So this is the other book that I read by a woman named Ariel Leve in the past week. This one I actually downloaded as an audio book, and enjoyed it that way primarily because Martha Plimpton read it aloud and I just love Martha Plimpton. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that it was not Martha Plimpton’s autobiography that I was reading. “I hate you. I love you. You’re a moron. I never said that. You’re the most important person in the world […]
Mommy Dearest
If you like Augusten Burroughs, his memoir Running With Scissors in particular, then you will be equal parts mesmerized and horrified by Ariel Leve’s memoir An Abbreviated Life. Leve’s mother was also an unstable poet and while her father was in her life he was literally across the world from her in a time before Skype or even email. Leve’s mother, the poet Sandra Hochman, was unstable on her best days and abusive on her worst. Her mother craved her daughter’s love and affection, something a young […]