What a life! I was enthralled, following the details of Fox’s life, as she was moved about from person to person, city to city, even living in Cuba for a year and a half. Fox is 91 years old, and the book takes place up to the point that she is 21 years old, except for a short section at the end, so the book is not an exhaustive autobiography–probably why it’s called a memoir. Nevertheless, it didn’t feel like a memoir. There wasn’t a strong MDQ driving the book. Occasionally, it is even anecdotal. That said, I was fascinated, both by the events and by her exquisite sentences.

Her mother abandoned her at birth; she was a cruel woman who seemed to blame infant (and child) daughter for the loss of her “spring.” Her father and mother were married, and the father complied with the mother’s wishes. He also seemed to be quite cruel and a severe alcoholic, although as a child Fox was obsessed with him. One of the first times Fox was with her parents, they asked her to order from room service. When the meal came, she realized she had forgotten to order milk and mentioned it. Her father took the tray of food and threw it out the window.

Many people are familiar with some basics of Fox’s life. For instance, when she was 21 she gave birth to a baby girl. Linda was the result of a one-night stand, although Fox had already been married to someone else. Fox despaired of being able to take care of her daughter and gave her up for adoption–only to almost immediately change her mind. She was told it was too late to change her mind (it wasn’t). Eventually, Fox was reunited with adult Linda and they have a good relationship. Linda is the mother of three daughters. Two of the granddaughters Fox has a great relationship with. The other granddaughter through Linda is Courtney Love, who Paula does not think is a good person. It does make me wonder if Love inherited a gene passed on to Linda from Fox from her own horrible mother.

Although I know that an unknown writer can’t publish a memoir that relies on chronology and anecdote in the way that Fox’s can, I did learn many things from her book. Just soaking up her elegant phrasing makes me aspire to write better. Then I also saw that she easily moved forward in time when she wanted to “tie up” an anecdote. With her graceful style, I really had to pay attention to even notice such a move. ( )

so many people, so many locations, so many names--somewhat hard to follow. some sections move very slow, others zoom by. ( )

I love Paula Fox's fiction but was surprised at how much I liked her memoir. The style is plain and it is far more restrained than say Desperate Characters, but it has a kind of cumulative power. The box made me think that there are worst things than being an orphan. You can have parents who are so neglectful and irresponsible that you get none of the nurture and all of the uncertainty. At birth Fox is placed in a foundling home, then rescued at the insistence of her Cuban Grandmother by a Preist , Mr. Ellwood who provides her with a childhood of stability. The scene is a bit gothic. Old house overlooking the Hudson but Ellwood is kindly and things are ok until Mom and Dad reappear and make a pathetic attempt to raise Fox. They can't be bothered providing stability and will sweep her off to some place then get bored with her and deposit her with someone they met. To give you an idea of the depravity at one point she attends a boarding school in Montreal. The school year gets out in late May early June but her father doesn't pick her up until July. The memoir is structured impressionistically sometimes allowing short bursts of seemingly random description all clustered around location. The young Paula has no continuity and everything is uncertain. Where will she be next? Are they returning? You can see how it informs her as a writer. She is dependent upon figuring out who she is dealing with and so develops an ability to observe and assess people. Also her sense of the physical location is keen and sharply developed as location not activity marks the way she looks at time. She never complains and yet the portrait is heartbreaking. ( )

Un fiume di memoria in questo libro in cui la Fox cerca di fissare le tappe disordinate della propria esistenza. La latitanza dei genitori, i continui spostamenti, le figure che hanno compensato il naturale bisogno affettivo, gli errori commessi su cui l'autrice non costruisce processi sommari: molto più di un romanzo autobiografico, grazie soprattutto alla straordinaria abilità nel ritrarre un'epoca e i fermenti artistici che l'hanno caratterizzata. Nelle pagine ritroviamo nomi noti al cinema, al teatro, alla letteratura, alla musica, tanto che in diversi tratti abbiamo la certezza di trovarci dinanzi ad un romanzo corale. ( )

Original brilliance ( )