Quarantine Book Club: "Fierce Attachments" by Vivian Gornick

Fierce Attachments is an easy read—funny, surprising, full of electric sentences and unforgettable characters. It tells the story of one woman's quest for purpose as she comes of age in New York City.

It's also about men and women and the mysteries of the human heart. And it's about the author's relationship with her difficult mother (or maybe it's about what a difficult daughter Gornick is).

A few years ago, the New York Times created a ranked list of the 50 best memoirs of the last 50 years, and Fierce Attachments came in first place. 

"The book is an object of furious motion, humming with its own energy," says the novelist Jonathan Lethem. 

We will read it together over four weeks, and gather on Saturday mornings to discuss it. Along the way, we will also talk about the art of memoir itself, and we'll take a look at what writers like James Baldwin, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Joan Didion, and others have done in the memoir arena. 

If you miss the live meetings, no problem: A recording of each session will be sent to all ticket holders automatically.

INSTRUCTOR

This club will be led by Christopher Frizzelle, the former editor-in-chief of The Stranger.

RECOMMENDED EDITION

We recommend this edition of Fierce Attachments, available from bookstore partner Phinney Books, so that you have the same page numbers as everyone else during discussions. 

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

If you would like to join this class but price is a barrier, sponsorship funds are available to help make it possible. Please apply here.

DONATIONS ENCOURAGED

If you choose to pay $150 for this club, you are automatically making a $50 donation to the financial assistance fund, which would allow a full schorship to someone who would not be able to afford this experience on their own. If you pay $200, you are making a $100 donation. Thank you for making this book club accessible to more people.

ART

By Kathryn Rathke