Manhattan, when I Was Young

by Mary Cantwell

Book Overview

With Manhattan, When I Was Young, Mary Gantwell, a former writer and editor at Mademoiselle and Vogue and now a writer at the New York Times, gives us an elegant and lyrical autobiographical account... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140232230
• ISBN13: 9780140232233
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Vibrant and Colorful

Mary Cantwell takes you on a wonderful journey through her life in the 50's and 60's from single girl to a divorced mother working as a magazine editor. With us she shares the good times, as well as her tough times which makes for a fabulous life and all that she has accomplished for herself and her children........

I hope Cantwell writes another book of this period in NYC

I read this book a few years ago and LOVED it tremendously, declaring it my new favorite book, which is why I owe it a (belated) 5-star ranking. If it had been written in the '50s and early '60s - the time span she covers - it would have enjoyed as much or more success as the "single women in the city" books of the late '90s (Bridget, Girl's Guide, Sex in the City). However, written as a memoir it is even more mesmerizing in it's evocation of a heady, romantic time in Manhattan - nothing like the coldness of today's Sex in the City. I particularly loved Cantwell's voice/writing style which is full-bodied in a light-handed way - with such great observations of detail and dialogue and the culture of that time, against a great backdrop of fashion and manhattan brownstones. It has the intelligence I wish more of today's books which profile young women would have.

If you love Manhattan, you'll adore this book!

Mary Cantwell's Manhattan is vibrant and colorful. She approaches the city with generous admiration and honest trepidation. If you've lived there, her experience will immediately resonate with your own. A must read for stylish and sophisticated New Yorkers or those who aspire to be!

Poignant, compelling, exquisite writing

I loved this very memorable memoir. It provides a window into an interesting world in language that sings with truth and clarity. The author is so honest and forthright that one can't help but feel drawn in and compassionate for her. There is no place like New York and this book takes you there during the 50's and 60's, certainly an interesting time. Highly recommend it, I think women and men who were raising children during this time would particularly enjoy it. A friend in publishing in New York commented that what is really scary is that nothing has changed.

Must-read for francophiles, fashion fans, village people.

This book has so many layers. One that intrigued me was Mary Cantwell's recollection of mistreatment by the medical world. The order of the day was that women were kooky and needed to be medicated, and doctors should be paternalistic. The choices were frightening: amphetamines for depression, contraceptives for thinness/maybe an eating disorder. It appalled me tha Ms. Cantwell suffered for months with "infertility" because her obstetrician neglected to tell her she was taking a contraceptive. The fad of the era was prolonged Freudian psychoanalysis with no forseeable end. Contrast that to the current managed care psychiatric environment where you must become well after ten visits. I hope we're doing better than that now