A Likely Story: One Summer with Lillian Hellman

by Rosemary Mahoney

Book Overview

Now in paperback--from the author of the acclaimed Whoredom in Kimmage , a moving, controversial, and supremely intelligent memoir of a bright and vulnerable teenager's hellish summer job. In 1978, Rosemary Mahoney, an aspiring young writer of seventeen, wrote her personal idol Lillian Hellman inquiring whether the famed woman of American letters might need domestic help for the summer. When Hellman responded affirmatively, Mahoney imagined an idyll...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038547931X
• ISBN13: 9780385479318
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

One of Our Best Descriptive Writers

I think Mahoney caught a lot of undeserved flak for attackingan idol like Hellman. The book contains some of the sharpest insightsand most vivid word pictures you'll find anywhere, and if the narrative bogs down from time to time, well, that's the price for such a talent for physical description. I myself fell in love with Mahoney after reading the book, though I admit I would dread the idea of actually meeting her since her powers of observation are quite cold-eyed and one wonders if anyone could survive them...

Good Mom, Bad Mom, Lily Dearest

First of all, this was a super-entertaining book and very good for a starry-eyed writer to read; bursts a necessary bubble. I've heard such tales before, but I needed another shot of reality, if only to protect my idols from ME!At the risk of irritating the obviously sensitive author (a mini-Miss-Lily?) my take on her experience is that she couldn't get mad at her wise and loving mother for being an alcoholic and polio victim who Rosemary felt she had to protect and constantly save from disaster. She was needed as a caretaker and her mother was so obviously debilitated and yet trying so hard to do a good, if exhausting job herself. Also, Rosemary had been abandoned by her father and had obviously been lied to about that by her mother. So how could she rebel against such a saintly, sad, charming, hard-working woman, the only true source of love in her life?O.K. Along comes Lillian Hellman - the perfect Mommie from Hell for a seventeen-year-old in need of someone or something to hate, hate, hate. They were made for each other. I loved them both in this vivid, hilarious, heartbreaking and compulsively readable story. Thanks to the author for many hours of enjoyment - I read half the book aloud to my husband, also a writer. PS - Opening descriptions of Vineyard locals, especially the grocery crew, are adorable.

a witty expose

This delightfully written memoir of disappointed youth harassed by vindictive old age is well worth the read. I can easily see Hellman as the woman about whom Mary McCarthy said, "Everthing that woman says is a lie, including 'and' and 'but.'" Mahoney's gimlet-eyed descriptions of Hellman's eccentricities and her lyrical depiction of the island are a pleasure to read.

funny and endearing coming of age story

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The great thing about Mahoney's writing is that she has the ability to transport one to the place and time of her stories. She does this so well that one fells as if one is actually in the story. Her descriptions of events are so incredible that one can almost hear the voices, smell the scents and touch and feel objects. Mahoney, although an adult now, brings us to the place of an adolescent's (in this case her own) coming of age. In fact she does such a good job that other reviewers want her (the adult Mahoney) to grow up. In misplaced criticism some feel the adult Mahoney hasn't yet grown up. I would say this only lends credence to Mahoney's ability to tell a great story. This is a story of adolescence angst and coming of age and if you want to tell the protagonist in the story to grow up than I would say Mahoney has done a great job of bringing the angst of adolescence to adult viewers. However, to criticize Mahoney as not having grown up herself yet only supports her ability to tell a realistic story. In this story we have been transported so cleverly to the place of adolescent angst that some of us want the author to grow up. Mahoney's story of adolescent angst and coming of age under the thumb of the irascible Hellman is not to be missed.

A masterpiece of language and obsrevation.

This book is great. Rosemary Mahoney has done it again. Her keen eye for the details of life combined with her sharp wit have produced an excellent work. Funny and sad, a portrait of a teenage aspiring writer whose dream summer becomes a bit of a nightmare. The book made me laugh out-loud and at times i felt my eyes well up with tears. I have read all of mahoney's books but this one is the best. I could not put it down.