Not Becoming My Mother

By Ruth Reichl
(Penguin Press HC, The, Hardcover, 9781594202162, 128pp.)

Publication Date: April 2009

Other Editions of This Title: eBook, Compact Disc - Abridged (April 2009)

Categories: Personal Memoirs, Women

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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the May 2009 Indie Next List
“Ruth Reichl does a wonderful job of showing us the person at the heart of her mother, Miriam Reichl -- a woman who struggled against the constraints of 1950s American culture and who encouraged her daughter to enter a world that she herself so desperately wanted to belong to but could not access.”
-- Lisa Stefanacci, The Book Works, Del Mar, CA


Description

Bestselling author Ruth Reichl examines her mother's life, giving voice to the universal unarticulated truth that we are grateful not to be our mothers

In Not Becoming My Mother, bestselling author Ruth Reichl embarks on a clear-eyed, openhearted investigation of her mother's life, piecing together the journey of a woman she comes to realize she never really knew. Looking to her mother's letters and diaries, Reichl confronts the painful transition her mother made from a hopeful young woman to an increasingly unhappy older one and realizes the tremendous sacrifices she made to make sure her daughter's life would not be as disappointing as her own.

Growing up in Cleveland, Miriam Brudno dreamed of becoming a doctor, like her father. But when she announced this, her parents said, "You're no beauty, and it's too bad you're such an intellectual. But if you become a doctor, no man will ever marry you." Instead, at twenty, Miriam opened a bookstore, a profession everyone agreed was suitably ladylike. She corresponded with authors all over the world, including philosophers such as Bertrand Russell, political figures such as Max Eastman, and novelists such as Christopher Marlowe. It was the happiest time of her life.

Nearly thirty when she finally married, she fulfilled expectations, settled down, left her bookstore behind, and started a family. But conformity came at a tremendous cost. With labor-saving devices to aid in household chores, there was simply not enough to do to fill the days. Miriam-and most of her friends-were smart, educated women who were often bored, miserable, and silently rebellious.

On what would have been Miriam's one hundredth birthday Reichl opens up her mother's diaries for the first time and encounters a whole new woman. This is a person she had never known. In this intimate study Reichl comes to understand the lessons of rebellion, independence, and self-acceptance that her mother-though unable to guide herself-succeeded in teaching her daughter.




About the Author

Ruth Reichl is the editor in chief of Gourmet and the author of three bestselling memoirs, Comfort Me with Apples, Tender at the Bone, and Garlic & Sapphires, and was the editor for the comprehensive Gourmet Cookbook. She has been the restaurant critic of The New York Times and the food editor and restaurant critic at the Los Angeles Times.




NPR
Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009

The editor in chief of Gourmet joins Terry Gross to discuss the surprise announcement that the venerable magazine will publish its final edition in November. Along with recipes and regrets, she'll talk about her new recipe book, Gourmet Today. More at NPR.org

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