Life in a Day

by Doris Grumbach

"Astonishes in its honesty. . . . What greater gift can a memoir bring than a self revealed in all its grubby particulars?" 
-Rebecca Pepper Sinkler,  The Washington Post Book World

"A diary of a day that encapsulates the memories, reflections, and yearnings of a lifetime as gracefully as a Fabergé egg captures spring sunlight in its tiny interior." 
- Kirkus Reviews

"For Grumbach, living is an adventure on the magic carpet ride of memory, reverie, and imagination.  Life in a Day  affirms the ripples of meaning which can emanate out of simple rituals, happenings, and activities."
-Frederic A. Brussat,  Body Mind Spirit

"[ Life in a Day ] illuminates the way memory has woven itself into the fabric of a rich life. . . . To spend a day with [Grumbach] is rewarding." 
-Patricia Roth Schwartz,  Lambda Book Report

"[A] wise and lovely little book." 
-Barbara Holliday,  Detroit Free Press

"This is a profoundly optimistic a validation of the strength and the tranquility to be found within the confines of the human mind." 
- Publishers Weekly , starred review

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, LGBT

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Doris Grumbach is an American novelist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist. She taught at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, and was literary editor of the The New Republic for several years. Since 1985, she has had a bookstore, Wayward Books, in Sargentville, Maine, that she operates with her partner, Sybil Pike.

Reviews

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's my first Doris Grumbach and will not be my last. I'd never heard of her until her name appeared in one of May Sarton's journals and turned up again in Margot Peters' biography of May Sarton. I love the idea of the 77 year old writer telling the story of one day though I wanted to know the exact day and date. Now, I'm thinking that perhaps there were hints of the date but I missed them because I read it so fast?

As a writer, I found it particularly interesting as an insight into how she approaches her work - via lots of guilt and procrastination ... just like myself. I just love stuff like this though I'd have liked to see photographs of the house - a la May Sarton. But I'm definitely checking out the rest of her memoirs. When I finished it this morning, I looked her up to see when she had died. Well, there is no death date as of yet, she is now 102 years old and her partner, I think, is still alive too!

[☕Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not generally a fan of memoirs, but I really enjoyed this little meditation on a single, ordinary day in a life. The author has a lovely way with words, and I found I could relate to much of what she wrote. I will look for more of her works.

[Betsy D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bu recounting her activities (few) and musings during one day of her then-current life in Maine, Doris Grumbach brings in many elements and one trip of her past. Notice of a bad review in the NYT brings out many feelings about writing and criticism.
If I had already been a fan, I might have found it more interesting. As the review of this book says, she seems to be very honest, since she reveals her moments, good and bad. Her most scathing words are reserved for a book she has been asked to review that consists of nothing but upbeat aphorisms about aging; it doesn't correspond with Grumbach's experience at all. If you want someone to commiserate with about the indignities of aging, you may like this book.

[Dr. Sabrina Molden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes in the beginning of the book. But, by the end, it seems she could have done much better at capturing her day. She acknowledges that the book was in response to “an event” (not to spoil) that occurred that day and was not necessarily about sharing the nature of the typical day of a writer. I guess I’ve been spoiled by the journals of Virginia Woolf and May Sarton which I have loved. Interestingly, she mentions them.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I enjoy well-written memoirs, and this one had an interesting premise: the details of an ordinary day in the author's life. Maybe this just wasn't the right time for me to read it; I got bore and quit.

[cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A contemporary of May Sarton, her approach to memoir at 77 in this book is the opposite of May's - to chronicle one day that is every day.

[Marianne Tudor-Craig]

Book Club April 2010 chosen by Karen

[Timothy Bazzett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourth Grumbach memoir for me, and, while there were a few moments in Life in a Day that seemed a bit tedious and repetitious, the book is totally redeemed by its frequent flashes of insight and witticisms which made me chuckle or laugh out loud. Doris even questions whether this book is really a memoir, saying it should probably be called a "commonplace book." In her ruminations she worries that she might be repeating herself - a problem common to the aged. And actually she does repeat herself here and there, but so what? We all do, and many of her repetitions bear repeating. (Hmm ... Does that make sense?) "No matter," as Doris frequently says, in transitioning from one digression to the next thought. I have written three volumes of memoirs myself and am currently working on a fourth. My wife is not a wholehearted supporter of my efforts, but I have learned to live with that. So I had to smile when I read that Grumbach's long-time partner, Sybil, is not exactly a happy camper about her memoir-writing either.

"Once when I was halfway through a second memoir, she said that this enterprise rather repelled her. She could not understand parading oneself out there for everyone who reads the book to see. It is a kind of self-promotion, she thought, and somewhat ignoble."

Point taken, Sybil, but I don't think you're taking into account the pleasure Doris's memoirs provide to people like me, several states and a thousand miles away. And the thousands like me who can so easily identify with the life of the mind that Doris's writing represents. And finally I had to laugh at a half-jokingly proposed title for whatever might be Doris's "last" memoir - "How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You?" Although I thought to myself more than once while reading this book, I wonder if anyone ever calls Doris "Grumpy Grumbach" or "Doleful Doris," in the end I was smiling as I closed the book. I could love this old woman. I admire her tremendously. She has definitely got "the right stuff."

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. Many times throughout the day(book) she mentions that this is a commonplace book. It is her mental journal, 24 hours of her day, she is funny and witty. Some of the things she wrote resonated greatly with me. She is in her 70's me in my 20's. Good light read. Interesting for those who journal themselves. :)

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it strange to be reading a story that spoke to how one will procrastinate in the course of a day, and yet to have written the story she had to have been working the entire time.

I enjoyed the exploring human nature in her microcosm of a single day. It was both simple and rich.

[Alisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly don't remember what this book was about. I read it for school.. there must have been a reason. Hmm.....

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quiet,thoughtful book. I haven't really gotten a handle on Grumbach's message, but I am glad I read this book.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premise hangs together better here than with Fifty Days of Solitude.