Be Pretty, Get Married, and Always Drink Tab: A Memoir

By Gigi Anders

Book Overview

According to her colorful Mami Dearest, the life of young Gigi Anders will be simple if she can remember three maxims--be pretty, get married, and always drink TaB. Thus begins her instruction in the art of being a lady and the side effects of falling in love. As the granddaughter of Eastern European and Russian shtetl-reared grandparents who immigrated as teenagers in the early 1920s to the fierce tropical beauty of Cuba, Anders is heir apparent to a legacy of transatlantic alienation. With dazzling wit and hilarity mined from the depths of loss and yearning, Anders chronicles her journey from beach baby to ostracized exile to vibrant intellectual, along the way balancing her obsession with killer outfits and zaftig, orgasmic meals--always with a can of TaB --with the more serious pursuits of love, sanity, and lipstick in perfect siren red.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060563702
• ISBN13: 9780060563707
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Fun Romp Through The Life Of A Jewish Cuban Polish American Princess And Jubana Goddess

This was an absolutely enjoyable book to read. I hope that after the author gets married and has kids, she'll write a follow-up book. Gigi Anders is the Cuban-born Jewish daughter who had relatives that perished in the Holocaust, and her parents' lives were disrupted not once but twice - once after escaping from Poland and then a second time, when Fidel Castro took over Cuba and her parents, educated upper-class professionals, had no other choice but to flee for their lives to America, once again leaving everything behind to start a new life. Anders writes of a childhood that she marks as different from her two brothers, who were American-born. She revels in the luxury of being multicultural, trilingual - English, Spanish and Yiddish, as well as culturally Cuban, Jewish and American, and she writes about what it means to be born into one culture but raised in another. Some of what Anders writes about isn't unique to her own culture, even if she thinks it is - the guilt-tripping mother, the difficult relationship - these are not just Jewish traits, but human traits, and emotions that most women can probably relate to very well. I highly recommend this book.

Very funny memoir

Anders is a combination Joan Rivers and Ricky Riccardo's wild younger sister (if he'd had one), with perhaps a dash of Mary McCarthy thrown in. She writes with insight, affection (mostly), and a kind of manic joy about her often difficult childhood as well as her experiences growing up Cuban, Jewish, and a woman in the United States. Made me think more deeply about the ways that different cultures intersect and influence each other. Great dialogue. I found myself speaking Cubanese for days: Joo no whaa ah mean? A refreshing read.

A hearty and vigorous autobiographical memoir of a crazy kid trying to fit into the American way of

Cuban-born, American-grown journalist Gigi Anders tells of her Russian/European Jewish heritage, her family's flight from Cuba in 1959, and their adventures searching for the American dream in the U.S., providing a hearty and vigorous autobiographical memoir of a crazy kid trying to fit into the American way of life. Enjoy a spirited story in Jubana! The Awkwardly True And Dazzling Adventures Of A Jewish Cubana Goddess which is a cut above the ordinary - and then some.

Que Cubanismo!

I believe Anders provides a great and descriptive story about her life as Jubana (Jewish Cuban). As a fellow Cuban, I thoroughly enjoyed Anders vivid descriptions of her Cuban upbringing (Agua De Violetas, Anti-Castro sentiments, and Cuban Spanish dialect) was completely true to life. Although the Spanish in the text may stumble non-Spanish speakers, Anders provides an easy to read and understandble text. I highly recommend it!

GREAT READ

Funny, moving and out load hysterical.Spanish words slowed me up a little but who cares.My husband helped me with a few of the words and ended up loving the book himself.A great summer read.