Composing a Life

Mary Catherine Bateson. Plume Books, $12.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-452-26505-9

Bateson profiles herself and four other highly productive women, concluding that the obstacles life presents can be sources of wisdom and personal growth. ``While the book's premise is intriguing, the telling is self-indulgent and only sporadically illuminates the author's themes,'' PW remarked. (Oct.)

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