How I Grew
Mary McCarthy. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $16.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-15-142193-0
In this autobiographical account of McCarthy's intellectual and emotional development, we meet her as a lonely, frightened 13-year-old and leave her as a sophisticated Vassar graduate, foolishly married at age 21 to a man she doesn't love. This reminiscence will appeal to admirers of her Memories of a Catholic Girlhood. Such universal experiences as an adolescent girl's painful awakening to sex, her first love affair, her discovery of books and ideas involve the reader because of the author's near-photographic memory, her relentless candor and graceful style. Brought up by grandparents, McCarthy, ""a bright wild girl from Seattle,'' at 17 was put off by Vassar's ``cleverness,'' but she notes that the school left its stamp on her, making her ``brittle, smart and a little empty.'' Photos not seen by PW. (April 27)
Details
Reviewed on: 03/31/1987
Genre: Nonfiction
Hardcover - 315 pages - 978-0-7658-0775-5
Hardcover - 450 pages - 978-0-89621-116-2
Open Ebook - 302 pages - 978-1-4804-4111-8
Open Ebook - 302 pages - 978-1-4804-4114-9
Open Ebook - 302 pages - 978-1-4804-4112-5
Open Ebook - 302 pages - 978-1-4804-4113-2
Paperback - 302 pages - 978-1-4804-4115-6
Paperback - 278 pages - 978-0-15-602788-5
Paperback - 304 pages - 978-0-15-642185-0