Katya’s Reviews > Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag > Status Update

Boring, like servile, was one of her favorite words. Another was exemplary. Also, serious. “You can tell how serious people are by looking at their books.” She meant not only what books they had on their shelves, but how the books were arranged.

She told me that, when David was growing up, every time she did something that was the opposite of how her mother had done it (for example, encouraging him to go into her wallet anytime without asking and take whatever he wanted), she’d give herself points. “It felt so good to be able to say, I’m not like my mother.”

Her asthma would turn out to be troublesome enough that, following doctors’ advice, the family would leave New York City, where Susan was born, and, after a brief stay in Miami, settle in Tucson. She would later suffer also from migraines and from periods of anemia. She remembered drinking daily glasses of the blood that her mother brought home from the butcher (an image I found very disturbing).

“It’s always good to start off anything by breaking a rule.”For her, arriving late was the rule. “The only time I worry about being late is for a plane or for the opera.”When people complained about always having to wait for her, she was unapologetic.“I figure, if people aren’t smart enough to bring along something read...”(But when certain people wised up and she ended up having to wait for them,she was not pleased)

Exceptionalism.Was it really a good idea for the three of us—Susan, her son, myself—to share the same household?Shouldn’t David and I get a place of our own?She said she saw no reason why we couldn’t all go on living together, even if David and I were to have a child.She’d gladly support us all if she had to, she said.And when I expressed doubts:“Don’t be so conventional. Who says we have to live like everyone else?”