leonard, a gay man who is sophisticated about his own unhappiness. The exchange between Gornick and Leonard acts as a Greek chorus to the main action of the narrator's continual engagement on the street with grocers, derelicts, and doormen; people on the bus, cross-dressers on the corner, and acquaintances by the handful. In Leonard she sees herself reflected plain; out on the street she makes sense of what she sees.
Written as a narrative collage that includes meditative pieces on the making of a modern feminist, the role of the flaneur in urban literature, and the evolution of friendship over the past two centuries,
beautifully bookends Gornick's acclaimed
, in which we first encountered her rich relationship with the ultimate metropolis.
"Stirring." —
"The best books . . . make us feel understood. . . .
can be read as a guidebook for how to exist." —
"Sharply observed." —
"One of the most vital and indispensable essayists of our cultural moment." —Phillip Lopate
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Odd Woman and the City Reviews
3.5
TexasErin
Created 27 days agoShare
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“This will be one of my favorite books of the year. A discussion of friendships in all its forms. She put into words emotions I’ve experienced but could never name and did it beautifully. And it’s the most NYC of NYC books - the real city as real people live it rather than touristy or ultra rich NY stories. I listened to the audiobook which Gornick herself narrated and recommend it highly.”
Ezerwocky
Created 2 months agoShare
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Pheebs
Created 2 months agoShare
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Ece
Created 3 months agoShare
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“I looove it!!! It’s everything I wanted to write and read. It’s one of the books I would take with me if I were stranded on a deserted island. It’s the book I would pass down to my daughter as an inheritance. For now I’ll be keeping it close, carrying it around in my bag for a while.
But It’s sad that this book hasn’t been translated into my native language.”
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