Author: Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
ISBN: 0385529457
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, and dazzling, the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest and most versatile writers, is the ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Poe wrote lyrical poetry and macabre psychological melodramas; invented the first fictional detective; and produced pioneering works of science fiction and fantasy. His innovative style, images, and themes had a tremendous impact on European romanticism, symbolism, and surrealism, and continue to influence writers today. In this essential addition to his canon of acclaimed biographies, Peter Ackroyd explores Poe’s literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his erratic, dramatic, and sometimes sordid life. Ackroyd chronicles Poe’s difficult childhood, his bumpy academic and military careers, and his complex relationships with women, including his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin. He describes Poe’s much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol with sympathy and insight, showing their connections to Poe’s childhood and the trials, as well as the triumphs, of his adult life. Ackroyd’s thoughtful, perceptive examinations of some of Poe’s most famous works shed new light on these classics and on the troubled and brilliant genius who created them.
Poe
Author: Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
ISBN: 0385529457
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, and dazzling, the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest and most versatile writers, is the ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Poe wrote lyrical poetry and macabre psychological melodramas; invented the first fictional detective; and produced pioneering works of science fiction and fantasy. His innovative style, images, and themes had a tremendous impact on European romanticism, symbolism, and surrealism, and continue to influence writers today. In this essential addition to his canon of acclaimed biographies, Peter Ackroyd explores Poe’s literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his erratic, dramatic, and sometimes sordid life. Ackroyd chronicles Poe’s difficult childhood, his bumpy academic and military careers, and his complex relationships with women, including his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin. He describes Poe’s much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol with sympathy and insight, showing their connections to Poe’s childhood and the trials, as well as the triumphs, of his adult life. Ackroyd’s thoughtful, perceptive examinations of some of Poe’s most famous works shed new light on these classics and on the troubled and brilliant genius who created them.
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
ISBN: 0385529457
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, and dazzling, the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest and most versatile writers, is the ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Poe wrote lyrical poetry and macabre psychological melodramas; invented the first fictional detective; and produced pioneering works of science fiction and fantasy. His innovative style, images, and themes had a tremendous impact on European romanticism, symbolism, and surrealism, and continue to influence writers today. In this essential addition to his canon of acclaimed biographies, Peter Ackroyd explores Poe’s literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his erratic, dramatic, and sometimes sordid life. Ackroyd chronicles Poe’s difficult childhood, his bumpy academic and military careers, and his complex relationships with women, including his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin. He describes Poe’s much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol with sympathy and insight, showing their connections to Poe’s childhood and the trials, as well as the triumphs, of his adult life. Ackroyd’s thoughtful, perceptive examinations of some of Poe’s most famous works shed new light on these classics and on the troubled and brilliant genius who created them.
Frankie - a Life Cut Short
Author: Ronald Evans
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692154441
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
"Frankie - A Life Cut Short" is a historic, nonfiction story of the Life and Unsolved Murder Mystery of Frances S. Bullock, an attractive 40-year-old widow, who was brutally stabbed to death at her home July 26, 1963. The homicide happened in the small mountain town of Franklin, North Carolina and remains unsolved over fifty-five years later. The story reveals much about the victim's family's history including her childhood and adult life that might have led to her untimely death. In addition to the murder it also reveals some domestic violence and abuse that frequently occurred in the lives of some of the persons-of-interest in the case. The book describes in detail recent attempts at solving it as a cold case investigation and re-examination of the evidence of the clothing worn by the victim when murdered.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692154441
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
"Frankie - A Life Cut Short" is a historic, nonfiction story of the Life and Unsolved Murder Mystery of Frances S. Bullock, an attractive 40-year-old widow, who was brutally stabbed to death at her home July 26, 1963. The homicide happened in the small mountain town of Franklin, North Carolina and remains unsolved over fifty-five years later. The story reveals much about the victim's family's history including her childhood and adult life that might have led to her untimely death. In addition to the murder it also reveals some domestic violence and abuse that frequently occurred in the lives of some of the persons-of-interest in the case. The book describes in detail recent attempts at solving it as a cold case investigation and re-examination of the evidence of the clothing worn by the victim when murdered.
Memoirs of a Life Cut Short
Author: Ricardas Gavelis
Publisher: Vagabond Voices
ISBN: 9781908251817
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
Levas Ciparis, the anti-hero of this masterly critique of life in the late Soviet Union, is a man alone and he desperately wants to belong. He is obstructed in this quest by his own innocence and decency, which occasionally cause him to act with absurd inflexibility. In fact, the irresolvable tension between moral probity and necessary compromise is one of the many themes of this novel: "Yes, I truly did believe, being an honest, sufficiently pure and persistent person, that if I took up the work of the Komsomol, I would most certainly be capable of changing and enriching that community." In part, the first-person narration describes the process of being disabused of that delusion. Ciparis is dead and writes letters to his estranged friend Tomas Kelertas, with whom he has something of a love-hate relationship, which became more obsessive after their estrangement. The randomness of life does not always work against Ciparis, as he recounts his experiences from sickly child in a basement flat to his final moments in Leningrad when all options fall away. The system can work in his favour - primarily through a marriage that gains him a father-in-law who is a powerful, intelligent and utterly corrupt politician at the very top of the Soviet regime in Lithuania - but ultimately there is no place for him in that society or perhaps anywhere. Memoirs of a Life Cut Short is full of ideas, doubts and insightful observations on human behaviour borne along on a helter-skelter plot. Book jacket.
Publisher: Vagabond Voices
ISBN: 9781908251817
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
Levas Ciparis, the anti-hero of this masterly critique of life in the late Soviet Union, is a man alone and he desperately wants to belong. He is obstructed in this quest by his own innocence and decency, which occasionally cause him to act with absurd inflexibility. In fact, the irresolvable tension between moral probity and necessary compromise is one of the many themes of this novel: "Yes, I truly did believe, being an honest, sufficiently pure and persistent person, that if I took up the work of the Komsomol, I would most certainly be capable of changing and enriching that community." In part, the first-person narration describes the process of being disabused of that delusion. Ciparis is dead and writes letters to his estranged friend Tomas Kelertas, with whom he has something of a love-hate relationship, which became more obsessive after their estrangement. The randomness of life does not always work against Ciparis, as he recounts his experiences from sickly child in a basement flat to his final moments in Leningrad when all options fall away. The system can work in his favour - primarily through a marriage that gains him a father-in-law who is a powerful, intelligent and utterly corrupt politician at the very top of the Soviet regime in Lithuania - but ultimately there is no place for him in that society or perhaps anywhere. Memoirs of a Life Cut Short is full of ideas, doubts and insightful observations on human behaviour borne along on a helter-skelter plot. Book jacket.
Mozambique’s Samora Machel
Author: Allen F. Isaacman
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0821447203
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 218
Book Description
The precipitous rise and controversial fall of a formidable African leader. Samora Machel (1933–1986), the son of small-town farmers, led his people through a war against their Portuguese colonists and became the first president of the People’s Republic of Mozambique. Machel’s military successes against a colonial regime backed by South Africa, Rhodesia, the United States, and its NATO allies enhanced his reputation as a revolutionary hero to the oppressed people of Southern Africa. In 1986, during the country’s civil war, Machel died in a plane crash under circumstances that remain uncertain. Allen and Barbara Isaacman lived through many of these changes in Mozambique and bring personal recollections together with archival research and interviews with others who knew Machel or participated in events of the revolutionary or post-revolutionary years.
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0821447203
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 218
Book Description
The precipitous rise and controversial fall of a formidable African leader. Samora Machel (1933–1986), the son of small-town farmers, led his people through a war against their Portuguese colonists and became the first president of the People’s Republic of Mozambique. Machel’s military successes against a colonial regime backed by South Africa, Rhodesia, the United States, and its NATO allies enhanced his reputation as a revolutionary hero to the oppressed people of Southern Africa. In 1986, during the country’s civil war, Machel died in a plane crash under circumstances that remain uncertain. Allen and Barbara Isaacman lived through many of these changes in Mozambique and bring personal recollections together with archival research and interviews with others who knew Machel or participated in events of the revolutionary or post-revolutionary years.
A Beard Cut Short
Author: Todd Neff
Publisher: Earthview Media
ISBN: 0982958374
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
John Rubadeau’s long, white beard; homeless-guy wardrobe; and penchant for dirty jokes belied his lofty status as one of the most popular professors ever at the University of Michigan. He taught writing in Ann Arbor for more than 30 years. The cover of his course pack read: “Grammar: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit.” "In A Beard Cut Short: The life and lessons of a legendary professor clipped by a slip of #MeToo," a former student tells the crazy, touching, inspiring, and often funny life story of an eccentric, influential professor. John caught dogs in Wisconsin, sold insurance in Indiana, raised pigs in Tennessee, counseled soldiers in Germany, and had his apartment bugged by the Romanian secret police. He lost a young wife and two baby boys. He was born poor and stayed that way most of his life. But, on his own terms, he met with extraordinary success. "A Beard Cut Short" also shares John’s key lessons on writing, teaching, and life – lessons that have inspired generations of students to watch out for comma splices and follow their dreams. The story is capped by an investigation of an unjust firing that’s a case study in how the misappropriation of #MeToo, a vital social movement, can hurt both the unfairly accused and the movement itself. John Rubadeau's (in)famous Grammar Review is included as a special bonus. Reviews: Rubadeau was an outspoken man of a previous era who taught so long the culture changed around him. As a result, the book is a captivating document on how the language of teaching (and language itself) has changed over the decades, and the ways in which a certain type of larger-than-life educator, once common, has mostly ceased to exist. — Kirkus Former Camera science writer and Colorado Book Award winner (“From Jars to the Stars”) Todd Neff examines the life of his mentor, former University of Michigan Professor John Rubadeau, before plunging in to investigate the unjust #MeToo claims that led to his firing in “A Beard Cut Short: The Life and Lessons of a Legendary Professor Clipped by a Slip of #MeToo.” Rubadeau was an old-school writing teacher who fearlessly created room for students to discuss and debate human differences in the classroom, refusing to coddle or protect them, an effort doomed to fail. “I am here to teach you about the intricacies and nuances of the English language not to coddle you or to support your conviction that you are the next Shakespeare,” Rubadeau informed his students. “If you will be devastated because you receive less than an A in this course, drop this class the first day.” Using his investigative skills to obtain confidential documents, Neff concludes that his mentor’s firing “came about through a poisonous brew of stubbornness, incompetence, misplaced zealotry, hypersensitivity, blinkered perspective, bad faith, personal friction, professional jealousy, and shoddy investigative work — all of which led to over-reaction and injustice.” — The Boulder Daily Camera
Publisher: Earthview Media
ISBN: 0982958374
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
John Rubadeau’s long, white beard; homeless-guy wardrobe; and penchant for dirty jokes belied his lofty status as one of the most popular professors ever at the University of Michigan. He taught writing in Ann Arbor for more than 30 years. The cover of his course pack read: “Grammar: the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit.” "In A Beard Cut Short: The life and lessons of a legendary professor clipped by a slip of #MeToo," a former student tells the crazy, touching, inspiring, and often funny life story of an eccentric, influential professor. John caught dogs in Wisconsin, sold insurance in Indiana, raised pigs in Tennessee, counseled soldiers in Germany, and had his apartment bugged by the Romanian secret police. He lost a young wife and two baby boys. He was born poor and stayed that way most of his life. But, on his own terms, he met with extraordinary success. "A Beard Cut Short" also shares John’s key lessons on writing, teaching, and life – lessons that have inspired generations of students to watch out for comma splices and follow their dreams. The story is capped by an investigation of an unjust firing that’s a case study in how the misappropriation of #MeToo, a vital social movement, can hurt both the unfairly accused and the movement itself. John Rubadeau's (in)famous Grammar Review is included as a special bonus. Reviews: Rubadeau was an outspoken man of a previous era who taught so long the culture changed around him. As a result, the book is a captivating document on how the language of teaching (and language itself) has changed over the decades, and the ways in which a certain type of larger-than-life educator, once common, has mostly ceased to exist. — Kirkus Former Camera science writer and Colorado Book Award winner (“From Jars to the Stars”) Todd Neff examines the life of his mentor, former University of Michigan Professor John Rubadeau, before plunging in to investigate the unjust #MeToo claims that led to his firing in “A Beard Cut Short: The Life and Lessons of a Legendary Professor Clipped by a Slip of #MeToo.” Rubadeau was an old-school writing teacher who fearlessly created room for students to discuss and debate human differences in the classroom, refusing to coddle or protect them, an effort doomed to fail. “I am here to teach you about the intricacies and nuances of the English language not to coddle you or to support your conviction that you are the next Shakespeare,” Rubadeau informed his students. “If you will be devastated because you receive less than an A in this course, drop this class the first day.” Using his investigative skills to obtain confidential documents, Neff concludes that his mentor’s firing “came about through a poisonous brew of stubbornness, incompetence, misplaced zealotry, hypersensitivity, blinkered perspective, bad faith, personal friction, professional jealousy, and shoddy investigative work — all of which led to over-reaction and injustice.” — The Boulder Daily Camera
A Life Cut Short
Author: Magdalena Vanderkooy
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1038308674
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 153
Book Description
“. . . a compelling tale of a very large family coming from the Netherlands to Canada. It is also a heartbreaking tale of a young woman's struggle with her health and the impact her illness has on her family. It's hard to put down and Vanderkooy is to be congratulated on such a powerful book.” –Ken Setterington, A Guide to Canadian Children’s Books (with Deirdre Baker) and Branded by the Pink Triangle ". . . it’s the inward journey of adolescent Trudy—imprisoned in her sick bed while the world moves on without her—that will grip you the hardest. The interior dialogue is raw, tender and beautiful." —Doug O'Neill, writer, nature guide book author When Truus immigrates to Canada from the Netherlands as the oldest girl among ten siblings, she is just fifteen years old. From the start, she bears outsize responsibility for helping her devout Calvinist family navigate early struggles, even as the family continues to grow. Three years later she is beginning to find her place in the new land when she contracts an incurable illness. What follows is a five-year battle with illness and hospitalizations, along with emotional turmoil as she grapples with the social, psychological and spiritual implications of her condition. This semi-biographical novel is based on the real-life experiences of the author’s oldest sister.
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1038308674
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 153
Book Description
“. . . a compelling tale of a very large family coming from the Netherlands to Canada. It is also a heartbreaking tale of a young woman's struggle with her health and the impact her illness has on her family. It's hard to put down and Vanderkooy is to be congratulated on such a powerful book.” –Ken Setterington, A Guide to Canadian Children’s Books (with Deirdre Baker) and Branded by the Pink Triangle ". . . it’s the inward journey of adolescent Trudy—imprisoned in her sick bed while the world moves on without her—that will grip you the hardest. The interior dialogue is raw, tender and beautiful." —Doug O'Neill, writer, nature guide book author When Truus immigrates to Canada from the Netherlands as the oldest girl among ten siblings, she is just fifteen years old. From the start, she bears outsize responsibility for helping her devout Calvinist family navigate early struggles, even as the family continues to grow. Three years later she is beginning to find her place in the new land when she contracts an incurable illness. What follows is a five-year battle with illness and hospitalizations, along with emotional turmoil as she grapples with the social, psychological and spiritual implications of her condition. This semi-biographical novel is based on the real-life experiences of the author’s oldest sister.
Long Stories Cut Short
Author: Frederick Luis Aldama
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816533970
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 209
Book Description
Frederick Luis Aldama and graphic artists from Mapache Studios give shape to ugly truths in the most honest way, creating new perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about life in the borderlands of the Américas. Each bilingual prose-art fictional snapshot offers an unsentimentally complex glimpse into what it means to exist at the margins of society today.
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816533970
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 209
Book Description
Frederick Luis Aldama and graphic artists from Mapache Studios give shape to ugly truths in the most honest way, creating new perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about life in the borderlands of the Américas. Each bilingual prose-art fictional snapshot offers an unsentimentally complex glimpse into what it means to exist at the margins of society today.
Four Friends
Author: William D. Cohan
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250070538
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
A powerful portrait of the lives of four boarding school graduates who died too young, John F. Kennedy, Jr. among them, by their fellow Andover classmate, New York Times bestselling author William D. Cohan. In his masterful pieces for Vanity Fair and in his bestselling books, William D. Cohan has proven to be one of the most meticulous and intrepid journalists covering the world of Wall Street and high finance. In his utterly original new book, Four Friends, he brings all of his brilliant reportorial skills to a subject much closer to home: four friends of his who died young. All four attended Andover, the most elite of American boarding schools, before spinning out into very different orbits. Indelibly, using copious interviews from wives, girlfriends, colleagues, and friends, Cohan brings these men to life on the page. Jack Berman, the child of impoverished Holocaust survivors, uses his unlikely Andover pedigree to achieve the American dream, only to be cut down in an unimaginable act of violence. Will Daniel, Harry Truman’s grandson and the son of the managing editor of The New York Times, does everything possible to escape the burdens of a family legacy he’s ultimately trapped by. Harry Bull builds the life of a careful, successful Chicago lawyer and heir to his family’s fortune...before taking an inexplicable and devastating risk on a beautiful summer day. And the life and death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.—a story we think we know—is told here with surprising new details that cast it in an entirely different light. Four Friends is an immersive, wide-ranging, tragic, and ultimately inspiring account of promising lives cut short, written with compassion, honesty, and insight. It not only captures the fragility of life but also its poignant, magisterial, and pivotal moments.
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250070538
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
A powerful portrait of the lives of four boarding school graduates who died too young, John F. Kennedy, Jr. among them, by their fellow Andover classmate, New York Times bestselling author William D. Cohan. In his masterful pieces for Vanity Fair and in his bestselling books, William D. Cohan has proven to be one of the most meticulous and intrepid journalists covering the world of Wall Street and high finance. In his utterly original new book, Four Friends, he brings all of his brilliant reportorial skills to a subject much closer to home: four friends of his who died young. All four attended Andover, the most elite of American boarding schools, before spinning out into very different orbits. Indelibly, using copious interviews from wives, girlfriends, colleagues, and friends, Cohan brings these men to life on the page. Jack Berman, the child of impoverished Holocaust survivors, uses his unlikely Andover pedigree to achieve the American dream, only to be cut down in an unimaginable act of violence. Will Daniel, Harry Truman’s grandson and the son of the managing editor of The New York Times, does everything possible to escape the burdens of a family legacy he’s ultimately trapped by. Harry Bull builds the life of a careful, successful Chicago lawyer and heir to his family’s fortune...before taking an inexplicable and devastating risk on a beautiful summer day. And the life and death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.—a story we think we know—is told here with surprising new details that cast it in an entirely different light. Four Friends is an immersive, wide-ranging, tragic, and ultimately inspiring account of promising lives cut short, written with compassion, honesty, and insight. It not only captures the fragility of life but also its poignant, magisterial, and pivotal moments.
Cut Short
Author: Ciaran Thapar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780241988701
Category : Knife fighting
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
'Lays down a transformative path to peace' David Lammy MP 'A devastating and beautifully-drawn tribute to the young boys that the media turns into statistics of knife crime' Candice Carty-Williams 'I came away from this book enraged, enlightened and with a sense of urgency to do something' Annie Mac _________________________ Demetri wants to study criminology at university to understand why people around him carry knives. Jhemar is determined to advocate for his community following the murder of a loved one. Carl's exclusion leaves him vulnerable to the sinister school-to-prison pipeline, but he is resolute to defy expectations. Tony, the tireless manager of a community centre, is fighting not only for the lives of local young people, but to keep the centre's doors open. Drawing on the latest research and interviews with experts, this refreshingly nuanced and beautifully written book interweaves the stories of a cast of characters at the sharp end of the UK's serious youth violence epidemic, with chapters on subjects such as social media, gentrification and criminal justice. Showing how we are all connected to this tragedy, Cut Short is a gripping, urgent, sympathetic and often painful portrait of a society fracturing along lines of race, class and postcode. It is a blueprint for positive change, and a book we desperately need. _________________________ 'Compelling' The Sunday Times; 'Assured' Observer; 'Brilliantly written' Nikesh Shukla 'Makes you stop and think' Nick Robinson, BBC R4's Today programme 'This book strongly gives a voice to the voiceless . . . essential reading' Kenny Allstar 'Angry, impassioned, informed, accurate - the story behind the cutting short of public health and young lives' Danny Dorling 'Ciaran's work is informed by lived experience at the frontline of social change. It takes a sensitive and respectful look at the truths less often told' George the Poet
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780241988701
Category : Knife fighting
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
'Lays down a transformative path to peace' David Lammy MP 'A devastating and beautifully-drawn tribute to the young boys that the media turns into statistics of knife crime' Candice Carty-Williams 'I came away from this book enraged, enlightened and with a sense of urgency to do something' Annie Mac _________________________ Demetri wants to study criminology at university to understand why people around him carry knives. Jhemar is determined to advocate for his community following the murder of a loved one. Carl's exclusion leaves him vulnerable to the sinister school-to-prison pipeline, but he is resolute to defy expectations. Tony, the tireless manager of a community centre, is fighting not only for the lives of local young people, but to keep the centre's doors open. Drawing on the latest research and interviews with experts, this refreshingly nuanced and beautifully written book interweaves the stories of a cast of characters at the sharp end of the UK's serious youth violence epidemic, with chapters on subjects such as social media, gentrification and criminal justice. Showing how we are all connected to this tragedy, Cut Short is a gripping, urgent, sympathetic and often painful portrait of a society fracturing along lines of race, class and postcode. It is a blueprint for positive change, and a book we desperately need. _________________________ 'Compelling' The Sunday Times; 'Assured' Observer; 'Brilliantly written' Nikesh Shukla 'Makes you stop and think' Nick Robinson, BBC R4's Today programme 'This book strongly gives a voice to the voiceless . . . essential reading' Kenny Allstar 'Angry, impassioned, informed, accurate - the story behind the cutting short of public health and young lives' Danny Dorling 'Ciaran's work is informed by lived experience at the frontline of social change. It takes a sensitive and respectful look at the truths less often told' George the Poet
How to Murder Your Life
Author: Cat Marnell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476752419
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author and former beauty editor Cat Marnell, a “vivid, maddening, heartbreaking, very funny, chaotic” (The New York Times) memoir of prescription drug addiction and self-sabotage, set in the glamorous world of fashion magazines and downtown nightclubs. At twenty-six, Cat Marnell was an associate beauty editor at Lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in America—and that’s all most people knew about her. But she hid a secret life. She was a prescription drug addict. She was also a “doctor shopper” who manipulated Upper East Side psychiatrists for pills, pills, and more pills; a lonely bulimic who spent hundreds of dollars a week on binge foods; a promiscuous party girl who danced barefoot on banquets; a weepy and hallucination-prone insomniac who would take anything—anything—to sleep. This is a tale of self-loathing, self-sabotage, and yes, self-tanner. It begins at a posh New England prep school—and with a prescription for the Attention Deficit Disorder medication Ritalin. It continues to New York, where we follow Marnell’s amphetamine-fueled rise from intern to editor through the beauty departments of NYLON, Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Lucky. We see her fight between ambition and addiction and how, inevitably, her disease threatens everything she worked so hard to achieve. From the Condé Nast building to seedy nightclubs, from doctors’ offices and mental hospitals, Marnell “treads a knife edge between glamorizing her own despair and rendering it with savage honesty.…with the skill of a pulp novelist” (The New York Times Book Review) what it is like to live in the wild, chaotic, often sinister world of a young female addict who can’t say no. Combining “all the intoxicating intrigue of a thriller and yet all the sobering pathos of a gifted writer’s true-life journey to recover her former health, happiness, ambitions, and identity” (Harper’s Bazaar), How to Murder Your Life is mesmerizing, revelatory, and necessary.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476752419
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author and former beauty editor Cat Marnell, a “vivid, maddening, heartbreaking, very funny, chaotic” (The New York Times) memoir of prescription drug addiction and self-sabotage, set in the glamorous world of fashion magazines and downtown nightclubs. At twenty-six, Cat Marnell was an associate beauty editor at Lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in America—and that’s all most people knew about her. But she hid a secret life. She was a prescription drug addict. She was also a “doctor shopper” who manipulated Upper East Side psychiatrists for pills, pills, and more pills; a lonely bulimic who spent hundreds of dollars a week on binge foods; a promiscuous party girl who danced barefoot on banquets; a weepy and hallucination-prone insomniac who would take anything—anything—to sleep. This is a tale of self-loathing, self-sabotage, and yes, self-tanner. It begins at a posh New England prep school—and with a prescription for the Attention Deficit Disorder medication Ritalin. It continues to New York, where we follow Marnell’s amphetamine-fueled rise from intern to editor through the beauty departments of NYLON, Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Lucky. We see her fight between ambition and addiction and how, inevitably, her disease threatens everything she worked so hard to achieve. From the Condé Nast building to seedy nightclubs, from doctors’ offices and mental hospitals, Marnell “treads a knife edge between glamorizing her own despair and rendering it with savage honesty.…with the skill of a pulp novelist” (The New York Times Book Review) what it is like to live in the wild, chaotic, often sinister world of a young female addict who can’t say no. Combining “all the intoxicating intrigue of a thriller and yet all the sobering pathos of a gifted writer’s true-life journey to recover her former health, happiness, ambitions, and identity” (Harper’s Bazaar), How to Murder Your Life is mesmerizing, revelatory, and necessary.