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Fierce Attachments

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( 19,159 ratings, 2,326 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Fierce Attachments is a deeply personal memoir exploring the complex relationship between Vivian Gornick and her mother. Set against the backdrop of New York City, Gornick delves into themes of love, conflict, and identity, as she recounts their shared walks and conversations. The narrative offers an insightful examination of familial bonds and self-awareness.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you're interested in exploring the complex emotions and dynamics present in mother-daughter relationships. It's a beautifully written memoir that delves into personal history and identity, offering profound insights into the influence of family ties on one's life. If you enjoy introspective and richly textured narratives, this might be an engaging read for you.

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In this deeply etched and haunting memoir, Vivian Gornick tells the story of her lifelong battle with her mother for independence.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Vivian Gornick's relationship with her mother is difficult. At the age of forty-five, she regularly meets her mother for strolls along the streets of Manhattan. Occasionally they'll hit a pleasant stride—fondly recalling a shared nostalgia or chuckling over a mutual disgust—but most often their walks are tinged with contempt, irritation, and rages so white hot her mother will stop strangers on the street and say, 'This is my daughter. She hates me.'

Weaving between their tempestuous present-day jaunts and the author's memories of the past, Gornick traces her lifelong struggle for independence from her mother—from growing up in a blue-collar tenement house in the Bronx in the 1940s, to newlywed grad student, to established journalist—only to discover the many ways in which she is (and always has been) her mother's daughter.

Fierce Attachments is a searingly honest and intimate memoir about coming of age in a big city, and the perpetual bonds that keep us forever linked to our family.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick has been praised for its insightful exploration of the intricate, often turbulent relationship between a mother and daughter. Critics have highlighted Gornick's sharp, evocative writing style and the compelling narrative that delves deeply into personal and collective female experiences. This memoir is lauded for its candid portrayal of family dynamics and its ability to resonate with readers on an emotional level.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781907970658

Publisher: Daunt Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 September 2015

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Daunt Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 16.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 248g

Pages: 204

About the Author

Vivian Gornick is an American critic, essayist, and memoirist. Her books include Approaching Eye Level, The End of the Novel of Love, and The Situation and the Story. She currently teaches writing at The New School, and for many years wrote for the Village Voice. She lives in New York City.

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    For nearly fifty years, Vivian Gornick’s essays, written with her characteristic clarity of perception and vibrant prose, have explored feminism and writing, literature and culture, politics, and personal experience. Drawing writing from the course of her career, All That is Given illuminates one of the driving themes behind Gornick’s work: that the painful process of understanding one's self is what...
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    In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honourable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and...
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