How I Grew
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The author of The Group, the groundbreaking bestseller and 1964 National Book Award finalist that shaped a generation of women, brings reminiscences of her girlhood to this intimate and illuminating memoir
How I Grew is Mary McCarthy’s intensely personal autobiography of her life from age thirteen to twenty-one.
Orphaned at six, McCarthy was raised by her maternal grandparents in Seattle, Washington. Although her official birthdate is in 1912, it wasn’t until she turned thirteen that, in McCarthy’s own words, she was “born as a mind.” With detail driven by an almost astonishing memory recall, McCarthy gives us a masterful account of these formative years. From her wild adolescence—including losing her virginity at fourteen—through her eventual escape to Vassar, the bestselling novelist, essayist, and critic chronicles her relationships with family, friends, lovers, and the teachers who would influence her writing career.
Filled with McCarthy’s penetrating insights and trenchant wit, this is an unblinkingly honest and fearless self-portrait of a young woman coming of age—and the perfect companion to McCarthy’s Memories of a Catholic Girlhood.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary McCarthy including rare images from the author’s estate.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this autobiographical account of McCarthy's intellectual and emotional development, we meet her as a lonely, frightened 13-year-old and leave her as a sophisticated Vassar graduate, foolishly married at age 21 to a man she doesn't love. This reminiscence will appeal to admirers of her Memories of a Catholic Girlhood. Such universal experiences as an adolescent girl's painful awakening to sex, her first love affair, her discovery of books and ideas involve the reader because of the author's near-photographic memory, her relentless candor and graceful style. Brought up by grandparents, McCarthy, "a bright wild girl from Seattle,'' at 17 was put off by Vassar's ``cleverness,'' but she notes that the school left its stamp on her, making her ``brittle, smart and a little empty.'' Photos not seen by PW.
