Product Description
Alexandra Styron’s parents—the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sophie’s Choice and his political activist wife, Rose—were, for half a century, leading players on the world’s cultural stage. Alexandra was raised under both the halo of her father’s brilliance and the long shadow of his troubled mind. From Styron’s youth and precocious literary debut to the triumphs of his best-known books and on through his spiral into depression, Reading My Father portrays the epic sweep of an American artist’s life. It is also a tale of filial love, beautifully written with humor, compassion, and grace.
Reviews/Praise
—California Bookwatch
“A multi-dimensional, continually fascinating portrait of William Styron’s life.”
—The Washington Post
“Fluid and fascinating, dark and funny, Alexandra Styron’s book brings her father before us in all of his complexity, a literary lion, roaring his way through America's post-war landscape.”
—Geraldine Brooks, author of March and People of the Book
“Readers passionate about American literature will be fascinated by Alexandra’s insightful tales about her complicated father and his circle, which included Peter Matthiessen, Norman Mailer, and Arthur Miller.”
—Booklist [starred review]
“[Styron] draws subtle comparisons to other giants of her father’s literary fraternity—pugnacious, capricious, and sometimes cruel men like Norman Mailer and Arthur Miller—to outline the question at the heart of her reflection: Is his art enough of an excuse? The memoir’s eloquent prose and fluid structure suggest his talent may be hereditary. A–”
—Entertainment Weekly