The vividly told, gloriously illustrated memoir of an artist born with disabilities who searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies “Golem Girl is luminous; a profound portrait of the artist as a young—and mature—woman; an unflinching social history of disability over the last six decades; and a hymn to life, love, family, and spirit.”—David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas WINNER OF THE BARBELLION PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS What do we sacrifice in the pursuit of normalcy? And what becomes possible when we embrace monstrosity? Can we envision a world that sees impossible creatures? In 1958, amongst the children born with spina bifida is Riva Lehrer.…
"Lehrer has such a great voice on the page, it’s so engaging and witty. Her memoir is a cousin of Lucy Grealy’s classic Autobiography of a Face . But there are not too many laugh lines in Autobiography of a Face , and this has more of a sense of humour—which is good when you’re in a situation where everything is just so unbelievably painful. It’s not only the disability. Terrible things have happened to her. It’s amazing that she has this resilient, wonderful spirit, and she’s a terrific painter, and the book includes dozens of plates of these beautiful paintings. At the end of the book, there’s an appendix where she tells the story of the paintings in order. It’s really cool. One of her series involves inviting people over to her house to paint a portrait of them. Then, after she’s done, she says: ‘I’m going to leave the house for two hours, and you can do whatever you want to this picture in that time.’ So she talks about it in the narrative, then, at the back, you get to see more of them. It’s just such a juicy book. Your thirty bucks could buy you a regular old book, or this one, which is like a coffee-table book as well as a memoir. That’s a great point. Her life follows the journey that our culture has taken in the last half-century or so. She also has a very complicated sexuality. She’s tried out different types of relationships with various different people, and shows the way these things unfolded in her life."
The Best Memoirs: The 2021 NBCC Autobiography Shortlist ·
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