👶👶👶👶: The Critic's Daughter: A Memoir, by Priscilla Gilman

📚Happy Pub Day Priscilla Gilman!!!📚

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘'𝙨 𝘿𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙗𝙮 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝙂𝙞𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙣

𝙋𝙪𝙗 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙚: 𝙏𝙊𝘿𝘼𝙔 2/7/22

Well, quite honestly, this will quite likely be my most intimidating review: a review for a critic's memoir, who is also the daughter of a famous critic, herself. I will do my best to "𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 - 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 - [𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒂𝒏] 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘𝒔."

This tender tribute to her Daddy would be a salve to any father's ears. It is a daunting and delicate task for a daughter from a divorced family to write a memoir about one parent held so dear, without aggrieving the other parent. But Priscilla Gilman did so with such sensitivity, that the reader comes away with a sense of understanding and affection for both parents, while forming a deep affection for her father.

I'll admit, memoirs are not my favorite genre, simply because I struggle with the voyeuristic element of these books and I certainly don't look forward to reviewing such personal work. However, Ms. Gilman writes with such honesty and authenticity, that I couldn't help but be drawn into her and her father's story. I was completely immersed in the beatnik scene in New York, having just recently visited the city for the first time myself.

This particular quote rings very true for me as a fellow Daddy's girl:

"𝑴𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎."

Many thanks to W.W. Norton & Company for sharing this uniquely appealing memoir!

Read 2/7/23