Them: A Memoir of Parents and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

95 used & new from $0.01
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Them: A Memoir of Parents
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading Them: A Memoir of Parents on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Them: A Memoir of Parents (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I have an extremely fertile dream life, and a decade ago, upon the fourth anniversary of my mother's death, I had a powerful dream about..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Condé Nast, Seventieth Street (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


15 new from $4.94 72 used from $0.01 8 collectible from $18.99

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition $9.99 -- --
  Hardcover -- $4.94 $0.01
  Paperback $12.00 $7.46 $0.01

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Fear of Flying

Fear of Flying

by Erica Jong
3.9 out of 5 stars (72)  $10.20
How Reading Changed My Life

How Reading Changed My Life

by Anna Quindlen
4.5 out of 5 stars (24)  $8.00
Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman

Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman

by Francine du Plessix Gray
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  $16.32
Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public and the Private

Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public and the Private

by Anna Quindlen
3.8 out of 5 stars (9)  $11.86
The Frontiers of Love: A Novel

The Frontiers of Love: A Novel

by Diana Chang
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  $22.50
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. "My mother enjoyed claiming direct descent from Genghis Khan," Gray explains as she opens this complex and rewarding family memoir. That claim gave her mother "both the aristocratic pedigree and the freedom to be a barbarian." Tatiana Yakovleva du Plessix Liberman was 19 and hungry in 1925 when she left the Soviet Union for France. Tatiana and Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky soon fell passionately in love, but the ever-practical woman married aristocratic Frenchman Bertrand du Plessix instead. They had one child, Francine, before du Plessix was killed in early WWII combat. Tatiana then became involved with Alexander Liberman, a British- and French-educated artistic Jewish-Russian émigré. Alex, Tatiana and Francine fled to New York in 1941 and started a new life—Tatiana designing hats for Bendel's before a career with Saks, Alex scaling the fashion journalism ladder at Condé Nast. New Yorker contributor Gray tells the story of this talented, self-absorbed couple from their roots to their graves. The final chapters—with the death of Demerol-addicted Tatiana and Alex's remarriage to an adoring nurse—are unbearably tragic, and the inside story of the Liberman ménage is more addictive than any Vanity Fair exclusive. Gray is such a fine writer, her family story reads like a novel of early 20th-century bohemianism gone corporate. Rich with history of early to mid-20th-century design and publishing, this memoir stands as an instructive model of how to write a difficult story honestly. Gray's parents were not nice people, but she loved them, and readers, by the end, understand why. Photos. Agents, Georges and Anne Borchardt. (May 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Gray is an engaging writer with a natural eye for the parts of her parents' lives that are most interesting to readers. It certainly helps that they were active and fascinating people. Her mother, Tatiana, was a hat designer in Paris and for Saks Fifth Avenue; her stepfather, Alexander Liberman, was an artist who came to run the giant Condé Nast publishing house. Both being social animals, their tale brings with it appearances by the rich and famous of the mid-20th century; the couple's often cruel behavior as they strove to advance in this world is interesting if unpleasant. Both individuals were Russian émigrés. Tatiana came from an artistic family whose influence ranged from her native country to France and, through her painter uncle, across the world. She became heavily involved with a leading Soviet poet, which ensured her own place in Soviet history. Alexander's father was one of Lenin's leading economic advisers, a non-Bolshevik whose abilities gained him trust and support. The book takes in many more relatives and, given their lives, includes courtiers, artists, spies, and heroes. It provides a good look at many different aspects of 20th-century social and political history, which alone makes it worthwhile reading. Black-and-white photos are included.–Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; First Edition 1 in number line edition (May 5, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594200491
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594200496
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #622,718 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Francine du Plessix Gray
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Francine du Plessix Gray Page
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I have an extremely fertile dream life, and a decade ago, upon the fourth anniversary of my mother's death, I had a powerful dream about her. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Condé Nast, Seventieth Street, United States, Soviet Union, World War, Les Roches, Tatiana Yakovleva, Bertrand du Plessix, Long Island, Sainte Maxime, Stony Brook, Gitta Sereny, Saks Fifth Avenue, Semyon Lieberman, Alexei Evgenevich, Great Britain, Uncle Pat, Vanity Fair, Alexander Liberman, Central Park South, Irving Penn, Sands Point, Anna Wintour, Croisière Jaune
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 50 books:
See all 50 books this book cites

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Them: A Memoir of Parents
93% buy the item featured on this page:
Them: A Memoir of Parents 4.3 out of 5 stars (22)
My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Past
2% buy
My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Past 4.8 out of 5 stars (64)
$10.17
Oh the Glory of It All
2% buy
Oh the Glory of It All 3.9 out of 5 stars (88)
$6.00
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
2% buy
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl 4.5 out of 5 stars (242)
$10.17
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
See all 8 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Memoir to Remember, May 13, 2005
Francine du Plessix Gray who, has written several fine novels as well as complex and satisfying biographies of the Marquis de Sade and Simone Weil, now tenderly explores the lives of her famously mercurial parents. "Them" is a success any way you look at it; the elegant writing and the loving way she examines the life she had with these completely self-absorbed people make this memoir worth reading.

Her parents were Tatiana Yakoleva, a renowned New York designer of hats, and Alex Liberman, who was one of the creators of modern fashion journalism at Vogue. The du Plessix in Francine's name comes from her birth father, a hero of the French Resistance who died early in World War II. Although he never adopted her, Alex Liberman was the father she knew and loved, the man she and her mother always saw as the one who rescued them from the horrors of war. Tatiana had already fled one revolution, leaving Russia to live in Paris as a teenager with her grandmother, aunt, and uncle. In her early 20s, she met the dynamic Russian revolutionary poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky during one of his visits to France. He wrote one of his most beautiful poems to her and begged her to return to Russia with him. But her fear was too great, and she married diplomat Bertrand du Plessix before Mayakovsky could return to again persuade her. Mayakovsky had been under growing scrutiny for his criticism of increasing oppression in the new Soviet Union, and he committed suicide shortly thereafter. His letters were one of the Tatiana's most carefully guarded items when she fled Europe.

Photos from the family's arrival in New York make them look like a tight-knit trio, but Tatiana and Alex were terrible parents. They shuttled off Froshka, as they called her, with all sorts of extraneous family and friends. A friend had to tell her that her father was dead. They failed to tell her when they got married. They were as ambitious and thoughtless as two people can be. But they loved her very much.

What makes this memoirs so remarkable is how warmly du Plessix Gray writes about all this. She does not see herself as a victim, which is probably why she has a close and healthy family life as an adult. Beautiful writing, fearlessness, and compassion make this a memoir that will hold readers captive from start to finish.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite Writing, October 23, 2005
By Eileen Pollock (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I saw the author at Barnes & Noble earlier this year, and knowing nothing about her as a writer, I dismissed her book as one more self-involved memoir. Was I ever proven delightfully wrong! Her parents' story is so beautifully told, in sentences so artfully crafted as to create an esthetic experience of the highest level. You feel she has carefully adjusted every nuance, every word, and placed each sentence for maximum effect. In fact, I wonder if her gift for exquisite language is not akin to her mother's for the perfect placement of decoration on her hat designs. There is a similar obsession with the telling detail, a similar esthetic sensibility. I loved this story, it moved slowly but it was ultimately so satisfying. There are really several, four or five, stories -- the colorful Russian relatives, the family's escape from France and early years in New York, the author's upbringing as a neglected child of privilege, the later years of Tatiana's decline and Alex's marriage to a Philippine nurse (read: interloper) and his alienation from Francine and her children. There is so much sheer story telling skill here, told with artistic virtuosity. Francine du Plessix Gray has entirely won me over, and I thoroughly appreciate her as a writer and as a woman of depth and generosity. Most of all, this memoir is indeed one "of parents", not of herself, and that she keeps herself fairly in the background is one of the foremost accomplishments of this luminous memoir.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars We cannot choose our parents . . ., May 12, 2005
By Alex M. Bobotis "book lover" (New Port Richey, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
"Them" is an engrossing read. Mrs. Gray portrays her parents in their full roundedness with no holds barred when it comes to revealing their faults as well as their virtues. In reading the memoir, I found myself saying "what fascinating people yet how obnoxious. . . how powerful an emotion love is to permit a daughter to see all her parents' faults and still treat them with respect." The book is also a portrait of a time and an industry (magazine publishing) and of people finely attuned to the needs of fashionable society. It's also about Change and how we all become outmoded when our work fails to meet changing fashions.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling portrait of a bygone era
As a fan of biographies, particularly the insightful kind about subjects who are interesting yet slightly obscured by time and not already the subjects of countless books and... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Privacy, Please

3.0 out of 5 stars Oddly fascinating
I reluctantly read this as part of an adult ed. class on memoirs. I didn't think I would enjoy it. After all, I told myself, what do I care for the world of sophisticated New York... Read more
Published 17 months ago by jtlauderdale

5.0 out of 5 stars A mother's aspirations for a child are not easily thwarted.
One aspect of the book demonstrated how powerful a mother's aspirations for a child are. It appears Tatiana's grandmother and mother instilled a belief you had to be successful... Read more
Published 17 months ago by TN

2.0 out of 5 stars And Racist too


Her parents were indeed revolting.. and it is perhaps instructive to be assured again that all families were not invented by Norman Rockwell. Read more
Published on August 19, 2007 by Righter

5.0 out of 5 stars charming memoir
I was enchanted by Ms. Gray's beautifully written memoir. She has lived through some dramatic world events with vivid front-line experiences and yet was able to share them in... Read more
Published on June 7, 2007 by Nancy C. Nash

5.0 out of 5 stars A touchstone for thinking of my parents and my life...
Thank you, Mme. du Plessix Gray for this evocative, brilliant memoir. This was the last book my Mother read before she died in August 2006. Read more
Published on April 14, 2007 by Elizabeth Dunkel

4.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic and Revolting
I'm a fan of Francine du Plessix Gray ("The Women of the Marquis de Sade" is stunning) so I picked up this book with anticipation.
Mrs. Read more
Published on March 7, 2007 by Lorenzo Moog

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous
I absolutely loved this book. Du Plessix Gray describes her parents' lives with insight, intelligence, honesty and humor. Read more
Published on October 3, 2006 by A prolific reader

1.0 out of 5 stars Insipid People, Insipid Book
I wish life could give me back the 4 days of my life wasted reading this trash. Why anyone should be interested in these people is a complete mystery to me. Read more
Published on September 3, 2006 by Reviewer

4.0 out of 5 stars The Double Edge of Intimacy
Francine du Plessix Gray's Them is a powerful family memoir set against the backdrops of the Russian Revolution and World War II. Read more
Published on August 27, 2006 by Anonymous Reader

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:























i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.