Winging It: Dispatches from an (Almost) Empty Nest

by Catherine Goldhammer

Book Overview

A "strikingly imaginative" (O, The Oprah Magazine) and heartfelt memoir for every woman on the verge of becoming an empty nester.

In her critically acclaimed debut memoir, Still Life with Chickens, Catherine Goldhammer shared her recovery from the chaos of divorce: moving with her daughter Harper to a seaside New England town, renovating a rustic cottage, and raising six chickens. Winging It picks up when Harper...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452295661
• ISBN13: 9780452295667
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.9" x 7.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

book - review

Excellent service - book was in great condition but was not exactly what I hoped it to be. Still enjoy it.

A wonderful book

Winging It: Dispatches from an (Almost) Empty Nest. An exceptionally well written snapshot of a special time in the life of a mother and daughter

Precision Flying

Catherine Goldhammer's "Winging It: Dispatches..." is a carefully written book,told with compassionate wit and grace. It reveals how begrudgingly we let go of our children or, perhaps, relentlessly marvel at them--as if our love were a stone we try to throw at them--Hey, don't forget! I still love you!--as they move away from us. Part of the sweetness of the book is that we suspect her daughter knows that, knows how much she is loved. Ms. Goldhammer approaches her subject with an objectivity that, I assume, must have been difficult, but any difficulties she may have had in writing about loss (if it is loss, which she suggests it isn't, quite), is subsumed by an understanding of family connections and renewal of old acquaintances, not as they once were, but as they are now, a bit tattered and rough around the edges, but present, real, and suggesting hope and possibility. Most of all, I admire her craft, her precision in using language, metaphor, and humor, so I would be inclined to read anything she wrote. I would read a cook book, a maintenance manual, or a grocery list--maybe even poetry, if Ms. Goldhammer goes back to mine some of her other,long dormant talents. I bet she would knock readers off their feet.

A daughter's a daughter all her life..

I laughed out loud! I read parts to my husband and he laughed, too. Goldhammer hits the painful funnybone of Letting the Daughter Go. No sorrow, loneliness, jealousy and self-pity is left unexamined. Not to mention middle age, dreaded Old Age, whether to keep the house or sell the damn thing and move on, health and career are hilariously described. Who could resist a story that takes place in a town where there are more restraining orders than toilet paper? Or a writer who sees the dragon in her chicken? FYI, Goldhammer is especially good at chickens. I was very sorry to turn the last page.

Poignant but practical

Loved this second book by Catherine Goldhammer. She has a beautiful honesty about this next phase of life and I think many people will find her observations interesting. If you have gone through any of the life changing events that Catherine writes about you will identify with how she is able to articulate the situation and the emotions associated with the event. A slight mystery---why was her only daughter's name Emma in her first book and Harper in the second?