A review by jlmb
My Mistake by Daniel Menaker
5.0
Coming on the heels of reading and DNF-ing James Wolcott's memoir, I did not have high hopes for this one. They seemed somewhat similar on the surface - both men were writers who worked for The New Yorker. It turns out that I was mistaken; Menaker is a vastly superior writer and editor who has had a much more fascinating life than Wolcott.
I wish Menaker had written more about his childhood and family - they seemed fascinating. I need to go read that book about The Little Red Schoolhouse in Greenwich Village now. His paternal side of the family was especially noteworthy. So his dad was a Soviet spy?!?! That seems like a fact worth more than a line or two. I'd also liked to have read more about his mother's career as well.
His format for the book, dividing sections under his age at the time, was genius. I always wonder at memoirs where the person is writing in great detail about when they were 4,5, 6 etc years old. How do they recall so much? I have memories from those years but not a lot. So having brief vignettes instead of long, drawn out stories made perfect sense for those early ages.
His writing certainly benefited from his years working as a fact checker, copy editor and then editor. Proof that the more you do something, the better you get at it.
I wish Menaker had written more about his childhood and family - they seemed fascinating. I need to go read that book about The Little Red Schoolhouse in Greenwich Village now. His paternal side of the family was especially noteworthy. So his dad was a Soviet spy?!?! That seems like a fact worth more than a line or two. I'd also liked to have read more about his mother's career as well.
His format for the book, dividing sections under his age at the time, was genius. I always wonder at memoirs where the person is writing in great detail about when they were 4,5, 6 etc years old. How do they recall so much? I have memories from those years but not a lot. So having brief vignettes instead of long, drawn out stories made perfect sense for those early ages.
His writing certainly benefited from his years working as a fact checker, copy editor and then editor. Proof that the more you do something, the better you get at it.