Word: harrisons
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Fittingly, the opening pieces serve as an introduction to Harrison--her past, beliefs and prejudices. She writes eloquently and wittily about her difficult past. In one essay, she recounts her experiences as a seven year old" precocious little mouthpiece for the apocalypse" who preached door-to-door on behalf of her mother, a Jehovah's Witness. We read about her early alienation from the Italian American suburb of Bensonhurst in which she grew up; her defection from its provincialism to feminism and bohemianism; her marriage and divorce...
...Harrison brings this strong personality and keen eye to all the essays in this book. The profile pieces are less standard interviews than dialogues; Harrison's opinions on the celebrities she writes about are always crystal clear. Some of the best essays result from encounters with people she clearly dislikes...
...Pure Gore," which recounts an afternoon spent with Gore Vidal in his house in Rome, is a fascinating display of two clashing sensibilities. Gore's dry pessimism in the face of his own worldly and literary success strikes Harrison as pouty and ungenerous. Rejecting the usual fawning interviwer's pose, Harrison challenges and argues with Vidal. In their tense but often funny exchange, they hone their opposing philosphies...
...Harrison, of course, eventually gets the last word, finding Gore guilty of a rather ungrateful attitude toward the world. But the piece presents an absorbing and fair fight...
...essay on Nadia Comeneci is more devastating. In a series of depressing interviews, the Rumanian gymnast bosses waiters at restaurants, lies to Harrison about her collaboration with the murderous dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and periodically leaves the table to vomit up the large quantities of food she stuffs into her mouth...