Emma Who Saved My Life [Paperback]

Wilton Barnhardt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1998

Wilton Barnhardt's novel of coming of age in New York City brims with energy, surprise, irresistible humor, and the heady rush of youth. Its hero, Gil Freeman, a mid-western aspiring actor, comes to the city in search of stradom--but instead encounters the perils of Alphabet City, the desperation of off-off-off Broadway theater...and the exhilarating, exasperating, absolutely unique Emma, around whom his life comes to turn. Charming and engaging, quintessentially American, Emma Who Saved my Life is one of the extraordinary fiction debuts of our time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel comes with a highly eulogistic note from the publisher, and on this occasion the enthusiasm is right on the mark. Emma is a winner--a book of enormous charm, full of sharp, often acid, character sketches, memorable scenes, alternately touching and uproariously funny, that linger in the memory--and told in a narrative style so cunningly paced and organized that it is difficult to believe this is really the work of a first-time writer. (We are assured, however, that he is a North Carolina-born graduate student at Oxford, and that this is truly his first book.) It's the story of Gil Freeman, a young aspiring actor just arrived from the Midwest in New York in the mid-'70s, and his progress as a thespian, as well as a lover and friend to a variety of Manhattan denizens of that time and place. Emma Gennaro, from the moment he becomes one of her roommates, is particularly close to Gil's heart: a frenzied, funny, desperate soul whose increasingly real agonies, with drugs and the surrounding society, take her further and further away from him. Nothing is conventional about their relationship; neither can entirely do without the other, yet the only time they consummate their long affection is in an agonizing scene close to the end of the book. There are fragmentary suggestions, at the beginning, middle and end of Gil's story, that it's all being told in safe retrospect, from the perspective of a man if not entirely happy in marriage and fatherhood, at least beyond youthful indiscretions. But the immediacy of his years in New York, in a series of dreadful apartments, mingling with the bohemians and charlatans of the theater, auditioning, conniving, being briefly and ashamedly successful, is overwhelming. The zany flavor of city life has seldom been better caught, and there are set-pieces here, like a party at the loft of a hostess despised by all her guests, an absurd July 4th weekend at the Jersey shore, scenes in a grungy all-night cafe, that leap from the page in their gritty authenticity, their exact ear for dialogue. Barnhardt's only fault is an occasional too-easy blackout, a refusal to take a scene to its ultimate implications for the sake of moving things along. But that's a minor flaw in what has to be one of the most promising fictional debuts in many years. 100,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

New York beckons, and sophomore theater major Gil Freeman leaves Southern Illinois University to share an apartment in the Village with "TWO WHOLE WOMEN," aspiring artist Lisa, a friend from SIU, and aspiring poet Emma. Through a decade of ups and downs and menial jobs, beguilingly neurotic Emma is the lodestone in narrator Gil's life, saving him occasionally from despair, always from boredom. Eventually Gil will make it to Broadway (and to the truth about his acting), Emma will be published, and there will be a consummation of their relationship. By then the energetic irrepressibility of this coming-of-age story, with its realistic flavor of the city, winds down. A promising first novel for its ease and humor alone; almost better in parts (occasionally overly clever) than as a whole.
- Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty . P . L . , Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Picador; Edition Unstated edition (June 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312191189
• ISBN-13: 978-0312191184
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...scenes I will recall to mind for years to come, June 21, 2006

By 

Laura - See all my reviews

This review is from: Emma Who Saved My Life (Paperback)

Snappy. Fun. Funny. UNIQUE! Finally...something different to read! The dialogue is witty. The characters were amusing. The main character is so very clever; I like the "stream of consciousness" way about him. I am not one to read "long" books, however, all the moments in the characters' lives were ironed out in the craziest, most entertaining ways.

I want to read more books like this. In fact, I purchased Show World by Barnhardt. I'm looking forward to the read!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars funny and sad and deeply personal, July 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Emma Who Saved My Life (Paperback)

I have read this book every year that I have lived in New York, and each time I have a different experience with it. The first time I read it, I had just arrived in NY, fresh out of college, and I agreed with the reviewer who wrote that it's a great book until the end. Then I read it a year later and decided that it could not have ended any other way. This book is about growing up, and it has so mirrored my own experience of this city that I laugh and cry and have a totally different experience of it each time I pick it up. Sort of like looking at an old photo album--where you realize your relationships with the people inside the book have changed, but the feelings evoked by looking at them are just as strong as ever.

It's lovely. I can't imagine admiring a book more.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST ever, March 21, 2001

By 

V. Hinds (Ridgefield, CT. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Emma Who Saved My Life (Paperback)

This is far and away the most enjoyable book I have EVER read. I bought the hardcover in 1989, and over the years have re-read it many, many times. I even named my daughter "Emma"! It is laugh out loud hysterical, and deeply moving. You feel as though you are transported to NYC in the 70s and 80s, sharing experiences with these unbelievable realistic characters. I cannot stress enough how wonderful this book is, I have yet to find one I like as much, and I read A LOT of books-trust me!