The Subject of Our Lives: Thirteen San Francisco Women Tell Their Stories - Softcover

9781564742704: The Subject of Our Lives: Thirteen San Francisco Women Tell Their Stories

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564742709 ISBN 13: 9781564742704

Publisher: Fithian Pr, 1999

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Essays divided into various stages and events of a woman's life.

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From the Publisher:

Memories and Storytelling Come Together The stories in The Subject of Our Lives--Thirteen San Francisco Women Tell Their Stories cover a wide spectrum of life experience and memory, and pay tribute to everyday pleasures as well as the milestones and passages we all must face. Written in a writing group to which all contributors belong, these thirty-four stories communicate the pleasures, anxieties, loves, and pains of living in the world--within and beyond the city limits of San Francisco. The Subject of Our Lives is divided into chapters--"Childhood"; "Women"; "Grandchildren"; "A Far Country"; "California Landmarks"; "Getting On"; and "Coda." Thus the organization of the book reflects life experiences, from childhood through adulthood and then into aging.

In "Childhood," Joann Reinhart remembers growing up in a strictly Republican household, one that demanded complete commitment and loyalty--until the 1936 election, when her sister decided to root for the Democratic candidate. Rosemary Patton recalls the dawning recognition of her place as a privileged child. The special loneliness of an only child is poignantly evoked by Betty Whitridge.

The chapter titled "Women" delves into the multifaceted experience of being a woman. Babs Waugh explores her decision to drop out of medical school when she was pregnant with her first child; Susan Renfrew wonders whether or not she has regrets; Margaret Gault confides how the women in her family--she, her mom, and her sister--devised a term for the unlucky woman with no other women around to help her look attractive.

Jean-Louise N. Thacher, Mary Thacher, Betty Whitridge, and Kathryn McNeil write about travel and adventure in the chapter "A Far Country." Ranging from hilarious to frightening, these reminiscences present the good and the bad of traveling: visiting Nairobi and commuting three blocks in a cab that has to be push started; visiting Bombay with a college daughter on her year abroad, and the daughter's glee when she sees the luxurious hotel tub. The Subject of Our Lives entertains, jogs memories, and makes us think as these thirteen San Francisco women tell the stories, reminiscences, confessions, and learned wisdom that they've accumulated throughout their lives.

From the Back Cover:

"These quiet, funny, and touching tales tell more than melodrama can of the real lives of women. There's a lot of shard wisdom here, for instance how to win an argument with your husband." --Diane Johnson,Novelist, author of Le Divorce

"These are moving, frequently amusing, and always interesting reflections on what it is to be a woman in our time. From childhood to aging, from love to letting go, it's all here--projected with spirit, style, and a keen eye for the telling moment."--Thomas C. Bent Former Chief Editorial Writer, San Francisco Chronicle

"The Subject of Our Lives reminds us that memoirs go beyond literature: they are about living. these thirteen writers add immeasurably both to the seriousness and to the douceur de vivre of San Francisco; I savor their talents, their honesty, their sense of humor, and their wisdom." --Olga Carlisle Painter, translator, and author of a childhood memoir, Island in Time

"A marvelous composite memoir of a time and place. In the hands of thirteen sensitive and intelligent women, these candid reminiscences are molded in o beautifully crafted short stories that become a universal document of women's lives. The poignant surprises and treasures discovered in the breaking up of a family home (the theme of one story) become metaphors for the treasures on every page" the bittersweet list of life's regrets, the intrepid opera-goers undaunted by an earthquake, the liveliness of mature love--and sex, the agony and insight for daughters struggling to liquidate their mother's extraordinary library."

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