NONFICTION

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies, Lessons, and Love Affairs

by Pearl Cleage
Atria. Apr. 2014. 320p. ISBN 9781451664690. $23.99; ebk. ISBN 9781451664713. LIT
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Writing is what Cleage, an acclaimed poet (We Don't Need No Music), essayist (Deals with the Devil: And Other Reasons To Riot), novelist (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day), and award-winning playwright (Flyin' West) does. Here, her journals are the source of a revealing, intimate memoir. With over 50 years of notebooks stashed in cardboard boxes and a steamer trunk, Cleage contemplates their value. Her daughter suggests burning the journals, but Cleage resists; this historical record allows her to remember details and understand how she survived and succeeded. She shares entries from 1970 to 1988 in this volume describing her "mad flight toward financial independence, sexual liberation, creative fulfillment and free womanhood."
VERDICT Cleage's observations explode with joy, anxiety, anger, and, of course, honesty; her style is breezy and casual but the content is complex. Her fans will embrace this work, and all readers interested in women's memoirs, especially those focused on the struggle against racism and sexism, will be moved by this title. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/13.]
Reviewed by Kathryn Bartelt, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN , Feb 01, 2014
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