From Publishers Weekly
In this collection of syndicated columns, based in the New York Times and called "Life in the 30's," Quindlen gives ample evidence of why her reflections about herself, the progress of her life and feelings, resonate in a large readership. First, there is relevancy for the "targeted audience who are in their 30s and share Quindlen's chronology of adulthood, career, marriage and children." The author's personal frame of reference informs her memorable articles. For example, recalling the death of her mother when the columnist was 19, Quindlen, oldest of five children in an Irish-Catholic family, speaks of beginning to fashion a life for herself. We share her humor and frustration as she raises two sons, Quin, now four, and Christopher, two, as she longs for a daughter and talks about her lawyer-husband ("I married the person inside the sports jacket"). Quindlen's columns on baby-boomers who negotiate traditional values, such as a piece in which she defines "cultural Catholic," invite controversy; but there is universal appeal in her experi ences of the contemporary world, which she covers with elan and insight. 35,000 first printing.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
From "I Am a Catholic" to "I Don't Like That Nightgown," this collection of Quindlen's "Life in the 30s" columns from the New York Times is a very personal book. More than 60 columns offer a "thirty-somethingesque" view of life and portray Quindlen in her various roles. If readers occasionally flinch at the private subject matter, they must also applaud Quindlen's writing style and journalistic grace. (On Nautilus equipment: "It . . . bears such a remarkable resemblance to a delivery room apparatus that every time I get into it I think someone is going to yell 'push!' and I will have another baby.") Quindlen is expecting her third child this year, and, as she plans to take a break from writing, this collection is all the more important. Jo Cates, Poynter Inst. for Media Studies Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
