Saw the many raves Amy Boesky is getting for her memoir and had to grab it. My mistake was reading the first page at 11:30 PM, because I did not want to stop. She's an amazing writer, and I plan to drag her over here to answer 3Qs as soon as I can pry her away from her 17th century British lit students at Boston College.
Meanwhile, from the flap:
At thirty-two, Amy Boesky thought she had it all figured out: a wonderful new man in her life, a great job, and the (nearly) perfect home. For once, she was almost able to shake the terrible fear that had gripped her for as long as she could remember. Women in her family had always died young-from cancer-and she and her sisters had grown up in time's shadow. It colored every choice they made and was beginning to come to a head now that each of them approached thirty-five-the deadline their doctors prescribed for having preventive surgery with the hope they could thwart their family's medical curse. But Amy didn't want to dwell on that now. She wanted to plan for a new baby, live her life. And with the appreciation for life's smallest pleasures, she did just that. In What We Have, Amy shares a deeply transformative year in her family's life and invites readers to join in their joy, laughter, and grief. In a true story as compelling as the best in women's fiction, written with the sagacity of Joan Didion and the elegance of Amy Bloom, Amy Boesky's journey celebrates the promise of a full life, even in the face of uncertainty.
What We Have scored this glowing pullquote from O Magazine: "With bite and humor (and lighthearted allusions to 17th century metaphysics), Boesky turns a would-be "disease memoir" into a moving account. Perfect planning goes awry, and yet Boesky's loving, unsentimental portrait of these endearing women never does."
I can tell already this is one of those books that will make me a better writer. Check it out.
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