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The Critic's Daughter: A Memoir
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79/99
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34/99
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About This Book
An exquisitely rendered portrait of a unique father-daughter relationship and a moving memoir of family and identity. Growing up on the Upper West Side of New York City in the 1970s, in an apartment filled with dazzling literary and artistic characters, Priscilla Gilman worshiped her brilliant, adoring, and mercurial father, the writer, theater critic, and Yale School of Drama professor Richard Gilman. But when Priscilla was ten years old, her mother, renowned literary agent Lynn Nesbit, abruptly announced that she was ending the marriage. The resulting cascade of disturbing revelations―about her parents' hollow marriage, her father's double life and tortured sexual identity―fundamentally changed Priscilla's perception of her father, as she attempted to protect him from the depression that had long shadowed him. A wrenching story about what it means to be the daughter of a demanding parent, a revelatory window into the impact of divorce, and a searching reflection on the nature of art and criticism, The Critic's Daughter is an unflinching account of loss and grief―and a radiant testament of forgiveness and love.
Reviews
"It's a devastating portrait ..."
"Most childhood memoirs depict the author as an adult in child's clothing ..."
"Gilman incisively charts her remarkable father's intense ups-and-downs and lucidly analyzes her own struggles in a richly involving chronicle gracefully laced with literary allusions, compassion, and wisdom."
"The narrative is passionate, resonant, and beautifully written, with just a few forgivably maudlin moments ..."
"This is an eye-opening testament to the lasting wounds of divorce."
"She certainly provides the rest of us with a daughter's thoughtful and empathetic profile of her dad."
"Throughout the book, Gilman delightfully weaves the television shows, plays, and movies of her childhood into the story....Gilman also addresses the contradictions and shortcomings of dramatic criticism, suggesting that people should be free to love what they love, in all senses, not just the theatrical ..."
"In capturing the essence of its challenging subject, The Critic's Daughter is a rare combination of honesty, warmheartedness and exquisite writing."
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