Borrowed Finery: A Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written - but didn't engage me
Review: "Born in the twenties to nomadic, bohemian parents, Paula Fox was left at birth in a Manhattan orphanage..." What a range of people she had caring for her over her growing up years, what neglect at times, what an interesting range of geographic locations she lived in during her childhood. This "memoir" seemed to hold such promise, but really I found it a chore to read. A collection of memories, not always connected up, it never hooked me in, leaving me eager to find out what happened next. It also completely lacks any analysis - of the characters, events, Paula's reaction to them, the impact on her life, etc. Its main redeeming feature for me was its brevity - had it been longer, I may well have given up. Maybe if I was a fan of her novels (certainly her memoir is well written), or interested in other members of her family (apparently she is Courtney Love's grandmother), I would have been more motivated to enjoy rather than just tolerate this book.

Rating:
Summary: Confused......
Review: Although I have sympathy for Ms. Fox, I felt that I wanted to know more about her parents. For example, was she ever diagnosed as mentally ill or perhaps a personality disorder? She should have been locked up for her actions toward her daughter? I felt that Ms. Lock herself did not take what happened to her as a child seriuosly-she was quite abused and was treated in a manor not fit for a dog! The memoir seemed as if it were more fiction than anything-due to the writer's inability to write with any feeling about her life.

Rating:
Summary: Exellent and evocative
Review: Amazon reviewers who didn't like this book, didn't get it. It's not supposed to be a deep character study or a search for reasons and answers. It is an evocation of a child's life, bits and pieces she remembers because of their impact. I think it was beautifully written. That the parents were irresponsible is without question, but finding out why they were or how they should have been punished isn't the point.

Rating:
Summary: Left Me Dissatisfied
Review: At the age of five, Paula Fox is wrested from the security of her life with the kindly minister, "Uncle Elwood," who had been raising her from infancy, into"the hands of rescuers, a fire brigade that passed me along from person to person," including her maternal grandmother, her uncles, her father's mistress, and assorted neighbors. Her parents, who would appear in her life sporadically, disrupted her brief interludes of contentment. Her mother, who Ms. Fox ponders how she could have been "organic enough" to have carried her in her belly, is cold and cruel, with a smile which is described as "neutral." Her father, at times "playful," is impotent in the face of his wife's rancor towards their daughter, and his awkward attempts at kindness are neutralized by his alcoholism.
Although Ms. Fox's memoir -- which is comprised of vignettes of her experiences in different cities in the United States and Cuba -- recounts a young life of abject rejection, her tale is depicted with such detachment and aloofness that it was difficult for this reader to sympathize with her plight. Although it was refreshing to read a memoir that was not characterized by the typical maudlin excess which plagues many contemporary memoirs, the voice in this story was so reserved and composed, it was as if the author were writing about someone else's life. Perhaps this dispassion is a symptom of her upbringing, but it seemed to damage the story. This reader was also frustrated by the failure of the author to even attempt to explain why her mother viewed her child's mere existence as "calamitous." Was her mother mentally ill? Surely, as an adult, the product of such utter abandonment by her mother would seek some explanation for her mother's callous treatment. This reader was also disturbed by the failure of the author to examine how her upbringing impacted her as an adult. Ms. Fox mentions a failed marriage to an actor/merchant marine, and a child, apparently the product of a brief affair, whom she places for adoption and with whom she reconciles many years later, but she neglects to flesh out these relationships as if she were anxious to conclude her story.

Rating:
Summary: Left Me Dissatisfied
Review: At the age of five, Paula Fox is wrested from the security of her life with the kindly minister, "Uncle Elwood," who had been raising her from infancy, into"the hands of rescuers, a fire brigade that passed me along from person to person," including her maternal grandmother, her uncles, her father's mistress, and assorted neighbors. Her parents, who would appear in her life sporadically, disrupted her brief interludes of contentment. Her mother, who Ms. Fox ponders how she could have been "organic enough" to have carried her in her belly, is cold and cruel, with a smile which is described as "neutral." Her father, at times "playful," is impotent in the face of his wife's rancor towards their daughter, and his awkward attempts at kindness are neutralized by his alcoholism.
Although Ms. Fox's memoir -- which is comprised of vignettes of her experiences in different cities in the United States and Cuba -- recounts a young life of abject rejection, her tale is depicted with such detachment and aloofness that it was difficult for this reader to sympathize with her plight. Although it was refreshing to read a memoir that was not characterized by the typical maudlin excess which plagues many contemporary memoirs, the voice in this story was so reserved and composed, it was as if the author were writing about someone else's life. Perhaps this dispassion is a symptom of her upbringing, but it seemed to damage the story. This reader was also frustrated by the failure of the author to even attempt to explain why her mother viewed her child's mere existence as "calamitous." Was her mother mentally ill? Surely, as an adult, the product of such utter abandonment by her mother would seek some explanation for her mother's callous treatment. This reader was also disturbed by the failure of the author to examine how her upbringing impacted her as an adult. Ms. Fox mentions a failed marriage to an actor/merchant marine, and a child, apparently the product of a brief affair, whom she places for adoption and with whom she reconciles many years later, but she neglects to flesh out these relationships as if she were anxious to conclude her story.

Rating:
Summary: Borrowed Finery
Review: Born in the 1920s to nomadic & bohemian parents, Paula Fox is left at birth in a Manhattan orphanage, then cared for by a poor yet cultivated minister in upstate New York. But her parents, as always, soon resurface. Her handsome father is a hard-drinking screenwriter who is, for young Paula, "part ally, part betrayer." Her mother is given to icy bursts of temper that punctuate a deep indifference. How, Fox wonders, is this woman "enough of an organic being to have carried me in her belly?" Never sharing more than a few moments with their daughter, Fox's parents shuttle her from New York City, where she lives with her passive Spanish grandmother, to Cuba, where she roams freely on a relative's sugarcane plantation, & to California, where she finds herself cast upon Hollywood's grubby margins. The thread binding these wanderings is the "borrowed finery" of the title--a few pieces of clothing, almost always lent by kindhearted strangers, which offer Fox a rare glimpse of permanency. Vivid & poetic, Borrowed Finery is an unforgettable book that will swell the company of Fox's devoted admirers.

Rating:
Summary: Borrowed Finery
Review: Born in the 1920s to nomadic & bohemian parents, Paula Fox is left at birth in a Manhattan orphanage, then cared for by a poor yet cultivated minister in upstate New York. But her parents, as always, soon resurface. Her handsome father is a hard-drinking screenwriter who is, for young Paula, "part ally, part betrayer." Her mother is given to icy bursts of temper that punctuate a deep indifference. How, Fox wonders, is this woman "enough of an organic being to have carried me in her belly?" Never sharing more than a few moments with their daughter, Fox's parents shuttle her from New York City, where she lives with her passive Spanish grandmother, to Cuba, where she roams freely on a relative's sugarcane plantation, & to California, where she finds herself cast upon Hollywood's grubby margins. The thread binding these wanderings is the "borrowed finery" of the title--a few pieces of clothing, almost always lent by kindhearted strangers, which offer Fox a rare glimpse of permanency. Vivid & poetic, Borrowed Finery is an unforgettable book that will swell the company of Fox's devoted admirers.

Rating:
Summary: breathtaking
Review: Elegant, startling in its realism, truthful and prosiac, Paula Fox has once again written a novel which is both timeless and profound. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to increase their understanding of the human condition and resonates with beautiful prose.

Rating:
Summary: Marlon Brando NOT Courtney's Grandpa
Review: Great book, but the customer review alleging that Marlon Brando sired Courtney Love's mom is untrue. In an exclusive interview with The Oregonian, Paula's daughter and Courtney's mother Linda Carroll angrily confirms that her father is NOT Marlon Brando.

Rating:
Summary: Wrenching
Review: Hard to take all this in, how Paula Fox not only survived, but in some ways thrived and lived to write a memoir of her wrenching childhood. Her nutso parents (loving but out-od-his-depth father, cold and rejecting mother; both more interested in their own lives than in her) dropped her at an orphanage shortly after her birth in 1923. A series of mostly kindly people passed her on down the line, but of course there were scars.
From the distance of old age, Fox writes with careful prose and elegant understatement about her unimaginably tragic youth.
Beautiful, and very, very sad.