The Devil, The Lovers and Me: My Life in Tarot [Paperback]

Kimberlee Auerbach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2008

Kimberlee is a seeker having a hard time embracing the unknown. She craves certainty, so she turns to a tarot reaer to predict her future. But she does not fine the answers in the cards... " THERE WILL BE TIMES YOU WILL BE LAUGING, THE CRYING..."--Courtney Martin This book is an npiring, honest , and humerous tale of self-discovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Aperformance artist and former Fox News producer, Auerbach offers an earnest, though light memoir about learning to open herself to life through a first-time reading of the tarot cards. During a dark period of her life, when she felt stuck in her job after seven years, and stymied in a relationship with a loving man, Noah, who still wouldn't pop the question, the author, at 33, visited a clairvoyant in order to find out what the future held for her. Iris was not a typical tarot reader, but heavily into Kabbalah, and she navigated for Auerbach a reading of the 22 Major Arcana. The cards Auerbach drew included the Fool, the Wheel of Fortune, the Lovers and Temperance, and for each the author dwells literally on a chapter of her life, from being the dork back in grade school in Short Hills, N.J., to becoming the poster girl for her father's creation, Le Clic camera. Auerbach's parents were controlling (her father actually bought an engagement ring for Noah to give her), but she learned to forgive them. Iris was a kindly maternal figure who urged her to accept gracefully the natural cycles of one's life, but it's a simplistic lesson, and the answers too pat. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“So fresh and original you don’t want it to end.”
—Naomi Wolf, bestselling author of The Beauty Myth

“Warning: there will be times when you will be laughing so hard that you won’t realize that you’re also crying. A shining example of what it means to be humorously flawed and gloriously alive.”
—Courtney Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

“Bravo! Auerbach made me laugh, love, and leap into the future open-armed, right along with her.”
—Maria Dahvana Headley, author of The Year of Yes

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade; Reprint edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451224108
• ISBN-13: 978-0451224101
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,337,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2 Thumbs up for Auerbach, August 14, 2007

By 

max "max" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot (Hardcover)

I have to admit that I approached reading the Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot with a bit of hesitation. I'm not really a fan of "chick lit" and although my wife swore this was not your typical "chick lit" fare I was still not completely convinced this would be my cup of herbal tea with a tarot reader. Well boy, was I wrong. Auerbach's account of her hysterically painful childhood all the way up to her drama filled present day life has warmth, humor and intelligence and although it is all based on her real life it reads like fiction. This book will be entertaining on the beach this summer or if you don't get to it till fall, perfect for a cozy day in front of the fire. Once you pick it up you defintely won't be able to put it down. A must read...even for a guy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top 9 Reasons to Read The Devil, The Lovers, and Me, March 13, 2008

By 

Gabrielle Prisco (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot (Hardcover)

Top 9 Reasons to Read The Devil, The Lovers, and Me:

1. It is original and quirky and funny.
2. That was three already.
3. Kimberlee Auerbach is brave and willing to examine her own life closely.
4. Which may give you some insight into yours.
5. And also into this particular moment in history. One thing that struck me as I was reading this voice was how thoroughly located in the mid-2000s and in New York City the book is. Which made me realize how few books like that I have read. In turn, I thought about how important it is to have stories that reflect our present day reality as it is unfolding. It is important for us to take a look, through books, at how we use technology including in our intimate relationships (Kimberlee's electronic messages with her father; her googling of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend), how we spend our time, and how we struggle to make sense of ourselves and the world around us (basically the book). Stories like this one that reflect particular social locations and times are also important to write (and to read, which is what you should do with this book) because of what they leave for others to read later on in time.
6. It is funny. That is already in number one above I know but it deserves its own line because this book is really funny. Kimberlee gives voice to the humor in situations (like getting crabs or having her father present her with an engagement ring) where others (me, maybe you) might struggle to find the funny. The benefit to you of her talent is that you will laugh when you read this book.
7. See number two.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Meh. Another memoir., July 18, 2008

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot (Hardcover)

Kimberlee Auerbach, The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot (Dutton, 2007)

Warning: the phrase "in Tarot" in the title had me thinking that I was going to be reading a memoir about the life and profession of a Tarot reader. That is emphatically not the case (and, in fact, the Tarot reading that provides Auerbach's framework here is, not surprisingly, fabricated). Thus, if that's what you're looking for, move on, folks, nothing to see here.

That said, given my antipathy towards memoirs, I did find myself grudgingly hooked pretty fast. Not that it's different than your run-of-the-mill memoir-- bad childhood memories, abuse, etc. etc. ad nauseam-- but Auerbach has a storyteller's touch and a sharp sense of humor, both of which have been notably absent from any number of memoirs I've read over the years. I hope that at one point she turns her attention to writing a novel; I'd like to see what she can do with the rest of the stuff in her head. Until then, we'll have to make do with this; a shiny presentation on trendy, though quotidian, subject matter. ***