July 2010: Preview of Four Memoirs -
We are previewing four memoirs this month (including the previously reviewed Open by Andre Agassi. The others are: Infidel, Angela's Ashes, and Wild Swans.
Open
This is a
memoir by champion tennis player Andre Agassi. I won’t say too much about it
now because I’m going to be doing a book report on it later this year. At the
center of the book are two things: Agassi’s hatred of tennis (which no one
believes) and his great passion for his family and friends. The selection I’ve
chosen involves a man named Gil, who was Andre’s trainer and close friend.
Infidel
This bestselling autobiography is by a Somali Muslim woman named Ayaan Hirsi Ali. In the book, she tells how she rejected her Muslim faith and traditions and fled to Holland, where she eventually became a member of parliament. In the passage I’ve chosen, she is writing about her decision to reject the man her father has chosen to be her husband.
Please leave comments below --
Wild Swans
This is an
intergenerational memoir by the Chinese writer Jung Chang. In the book, she
details how three generations of women – herself, her mother, and her
grandmother – have reacted to the profound changes that have rocked China
during the past 100 years. In the passage I’ve chosen, she talks about how both
her mother and grandmother reacted to Mao Tse Tung’s policies in the mid-20th
century.
Angela’s
Ashes
This is a
searing memoir by the Irish American writer Frank McCourt. In it, he tells of
his impoverished childhood growing up in Ireland. At the center of the family’s
poverty is McCourt’s ne’er do well father. Although a loving man, his father
was alcoholic and extremely irresponsible. In the passage I’ve chosen, McCourt
tells about how his father gets and then quickly loses a job at a cement
factory near his hometown of Limerick.
