From Publishers Weekly
Trillin (
A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme), a staff writer with the
New Yorker since 1963, has often written about the members of his family, notably his wife, Alice, whom he married in 1965. A graduate of Wellesley and Yale, she was a writer and educator who survived a 1976 battle with lung cancer. In 1981, she founded a TV production company, Learning Designs, producing PBS's
Behind the Scenes to teach children creative thinking; her book
Dear Bruno (1996) was intended to reassure children who had cancer. A weakened heart due to radiation treatments led to her death on September 11, 2001, at age 63. Avoiding expressions of grief, Trillin unveils a straightforward, honest portrait of their marriage and family life in this slim volume, opening with the suggestion that he had previously mischaracterized Alice when he wrote her into "stories that were essentially sitcoms." Looking back on their first encounter, he then focuses on her humor, her beauty, her "child's sense of wonderment," her relationship with her daughters and her concern for others. Trillin's 12-page "Alice, Off the Page" was published earlier this year in the
New Yorker, and his expansion of his original essay into this touching tribute is certain to stir emotions.
(Jan. 2) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Audiofile
ABOUT ALICE is Calvin Trillin's homage to his late wife, Alice. Read by the author with tenderness and affection, the memoir is a celebration of the life the Trillins shared. Thankfully, Trillin reads the book because it would be difficult to conceive of anyone else's voice containing a more genuine mix of love and longing. Trillin clearly worshiped his wife, and his devotion echoes in every syllable of every word. As a reader and critic of Trillin's works, Alice offered him affirmation. In ABOUT ALICE, Trillin now seems to want spiritual rather than earthly approval for his work. Although Alice may be gone, Trillin's short but thoroughly satisfying tribute provides us with a glimpse of this charming and intelligent woman. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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