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Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing up Groovy and Clueless by Susan Jane Gilman
hannahbellz's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. Hilarious, insightful, entertaining.
Sample passage: "For all my schooling, I hadn't the foggiest idea how to say such basic, things as 'lightbulb,' 'extension cord,' and 'Can you please help me? My husband is stuck in the bathroom.'...Seized by a linguistic stage fright, the only thing I could manage to say was, 'la clef, il ne travaille pas,' which roughly translates into 'the key, it is not doing its work' creating the distinct impression of a key slacking off and lounging around the pool with a daiquiri when it was supposed to be manning a cash register and answering telephones."
Sample passage: "For all my schooling, I hadn't the foggiest idea how to say such basic, things as 'lightbulb,' 'extension cord,' and 'Can you please help me? My husband is stuck in the bathroom.'...Seized by a linguistic stage fright, the only thing I could manage to say was, 'la clef, il ne travaille pas,' which roughly translates into 'the key, it is not doing its work' creating the distinct impression of a key slacking off and lounging around the pool with a daiquiri when it was supposed to be manning a cash register and answering telephones."
casspro's review against another edition
3.0
This was my second time reading through Gilman's memoir and I had similar reactions to the first reading: I dived into the first three-quarters of the book and halfheartedly skimmed through the last quarter. The quirkiness and self-indulgence plays much better for the child and adolescent Gilman than as an adult.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
3.0
I would've found this much more enjoyable if all of the descriptions of the book didn't talk about how "screamingly" funny it is.
Spoiler alert: They lie.
Her stories are interesting. The tale of her meeting Mick Jagger alone is worth the time and effort. But don't go into this thinking you're about to fall out laughing. It wasn't until the very end, the second to last chapter, that I actually laughed out loud. And this, I think, can be chalked up to the amazing narrator, rather than the author herself.
Sad.
Spoiler alert: They lie.
Her stories are interesting. The tale of her meeting Mick Jagger alone is worth the time and effort. But don't go into this thinking you're about to fall out laughing. It wasn't until the very end, the second to last chapter, that I actually laughed out loud. And this, I think, can be chalked up to the amazing narrator, rather than the author herself.
Sad.
asurges's review against another edition
5.0
I found this at Books & Books in Miami and have read it at least four times since. Bust Magazine summarizes it best: "Susan Jane Gilman’s memoir of growing up in 1970's Manhattan as the child of enlightened intellectuals
does not disappoint. Gilman has created a near-flawless collection of biographical essays that reflect her feminist voice in a frequently
funny, always honest way…Gilman’s fearless writing makes for a memorable read.”
Sometimes called "the female Sedaris," her writing is a little duplicitous. It comes across as straight-out funny (my shoulders were shaking the first time I read it), but looking beneath, there's some really nice writing. Her essays range from the time she was five years old and was in a film by hippie friends of her parents to meeting Mick Jagger to bad jobs to moving to Switzerland. Highly recommended if you want a smarter light read.
does not disappoint. Gilman has created a near-flawless collection of biographical essays that reflect her feminist voice in a frequently
funny, always honest way…Gilman’s fearless writing makes for a memorable read.”
Sometimes called "the female Sedaris," her writing is a little duplicitous. It comes across as straight-out funny (my shoulders were shaking the first time I read it), but looking beneath, there's some really nice writing. Her essays range from the time she was five years old and was in a film by hippie friends of her parents to meeting Mick Jagger to bad jobs to moving to Switzerland. Highly recommended if you want a smarter light read.
mehitabels's review against another edition
4.0
"... a girl doesn't need a guy in her life in order to act like a complete idiot. Certainly I, at least, never have."
"After all: Who the fuck cared what adults thought? If adults were so smart and hip, we reasoned, they would have found some way to avoid growing up and turning into adults."
"gobsmacked by bliss"
"After all: Who the fuck cared what adults thought? If adults were so smart and hip, we reasoned, they would have found some way to avoid growing up and turning into adults."
"gobsmacked by bliss"
pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
”Every woman should see herself looking uniquely breathtaking, in something tailored to celebrate her body, so that she is better able to appreciate her own beauty and better equipped to withstand the ideals of our narrow-waisted, narrow-minded culture.”
Gilman is ten years younger than I am. According to the Internet, fount of all knowledge, that puts her at the very end of the baby boomer generation. I am somewhere in the middle of that generation, so in many ways we should have some things in common. However, as I read her memoir, I felt old and much of what was important to her was alien to me.
This is not just an age thing. Part of my lack of knowledge is because she grew up in New York City and I grew up in suburban south Jersey. Even if a decade did not separate us, the city/suburban lifestyles would have. We grew up in different worlds.
Our differing upbringing made this book interesting to me. I thought I might be reading about familiar things and instead I learned about whole new places and experiences. I had a lot of fun reading Gilman’s stories.
I especially enjoyed her chapter about picking out her wedding dress. It appears that we all have expectations of being different – no one wants to be the average bride. Gilman’s desire to be feminist and political and still look lovely sounded familiar to be even though my wedding was 40 some years ago. I had an ideal dress in mind also. My experience wasn’t quite as humorous as Gilman’s but, looking back, I also had the desire to be different.
I enjoyed living in NYC with Gilman for the length of this book and I hope she writes more because she is a good writer.
Gilman is ten years younger than I am. According to the Internet, fount of all knowledge, that puts her at the very end of the baby boomer generation. I am somewhere in the middle of that generation, so in many ways we should have some things in common. However, as I read her memoir, I felt old and much of what was important to her was alien to me.
This is not just an age thing. Part of my lack of knowledge is because she grew up in New York City and I grew up in suburban south Jersey. Even if a decade did not separate us, the city/suburban lifestyles would have. We grew up in different worlds.
Our differing upbringing made this book interesting to me. I thought I might be reading about familiar things and instead I learned about whole new places and experiences. I had a lot of fun reading Gilman’s stories.
I especially enjoyed her chapter about picking out her wedding dress. It appears that we all have expectations of being different – no one wants to be the average bride. Gilman’s desire to be feminist and political and still look lovely sounded familiar to be even though my wedding was 40 some years ago. I had an ideal dress in mind also. My experience wasn’t quite as humorous as Gilman’s but, looking back, I also had the desire to be different.
I enjoyed living in NYC with Gilman for the length of this book and I hope she writes more because she is a good writer.
emjay2021's review against another edition
I know I've read this--I remember buying it in the Vancouver airport because my flight was delayed several hours and I remember giving it to M2T2 to take on vacation with her a year or so later, because it was a fluffy, mindless beach read she could leave in the hotel after she was done! But damned if I can remember anything else about it.
erinmp's review against another edition
3.0
Funny, funny memoir about childhood, surviving high school, and becoming an adult. Many laugh-out-loud moments.
midwinteraz's review against another edition
4.0
I've started and quit several Gen X memoirs because they all seem to follow the same pattern on white, privileged, drug-addled young adults from broken homes in Manhattan. At first glance, this looked like it was going to be more of the same, but Gilman's prose made even the most tired cliche enjoyable. I found each vignette compelling, and could happily read another full collection of stories by her.