The End of Romance: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and the Mystery of the Violin

Barzman's latest takes place during 10 days in Cremona and Venice, Italy, in 1973-10 days she happened to leave out of her previous memoir, The Red and the Blacklist. Now in her 80s, Barzman isn't afraid to tell it like it is: ""I'm not going to let shame or anything else stop me. In Cremona in 1973, everything came together to free me of my romantic view of love, work, politics-of life itself."" In many ways, the book is a juicy mystery: What are the secret origins of violin-making in Cremona? The mystery, or the ""plot"" if this were a novel, is cleverly used to propel Barzman's self-discovery, the real stuff of memoir. Her journey involves confronting anti-Semitism, dealing with her sometimes-ambivalent feelings for her blacklisted screenwriter husband and committing adultery with a man 20 years her junior. Barzman must also come to terms with the real nature of her love-hate relationship with her writer cousin, Henry Myers. It's a bumpy ride with moments of over-the-top melodrama, but Barzman's calculated distance and perspective make for an engrossing read.