Dani Shapiro

Reason Read: JBC read for October
This is a memoir by an author who describes herself as an author of memoirs. This one is about what can happen when you do one of those DNA genealogy exams. It was okay. I am not fond of memoirs in general. I think they can be cathartic for people but how much can you really dwell on yourself that you become an author of memoirs. And as far as a memoir goes this one hit all the points; relevant, coherent. I don’t like memoirs and I am reluctant to do DNA testing. Perhaps this book supports another reason not to do DNA testing.… (més)

The earlier book I read by Dani Shapiro was a novel, but this turned out to be a memoir. During the course of reading this I discovered that she has written another, more recent memoir (Inheritance, in which she learned through routine DNA testing that the man she thought was her father was not actually her biological father). This memoir relates to a much earlier time, although her father plays an important role here, too.

Dani is in her early 20's. She had dropped out of college after a couple of years, ostensibly to pursue an acting/modeling career, but she also became the kept mistress of a much older fabulously wealthy married man, who also happened to be the stepfather of one of her best college friends. There is much cocaine and drinking involved in her life, meals at expensive restaurants (with purging afterwards), travel around the world, jewelry, furs etc. You get the picture--a charmed life indeed.

As the memoir opens, Dani is at a health and beauty spa on the West Coast when she receives a phone call notifying her that her parents have been in a serious car accident and may not survive. She must return to New Jersey at once. As she heads home, and in the days afterwards, she begins to rethink the course her life is taking. "I want to start my life over again, but I don't know how."

The book does a good job of portraying a life gone off the tracks, a self-destructive life, and what it took to turn that life around. Again, although this sort of thing is not my usual fare, it was a decent read.

3 stars… (més)