By Jeannette Walls
CRITIC'S CHOICE
Many writers mine their past for material, but until this vivid, intense memoir, New York City journalist Jeannette Walls had kept the truth about her family a secret. The second of four children, Walls was raised in a laissez-faire fashion in trailer parks and tumbledown houses from Arizona to West Virginia, waiting for her brilliant, alcoholic father to raise enough money to build a Glass Castle of a home. Her mother, an artist and self-described "excitement addict," was selfish and neglectful; Jeannette and her siblings were left to fend for themselves, stealing food from neighbors or other kids' lunch boxes. As Jeannette grew older, the situation got worse: When she was 13, her father used her as sexual bait to distract a man he was hustling at pool. Still, this is no mere woe-is-me tale. Walls never turns her parents into monsters and instead emphasizes their humanity, recalling, for instance, a time when, lacking money for Christmas presents, her father takes the children outside and tells them to choose a favorite among the stars. Or when the kids happen upon a 2-carat diamond ring and plead with their mother to sell it. Instead she keeps it, saying it'll "improve [her] self-esteem." Though there are many memoirs that describe hardscrabble childhoods, Walls has joined the company of writers such as Mary Karr and Frank McCourt who have been able to transform their sad memories into fine art.
MEMOIR
By Marc Ian Barasch
In Field Notes, Barasch, a former editor of the New Age Journal, uses humor and fine reporting to ask: What is compassion? Instead of casting himself as a guru, Barasch portrays himself as a selfish everyman, albeit one striving to become more mindful. In one chapter he describes living on the streets of Denver for a week in order to empathize with the homeless. By week's end he taps into a sort of economy of compassion, finding that "we owe a debt to those who suffer, because they draw forth tenderness in us." Barasch notes that in most religions compassion is a core value (Do unto others...), but few of us practice it. How can a performance of Les Misérables elicit tears, yet departing theatergoers will spurn a panhandler who is "living the updated version" of the play's urchins? Rather than a whifty compendium of spiritual musings, Notes builds upon relevant observations from surprising sources including Audrey Hepburn, who once offered this beauty tip: "For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people."
NONFICTION
By Meg Wolitzer
The "eeww" moment—the realization that your parents have had sex, or worse, that they might not have stopped—is a childhood milestone. For the four Mellow kids in Wolitzer's latest novel, The Position, that moment arrives in 1975 when they discover Pleasuring, a Joy of Sex-type manual for which their parents (Roz and ex-analyst Paul) had served as models. From then on the intimate volume redefines life for the Mellows, as Wolitzer engagingly sketches the family members' attempts at distancing themselves from the book and finding closeness with others. Roz eventually leaves Paul; over time, the kids lose themselves in drugs, "soulless" jobs and parenthood. While most of our eewws aren't as public or polarizing as the Mellows' are, the "aha's" the family encounters are familiar. As this clan learns, the most satisfying position is a permanent-ink place in someone's heart.
NOVELMichael Thompson Fashion photographer Michael Thompson talks about his new book, Images, and about the fine art of shooting stars.
HOW DO YOU GET CELEBS TO DROP THEIR GUARD? A lot of stars imagine that getting their picture taken is like going to the dentist. I try to make it fun. Some people aren't chatty, so I read them and try to find out what will make them comfortable.
WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION? Sometimes old photographs, sometimes movies, sometimes paintings.
SO YOU CAST JULIANNE MOORE AS VERMEER'S MILKMAID? I shot that for Interview [above right]. Her face is so inspiring because it's a modern but old-world face—that pale skin. She was wearing a maid's outfit, and as she was pouring the milk, she made light of it by singing some funny tune.
AND STING WITH ANTLERS? He loves to be funny on the set. We were shooting for GQ [below right] at this house and there was a pair of antlers on the table . He grabbed them and stuck them on his head. I said, "Let's do that picture." It was a whimscal way of seizing the moment.
- Contributors:
- Edward Nawotka,
- Allison Adato,
- Moira Bailey,
- Liza Hamm.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
