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What's worse, he does his best to turn the hugely driven young woman into a mistrusting, publicity-shy prig, not to mention helping her perfect her already anorexic bent. Maynard is such a skilled writer that it's hard not to take her side as the relationship falters. In fact, even when it's going well, it's not easy to sympathize with a man whose idea of an endearment is, "I couldn't have made up a character of a girl I'd love better than you." But Maynard is as hard on her younger self as she is on the great man. Though she had published intimate essays since her early teens, and long been feted for her "honesty," it has taken the overachiever many years to realize that she had carefully left out her most personal burdens--her father's alcoholism, her mother's nighttime "snuggling" and overwhelming intrusions, the distance between her and her older sister.
Still, At Home in the World is more than a clearing-house for past parental and amorous wrongs. It's a cautionary tale about using language and the pretense of truth to obscure key realities. One of the many curiosities in this discomfiting book? Salinger dreamt that he and Maynard had a child together: "I saw her face clearly. Her name was Bint." The World War II veteran then looks up the word. "What do you know," he says. "It's archaic British, for little girl." Maynard never, even now, has questioned his definition. In fact, it's slang, used especially in World War II, for prostitute. When Salinger forced the 19-year-old to clear her things out of his New Hampshire house, she was still unaware of the word's force. "On the window of Jerry's bedroom, where the glass is dusty, I write, with my finger, the name of the child we had talked about: BINT." --Kerry Fried
"Dazzling." --Jules Siegel, The San Francisco Chronicle
"Even Salinger loyalists may feel compelled to reexamine their idol." --Sara Nelson, Glamour
"Brilliant! At Home in the World reads like a thriller. Maynard has written a poignant, deep memoir. Wonderful, compelling, honest, and right on target." --Jeffrey M. Masson, author of Dogs Never Lie About Love and When Elephants Weep
"At Home in the World reads like a companion piece to Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia, a study of the painful and crosswired contradictions that still plague ambitious girls." --Chris Kraus, The Nation
"Ms. Maynard writes in this volume with a sort of double vision, recreating the girl and young woman she was while at the same time looking at that younger self through the retrospective lens of middle age." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"Absorbing, funny and emotionally blistering. Clear, eloquent and unpretentious, At Home in the World demands reading for the astounding pleasure to be found in a writer who has the courage to show herself inside out." --Jules Siegel, The San Francisco Chronicle
"A wry, painful, engaging book." --Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes
"Maynard's testimony is priceless." --Mary Cantwell, Vogue
"Maynard has an interesting and disturbing story to tell, and she tells it simply but vividly." --Marion Winik, Newsday
"Powerful." --Larissa MacFarquhar, The New York Times Magazine
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Book Description hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_392924013
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear . This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear . Seller Inventory # mon0000292571
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.45. Seller Inventory # G0385600283I3N00
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR002657219
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR003609995
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Used; Very Good. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine. Seller Inventory # CHL2898528
Book Description Hardback. From the New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day comes At Home in the World, an honest and shocking memoir of falling in love--at age 18--with one of America's most reclusive literary figures, J. D. Salinger.In the spring of 1972, Joyce Maynard, a freshman at Yale, published a cover story in The New York Times Magazine about life in the sixties. Among the many letters of praise, offers for writing assignments, and request for interviews was a one-page letter from the famously reclusive author, J.D. Salinger. At Home in the World is the story of a girl who loved and lived with J.D. Salinger, and the woman she became. A crucial turning point in Joyce Maynard's life occurred when her own daughter turned eighteen--the age Maynard was when Salinger first approached her. Breaking a twenty-five year silence, Joyce Maynard addresses her relationship with Salinger for the first time, as well as the complicated, troubled and yet creative nature of her youth and family. She vividly describes the details of the times and her life with the finesse of a natural storyteller. Courageously written by a women determined to allow her life to unfold with authenticity, At Home in the World is a testament to the resiliency of the spirit and the honesty of an unwavering eye. Good condition. Tanning. Seller Inventory # 24252548