My Life and Dr. Joyce Brothers (Deep South Books) [Paperback]

Kelly Cherry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2002 | Series: Deep South Books

In a novel created from twelve connected stories, Cherry writes with lightness and grace about life's most serious subjects. Her plucky heroine travels a bumpy road from dependence to self-help, with a beacon of humor guiding the way.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cherry's ( Augusta Played ) "novel in stories" is such a mixture of the irritating and the insightful that its appeal will be a matter of individual taste. Narrator Nina, fearing the approach of middle age, struggles to heal the scars left by an incestuous assault and makes some real progress, at the same time remaining obsessed with the last man to dump her. In the first three stories especially, Nina's stability, suggested in the title, bogs down in psychobabble as she pursues, then rues, the offerings of psychiatry. The reader's patience is rewarded in the later sections, however, as Nina stops being the slave of theories and allows herself to experience relationships more naturally. Given the weak and tangled psyche to which we are originally introduced, Nina's ultimate transformation lacks a degree of credibility, but Cherry does achieve a unique portrait.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Nina, longing for a baby and for the Great Love who dumped her, shovels Wisconsin snow to the tick of her biological clock. In 12 short stories, she reviews her failures with various men, psychiatrists, and artificial insemination. Tucked away in the middle of the book is a beautiful little narrative about Nina's parents, too amusing and affectionate to be included in these tales of woe. Despite the happy, predictable ending, it's hard to predict any appreciative audience for Nina's self-centered chatter.
- Maurice Taylor, Brunswick Cty. Lib., Southport, N.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: University Alabama Press (July 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817312439
• ISBN-13: 978-0817312435
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,010,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kelly Cherry is the author of twenty books of fiction (long and short), poetry, memoir, essay, and criticism. She has also published eight chapbooks and translations of two classical dramas. Her most recent titles are The Woman Who: Stories, The Retreats of Thought: Poems, and Girl in a Library: On Women Writers & The Writing Life. Her fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, and New Stories from the South and has won three PEN/Syndicated Fiction awards. Her story collection The Society of Friends (which has nothing to do with the Society of Friends) received the Dictionary of Literary Biography Award for Short Fiction for the best collection published in 1999. For her poetry she received the Hanes Prize for a body of work. Her new and selected poems, titled Hazard and Prospect, was a finalist for the Poets' Award. Cherry says, "I write because I have ideas that can be realized only by writing. Luckily, I love to write. And I love the thought that somewhere there may be someone who reads my work and responds to the heart of what I write."

Another book of poems is scheduled for 2013. She is completing a new book of stories and working on a book-length poem. After that there will be another book of stories (the third in her trilogy of short story collections set in Madison, Wisconsin), a memoir, and a novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars gosh, totally forgot about this book!, April 13, 2005

By 

Robert Nagle "idiotprogrammer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life and Dr. Joyce Brothers: A Novel in Stories (Hardcover)

Just on a lark, I browsed around and stumbled across this book which I'd read a long time ago. I'd even written a mini-review of it for a literary journal. And yet, I remember next to nothing about this book! I remember it as being light-hearted, unconventional, a breeze to read, and humorous.

This is a not a substantial novel/story collection (I suspect you'd have to read her other novel We Can Still Be Friends for something more meaty). Still it's a fun read, probably good chick lit and K.C. is a talented writer.

One of the crazy things about amazon is that certain books (perfectly fine ones) just get no feedback at all. Many sell for under a $1, and even if you factor in the shipping and handling, it's still a great deal.

1.0 out of 5 stars Could not get past Chapter 2, February 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: My Life and Dr. Joyce Brothers (Deep South Books) (Paperback)

I could not get into this book, could not even get past chapter 2. The protaganist was too whiny, obsessed and frankly and idiot.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glad this terrific novel was reprinted, July 13, 2004

By 

Burke Davis (Halifax, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Life and Dr. Joyce Brothers (Deep South Books) (Paperback)

A masterful book. Beautifully written, an array of characters so alive they leap off the page. The inter-related stories move from an early seeming simplicity to an extraordinary depth by the end, full of passion and intelligence -- as one reviewer called it, "a kind of prayer."
The main character, Nina, begins in despair and ends not in triumph, but apparently headed in that direction -- which becomes clearer if you read the second volume in this series of books, The Society of Friends. (The third in the series hasn't appeared yet.)
I've read this book three times now (loaned out my hardback and it wasn't returned!) and it improves on every reading, because it is so full of humanity and life and so subtle -- you find more and more the deeper you delve into this amazing novel.
I recommend anything by this writer -- poems, stories, novels. Read her latest, We Can Still Be Friends.