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Now and Then
Reminiscences by the author about her own childhood and about raising her twin daughters.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 13, 2017
Not my favorite of Kimbrough's books, but she still had me laughing out loud.
July 21, 2026
Kind of a high three (it got better as it went along, but not soon enough to wiggle into 4-star territory for me, I'm strict).
Her approach didn't really make sense and wasn't consistent: she argues that she thinks about everything in pairs, but it wasn't really clear how that manifested in her anecdotes. Really, just call it "Reminiscences" (or something better) and then follow up with "Reminiscences 2" and so on for further sequels, rather than trying to find a theme which didn't work.
Far and away her best book is the joint effort Our Hearts Were Young and Gay which told a consistent story from start to finish. When she leaned in to longer-form anecdotes, this book improved. There was a large section on a production of Medea that was fascinating, had that been the book it might have got five stars. When she got to the bit that revealed who was playing the messenger I gasped.
She seems like a nice lady, I'm going to keep reading her (these are my walk-to-the-far-away-bathroom-at-work books, yes, I read while walking down lengthy academic hallways, I read on every occasion, from waiting-for-the-kettle to watering-the-plants). But I know not to expect more than a high three, with the occasional more thrilling anecdote tucked between the also-rans.
I will, however, always remember "Everyone has a toilet, and it's not funny."
What really makes this books work, though, is simply the passage of time. When she mentions fairly commonplace items or activities, the kind of things nobody in a high-faluting novel would deign to stoop to discuss, it gets fascinating. Bits of clothing we don't now wear, or modes of behaviour once commonplace, now lost forever. It was through Ms. Kimbrough that I discovered there used to be electric cars, over a hundred years ago, nobody batted an eye at them. I had no idea. Those details are unintentionally the most riveting parts of the tales.
Read more of my ramblings at my blog The Wunsapon.
[Note: 5 star = loved it | 4 star = liked it lots | 3 star = it was fine | 2 star = disappointing | 1 star = hated it]
Her approach didn't really make sense and wasn't consistent: she argues that she thinks about everything in pairs, but it wasn't really clear how that manifested in her anecdotes. Really, just call it "Reminiscences" (or something better) and then follow up with "Reminiscences 2" and so on for further sequels, rather than trying to find a theme which didn't work.
Far and away her best book is the joint effort Our Hearts Were Young and Gay which told a consistent story from start to finish. When she leaned in to longer-form anecdotes, this book improved. There was a large section on a production of Medea that was fascinating, had that been the book it might have got five stars. When she got to the bit that revealed who was playing the messenger I gasped.
She seems like a nice lady, I'm going to keep reading her (these are my walk-to-the-far-away-bathroom-at-work books, yes, I read while walking down lengthy academic hallways, I read on every occasion, from waiting-for-the-kettle to watering-the-plants). But I know not to expect more than a high three, with the occasional more thrilling anecdote tucked between the also-rans.
I will, however, always remember "Everyone has a toilet, and it's not funny."
What really makes this books work, though, is simply the passage of time. When she mentions fairly commonplace items or activities, the kind of things nobody in a high-faluting novel would deign to stoop to discuss, it gets fascinating. Bits of clothing we don't now wear, or modes of behaviour once commonplace, now lost forever. It was through Ms. Kimbrough that I discovered there used to be electric cars, over a hundred years ago, nobody batted an eye at them. I had no idea. Those details are unintentionally the most riveting parts of the tales.
Read more of my ramblings at my blog The Wunsapon.
[Note: 5 star = loved it | 4 star = liked it lots | 3 star = it was fine | 2 star = disappointing | 1 star = hated it]
February 23, 2017
I’m going to be sad the day I finally work my way through the last of Emily Kimbrough’s delightful books of reminiscences about her childhood, her children, her travels, her friends, and the rest of her interesting life. Luckily for me, that day is still a few books away. Also, this morning I stumbled on an archive of her New Yorker pieces, so perhaps there is more material to keep me happy. (And then there is Kimbrough’s dear friend, Cornelia Otis Skinner, to read!) Some of these stories had me laughing out loud, wishing for someone to read bits and pieces to. The story of her daughter’s mumps, subsequently infecting not just their whole family, but a wide circle of family and friends, was very funny (though probably not so much to them at the time!), but to find out that it all started with that 12-year-old daughter’s first kiss, and that the kiss was bestowed by figure skater Dick Button, made me giggle and look up pictures of young “Dickie.” When college-girl Emily had her own first kiss a generation earlier, her complete innocence made her fear certain disgrace, and what she “did about it” (and told her friends to do) almost got her expelled from Bryn Mawr, until the misunderstanding was corrected. There isn’t a bad story in the book.
October 30, 2015
Travel writer and lecturer Kimbrough reminisces about her life, with anecdotes about some of her friends (better known, perhaps, forty years ago then now). This is gentle, relaxing reading, with an upper-middle-class bias, more attractive to those who have read Kimbrough's other books, perhaps.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews