1185 Park Avenue: A Memoir

Anne Roiphe wrote a brillant memoir that I can't stop thinking about, and a very interesting psychological portrait of her very disturbed family and odd upbringing.

I don't understand the negative reviews posted about this book. Granted, the author's style is a bit overblown at times, but the story and aspecially the characters were fascinating and honestly portrayed. The author has a wonderful eye for detail and captured a lot of the sense of assimilated Jewry with which I am familiar. This book deserves to be read, and I will be passing my copy around to my extended family.

When I began the first few pages of this book, on a sleepless night, I prepared to be bored by what, at first glance, seemed to be flowery language with no sweat shed.How wrong I was. Roiphe has written the best memoir I have ever encountered. Each character is so well described that I swear I could pick any one of them out in a crowd, regardless of whether they are now dead or alive. I normally have some distaste for changes in tense, but Roiphe achieves this so artfully, I rarely noticed. Roiphe, though her descriptions are vivid and not in any sense concise, does not waste a word. I sometimes found myself unexpectedly laughing, and at one point, incredibly, weeping. Her analogies, her descriptions, her words....all are just remarkably brilliant. I will never be able to forget her family anymore than Roiphe herself will. Her talent is nearly incredible.Even when Roiphe is at her most descriptive, the reader is so present in this memoir, as if we are standing slightly to the side of Roiphe,, at her elbow, throughout the entire book. We understand everything. I couldn't recommend a memoir more highly than I do this one, and at that, I couldn't recommend any book more highly than I do this one. I've found a new favorite.

This is a truly wonderful book. So passionate. So honest. So powerfully written. Here is a woman who as a child had money and refinement yet had to deal with a most excrutiatingly painful family situation. Ms. Roiphe was no "poor little rich girl," though. There's not an ounce of victim or self-pity. She managed her situation from a very young age. And through her heart and actions worked to make her life turn out wonderfully. Bravo to her and to her book. She's shown us that many people, no matter how monetarily wealthy, need to struggle to survive. I hope this book becomes an Oprah pick. It's universal in its appeal. I loved it.

A brave, honest account of Roiphe's personal and family psychology and sociology. I thoroughly enjoyed it.