October 22, 2007
Merrill’s debut collection of essays—which details her many troubled relationships, struggles with bulimia and alcoholism, and sexual adventures—tries too hard to entertain the reader and ends up disappointing instead. Merrill sets the stage as she warns that these essays are “embarrassingly honest tales, some of which I have been reluctant to admit, even to myself, until now.” Her essay “First Born” explores her family background, providing some history to Merrill’s bulimia and alcoholism, which took over her life by the time she was 18. She excessively describes her binging, purging and bathroom obsession, and wanders into clichéd sentences (“Johnnie Walker was a devoted and attentive lover who followed me around like a shadow”). As she emerges from rehab with a clean slate, it is evident to Merrill that she has replaced her addiction to alcohol with an addiction to men; unfortunately, it proves to be equally unhealthy. Despite her intuition that most of the men she engages with are nothing but trouble, Merrill continues to date ones who take her money, cheat on her, string her along and stand her up. Merrill’s best essays are not about dating: in “Behind Bras,” she volunteers to play tennis with inmates at San Quentin prison, and in “Still Born,” she writes about growing up with her mother and her mother’s death when Merrill was 16.
January 15, 2008
Readers will learn and laugh as author Merrill, who runs a marketing communications company in California, reveals her constant struggles with life, love, and addiction in this absolutely hilarious memoir, also a realistic look at the author's emotional pain through the good times and bad. Merrill seems to have a knack for getting involved with all the wrong men: she repeatedly gets into the same types of messy, complicated, dysfunctional relationships. But through it all, she survives, maintaining her sense of wit to boot. Her book illustrates that life is truly a journey with many highs and lows, and it will appeal to all those who have fallen down and gotten back up again in their struggle to find themselves. Merrill has previously had two autobiographical essays published, in the anthologies "Single Women of a Certain Age" and "Single State of the Union". A great, quick read enjoyable from beginning to end; highly recommended for pubic libraries.Susan McClellan, Shaler North Hills Lib., Glenshaw, PA
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2008
Memoirs recounting relationship woes might be a dime a dozen, but Merrill bravely lays bare her oft unfortunate dating past in this daring, forthright venture. Battling anorexia, bulimia, and alcoholism in her teens and early twenties, Merrill manages to overcome both eating disorders and alcohol addiction only to find herself moving from one bad relationship to another. A serial mater, Merrill picks men who are emotionally unavailable, selfish, andas is the case with one louse, who swindles her out of thousands of dollarsmanipulative. Though she explores, at one point or another, almost every addiction-recovery group out there, she cant seem to kick her proclivity for bad men. Merrill waits until late in the book to reveal the tragedy that affected so much of her adult life, but when she does, it gives a clarity to the vibrant portrait of her life shes painted throughout. Women, whether they can relate to some or all of the manholes Merrill has fallen into, will especially be drawn to this sharp memoir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)