Book Review by Paula Fox
At The New York Review of Books, author Paula Fox, on moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn:
The evening of the day we moved in, I made a quick supper. We sat at a table surrounded by stacked cartons that evoked in me a memory of Stonehenge, a cardboard one. The atmosphere at our table was a mix of hilarity and malaise. The neighborhood and the house felt alien. We had moved into a foreign city, a feeling shared by some of our friends in Manhattan in those years, and indeed still.
The piece is ostensibly a review of a reissue of a book by a former neighbor and friend of hers, L.J. Davis. Instead, it’s a beautifully written mini-memoir that happens to discuss the book. (Link from The Morning News)
I was stunned by the power of Fox’s writing when, as an adult, I read her Newbery Award winning Slave Dancer. Monkey Island and One-Eyed Cat were good, too. I have a few of her books on my to-read shelf, including her memoir.
Did you know she’s the biological grandmother of Courtney Love?
November 18th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Seriously? Courtney Love?
November 18th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Fox had a baby as a young girl, and gave it up for adoption. That baby grew up to become the mother of Courtney Love. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Fox
November 19th, 2009 at 11:32 am
it’s been a few years, but i remember really enjoying her memoir. love her ya/middle grade work as well. -de