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Review
This poignant and compelling personal testimony explains both the influences which made her a writer and the kind of writer she became... both a testimony and a polemic; it is one woman's voice among many, but it is a powerful one. --P D James, Spectator
A furious, clear and passionate account of her life, Chicago s history, the nature of the crime novel, and the US repression of free speech --Guardian
An illuminating memoir and a courageous exploration of threats to freedom of expression --Scotsman, Books of the Year
A furious, clear and passionate account of her life, Chicago s history, the nature of the crime novel, and the US repression of free speech --Guardian
An illuminating memoir and a courageous exploration of threats to freedom of expression --Scotsman, Books of the Year
Product Description
In this powerful book, Sara Paretsky explores the traditions of political and literary dissent that have informed her life and work, against the unparalleled repression of free speech and thought in the US today. In tracing the writers difficult journey from silence to speech, she turns to her childhood and youth in rural Kansas, and brilliantly evokes Chicagothe city with which she has become indelibly associatedfrom her arrival during the Civil Rights struggle in the mid-1960s to her most extraordinary literary creation, the South Side detective V. I. Warshawski. Paretsky traces the emergence of V. I. Warshawski from the shadows of the loner detectives that stalk the mean streets of Dashiell Hammetts and Raymond Chandlers novels, and in the process explores American individualism, the failure of the American dream, and the resulting dystopia. Both memoir and meditation, Writing in an Age of Silence is a compelling exploration of the writers art and daunting responsibility in the face of the assault on US civil liberties post-9/11.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I came to this book as a confirmed fan of Paretsky's work. Somehow I felt I was doing so out of duty, rather than an expectation of pleasure.
In a way, I was right-there is little pleasure to be taken from reading this book, unless it is the pleasure that comes from knowing a little more about the background of and influences upon a favourite author.
Straightforward pleasure as joy, as laughs? No. This is a challenging work, not a fun read in any conventional way. Rather Peretsky sets out in a series of relatively short essays, to describe how her voice as an author [and as a woman] came to be formed and to be heard.
In doing so she covers a lot of ground in contemporary American history-from Martin Luther King Jnr in Chicago to the issues facing a writer of liberal outlook in Bush's US. Along the way, we learn of her bleak upbringing in Kansas and her involvement with the Womens' Movement.
But it is with the development and use of a writer's voice that we are most concerned in this work, and, of course, with the obverse: the voicelessness that the disadvantaged have always faced in society and which now threatens [via the so-called Patriot Act amongst other factors] to silence even the vocal and the privileged.
I cannot commend this book too highly. I read it in one sitting, and then again, an essay at a time. It handsomely repays its reader with the privilege of insight into the mind of a significant figure in American popular culture.
In a way, I was right-there is little pleasure to be taken from reading this book, unless it is the pleasure that comes from knowing a little more about the background of and influences upon a favourite author.
Straightforward pleasure as joy, as laughs? No. This is a challenging work, not a fun read in any conventional way. Rather Peretsky sets out in a series of relatively short essays, to describe how her voice as an author [and as a woman] came to be formed and to be heard.
In doing so she covers a lot of ground in contemporary American history-from Martin Luther King Jnr in Chicago to the issues facing a writer of liberal outlook in Bush's US. Along the way, we learn of her bleak upbringing in Kansas and her involvement with the Womens' Movement.
But it is with the development and use of a writer's voice that we are most concerned in this work, and, of course, with the obverse: the voicelessness that the disadvantaged have always faced in society and which now threatens [via the so-called Patriot Act amongst other factors] to silence even the vocal and the privileged.
I cannot commend this book too highly. I read it in one sitting, and then again, an essay at a time. It handsomely repays its reader with the privilege of insight into the mind of a significant figure in American popular culture.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was not a normal Sarah Paretsky book, and I was disapppointed. I normally love her books
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Gritty Life of a Writer of Gritty Mysteries
28 July 2007
Format:Hardcover
It's hard to say I enjoyed this book, because it's not about fun. I can't even recall a touch of humor. The author makes no effort to engage her audience, beyond high quality writing and an emotional intensity that rises from each page.
Paretsky's title covers both her childhood background and her reaction to living in George Bush's America.
As a child, Paretsky received nothing but discouragement and put-downs from her parents and siblings. Yet she and her brothers all turned out not just well, but outstandingly. All have graduate degrees (Paretsky herself has a PhD in American history) and have done well. It would be interesting to ask a family therapist where this resilience came from.
Mystery fans will enjoy learning how Paretsky's life influenced the V. I. Warshawski series. Paretsky became influenced by classic detective writers while she was supposed to be studying for her American history degree. She deliberately created a female version of the hard boiled detective, drawing on settings she knew and real people in her own life.
Some reviewers didn't care for Paretsky's attack on contemporary America, but I got the feeling she was angry and determined to use the platform she holds as a prominent writer. She's always been a force for good (as were her parents and at least one grandparent).
Paretsky writes a great deal about the Patriot Act - a horrifying piece of legislation that apparently allows police to search and seize property - and people - without a warrant.
This discussion alone makes Paretsky's book would be worth reading. It's terrifying to read about a woman who (according to Paretsky) was arrested because her social security card listed her married name and her passport her maiden name (or vice versa).
Paretsky's discussion of women writers was an eye-opener for me: I had no idea that women writers had to fight for reviews and publication. Today we take for granted the best-sellers by Marcia Muller, J. A. Jance, Sue Grafton and Paretsky herself. I wish she had written more about founding Sisters in Crime and about her relationship with some other writers.
I disagreed only when Paretsky claims (p. 76) that prominent women - Condoleeza Rice, Carly Fiorina, Katie Couric - are thin because they want to "disappear." In fact, it is hard for a woman to achieve prominence unless she is attractive. Being attractive means being slim, even thin. Madeleine Albright was exceptional. But media like to feature attractive women, making them even more prominent. Would Carly Fiorina have gotten as far as she did if she were heavier and less attractive? We will never know.
Paretsky has given us some rare insights into the way she experiences life, past and present. She expresses the helplessness and frustration so many Americans feel - a sense of returning to McCarthyism and worse. The last few pages are lyrical and strong without slipping into sentiment.
It's not a comfortable read, but the book will be hard to forget, well written and not nearly long enough. It's hard to say I enjoyed this book, because it's not about fun. I can't even recall a touch of humor. The author makes no effort to engage her audience, beyond high quality writing and an emotional intensity that rises from each page.
Paretsky's title covers both her childhood background and her reaction to living in George Bush's America.
As a child, Paretsky received nothing but discouragement and put-downs from her parents and siblings. Yet she and her brothers all turned out not just well, but outstandingly. All have graduate degrees (Paretsky herself has a PhD in American history) and have done well. It would be interesting to ask a family therapist where this resilience came from.
Mystery fans will enjoy learning how Paretsky's life influenced the V. I. Warshawski series. Paretsky became influenced by classic detective writers while she was supposed to be studying for her American history degree. She deliberately created a female version of the hard boiled detective, drawing on settings she knew and real people in her own life.
Some reviewers didn't care for Paretsky's attack on contemporary America, but I got the feeling she was angry and determined to use the platform she holds as a prominent writer. She's always been a force for good (as were her parents and at least one grandparent).
Paretsky writes a great deal about the Patriot Act - a horrifying piece of legislation that apparently allows police to search and seize property - and people - without a warrant.
This discussion alone makes Paretsky's book would be worth reading. It's terrifying to read about a woman who (according to Paretsky) was arrested because her social security card listed her married name and her passport her maiden name (or vice versa).
Paretsky's discussion of women writers was an eye-opener for me: I had no idea that women writers had to fight for reviews and publication. Today we take for granted the best-sellers by Marcia Muller, J. A. Jance, Sue Grafton and Paretsky herself. I wish she had written more about founding Sisters in Crime and about her relationship with some other writers.
I disagreed only when Paretsky claims (p. 76) that prominent women - Condoleeza Rice, Carly Fiorina, Katie Couric - are thin because they want to "disappear." In fact, it is hard for a woman to achieve prominence unless she is attractive. Being attractive means being slim, even thin. Madeleine Albright was exceptional. But media like to feature attractive women, making them even more prominent. Would Carly Fiorina have gotten as far as she did if she were heavier and less attractive? We will never know.
Paretsky has given us some rare insights into the way she experiences life, past and present. She expresses the helplessness and frustration so many Americans feel - a sense of returning to McCarthyism and worse. The last few pages are lyrical and strong without slipping into sentiment.
It's not a comfortable read, but the book will be hard to forget, well written and not nearly long enough. It's hard to say I enjoyed this book, because it's not about fun. I can't even recall a touch of humor. The author makes no effort to engage her audience, beyond high quality writing and an emotional intensity that rises from each page.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Outstanding!
4 Aug 2007
Format:Hardcover
It's rare that I'm impressed sufficiently by a book to contact the author, but "Writing in an Age of Silence" is such a book. As a Chicago native who lived in Kansas for many years, I was awed by Paretsky's ability to finely convey both areas so well, positioning both within her own formative experiences. Fans of V.I. Warshawski know that Paretsky has a wickedly sharp, funny pen, but here she turns that talent inward.
One caveat: those not familiar with Paretsy's other work might experience "Writing in an Age of Silence" differently, of course. In that case, I encourage you to read more of her work so that you can get a better sense of her voice. She's a remarkable writer, regardless of genre.
One caveat: those not familiar with Paretsy's other work might experience "Writing in an Age of Silence" differently, of course. In that case, I encourage you to read more of her work so that you can get a better sense of her voice. She's a remarkable writer, regardless of genre.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful
A Thinking Person's Book
7 Jun 2007
Format:Hardcover
Sara Paretsky writes not only of her life but of the world that dramatically affects women and men .One need not have read Paretsky's work to appreciate the clearly feminist views she expresses. But it is not fair to simply label her with one ideology.She is a woman who has cared deeply all her life for the disenfranchised; those disenfranchised by race,gender,religion.
I felt as if I were reading the work of my doppelganger;especially the kind of ideas I shared with my students in a single-sex school. This book is no place to find the "warm,fluffy" philosophy that women or African-Americans have maintained whatever progress the world attributes to the women's movement or the Civil Rights Act.Rather Paretsky gives factual information to the contrary.
This book is wonderfully,lucidly written. It should be read not only by those who already share her beliefs;but,more importantly by those who are brave enough to challenge their comfort zones.
I felt as if I were reading the work of my doppelganger;especially the kind of ideas I shared with my students in a single-sex school. This book is no place to find the "warm,fluffy" philosophy that women or African-Americans have maintained whatever progress the world attributes to the women's movement or the Civil Rights Act.Rather Paretsky gives factual information to the contrary.
This book is wonderfully,lucidly written. It should be read not only by those who already share her beliefs;but,more importantly by those who are brave enough to challenge their comfort zones.
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