Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers by Susan Cahill

Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers Reviews

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  Catherine Hines

  I loved this book so much. It has pushed me to try writers new to me (Madeleine L'Engle, Jane O'Reilly). I really love the diversity and beauty of women's voices.
  
  Madeleine L'Engle, on the consequences of her husband's smoking, which was so fashionable once: "Consequences: cancer is a result of consequences. It is not sent as a punishment. I do not have to make the repulsive theological error of feeling that I have to see cancer as God's will for my husband. I do not want anything to do with that kind of God. Cancer is not God's will. The death of a child is not God's will. The deaths from automobile accidents during this long holiday weekend are not God's will. I would rather have no God at all than that kind of punitive God. Tragedies are consequences of human actions, and the only God worth believing in does not cause the tragedies but lovingly comes into the anguish with us."
  
  Lucille Clifton: "Things don't fall apart. Things hold. Lines connect in thin ways that last and last and lives become generations made out of pictures and words just kept."
  
  Feeds right into my current obsession with family photographs.
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  Karen

  I loved this book. I have read it twice. The collection of women writers is varied and impressive. I became a huge M. F. K. Fisher fan as a result of this book. All the excerpts were worth reading.
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  Kat

  This is a wonderful collection of memoir excerpts by women writers and poets. I got it as a high school graduation present (great gift) and over the years I've kept coming back to it, like returning to a circle of old friends.
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  Beth

  This anthology edited by Susan Cahill is a beautiful collection of writing by women --primarily in the Western tradition and in English, though there a few exceptions--that gives the reader a taste of the writing of women of letters through the decades. For this reader, the introductions to the various women were also really useful because there were several with whom I was unfamiliar. While iti s a book that can be read straight through, I'm not ashamed to say I've been carrying this book with me since it was published, dipping in and reading when the mood strikes and then reading more from specific authors as I'm moved.
  
  This is a book that will appeal to readers interested women writers and their histories, and those who hope to fill in gaps in their education (there are more--this book is not exhaustive).
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  Shira

  Only partly finished this book, but the opening chapters and the introduction made it clear that these women need to be read more and that more women need to write.
  
  I will put this book back on my to read list for when I have more time, because these writers lives deserve closer scrutiny, particularly as an aspiring novelist myself.
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  Fay Van Kerckvoorde

  Great selection of women writers with enthusiastic introductions by Susan Cahill.
  Thanks to this book i discovered unknown and underappreciated authors. Especially grateful to meet Dorothy Allison, May Sarton, Diane Glancy and Kate Millet.
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  Shannon

  KSKZ