{"product_id":"scratched-a-memoir-of-perfectionism-isbn-9780062410375","title":"Scratched: A Memoir of Perfectionism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Reading \u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e gave me the feeling of standing very close to a blazing fire. It is that brilliant, that intense, and one of the finest explorations I know of what it means to be a woman and an artist.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Sigrid Nunez, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Friend\u003c\/em\u003e and Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn this bold and brilliant memoir, the acclaimed author of the novel \u003cem\u003eMuseum Pieces\u003c\/em\u003e and the collection \u003cem\u003eMendocino Fire\u003c\/em\u003e explores the ferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her writing life as well as her rich, dramatic, and constantly surprising personal life\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the decade between\u003cbr\u003eage twenty-seven and thirty-seven, Elizabeth Tallent published five literary\u003cbr\u003ebooks with Knopf, her short stories appeared in \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker, \u003c\/em\u003eand she\u003cbr\u003esecured a coveted teaching job at Stanford University. But this extraordinary\u003cbr\u003estart to her career was followed by twenty-two years of silence. She wrote —or\u003cbr\u003erather published— nothing at all. Why? \u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e is the remarkable\u003cbr\u003eresponse to that question.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElizabeth’s story\u003cbr\u003ebegins in a hospital in mid-1950s suburban Washington, D.C., when her mother\u003cbr\u003erefuses to hold her newborn daughter, shocking behavior that baffles the\u003cbr\u003enurses. Imagining her mother’s perfectionist ideal at this critical moment,\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth moves back and forth in time, juxtaposing moments in the past with\u003cbr\u003ethe present in this innovative and spellbinding narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe traces her journey\u003cbr\u003efrom her early years in which she perceived herself as “the child whose flaws\u003cbr\u003elet disaster into an otherwise perfect family,” to her adulthood, when\u003cbr\u003eperfectionism came to affect everything. As she toggles between teaching at\u003cbr\u003eStanford in Palo Alto and the Mendocino coast where she lives, raises her son\u003cbr\u003eGabriel, and pursues an important psychoanalysis, Elizabeth grapples with the\u003cbr\u003eferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her personal life and writing\u003cbr\u003elife. Eventually, she finds love and acceptance in the most unlikely place, and\u003cbr\u003efinally accepts an “as is” relationship with herself and others.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer final triumph is\u003cbr\u003ethe writing of this extraordinary memoir, filled with wit, humor, and\u003cbr\u003eheart—a brave book that repeatedly searches for the emotional truth beneath the\u003cbr\u003econventional surface of existence.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e is a brave and complex memoir…Tallent brings an intellectual rigor to her memoir that recalls Kathryn Harrison and Dani Shapiro. She is capable of beautiful precision…The lesson, which also applies to this book, is that there’s beauty and value in imperfection, too.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeller McAlpin, Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Honest and moving.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePsychology Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A singular and haunting memoir…The book approaches the mysteries, gaps and obstacles in Tallent’s own story with the same psychological precision and elliptical motivation she applies to her fictional characters…Elizabeth Tallent’s gift has never been in doubt…She has written a subtle and idiosyncratic account that tries to elucidate her decades-long writer’s block even as she recognizes that—as with so much in anyone’s life—she cannot fully grasp it. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a memoir quite like this, one that spills its many dark secrets with so little self-pity, so much acuity and such a deliberate lack of authorial certitude.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaphne Merkin, New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Fascinating…The passages in \u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e that deal with writer’s block will have the effect of quicksand on anyone who’s struggled to express herself on paper. You sink under, horrified and enthralled…\u003cem\u003e Scratched \u003c\/em\u003eproceeds on strong sentences, sleek with a hard, dark lacquer…There is a sadomasochism, then, to the reading and writing of [it], and Tallent is never so alluring as when she’s parsing her own prison.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker.com, Page-Turner\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[\u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e is] a harrowing story of overcoming perfectionism, leavened by [Tallent’s] dry wit and precise, poetic use of language. . . . This book is a record of Tallent’s struggle to show her scratches and to believe, as her young son tells her one day after spilling a glass of milk, ‘Everybody makes mistakes.’” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAssociated Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Chaotic, tumbling, and beautiful prose. . . . \u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e is a pure and consuming pleasure. Its messiness feels both defiant and intentional, a middle finger raised to perfectionism. . . . Tallent's juxtaposition of style and structure with subject matter is her memoir's big victory. It's also refreshing to read…Reading \u003cem\u003eit\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ereminded me how exhilarating disorderly writing can be… \u003cem\u003eScratched \u003c\/em\u003eis a performance of, and appeal for, urgency. It's a call I hope other writers will be able to heed.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLily Meyer, NPR.org\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A profound new memoir, Tallent takes readers deep into her own internal high-pressure chambers of self-loathing and not-enough-ness — feelings that can goad creativity, but also ultimately shut it down…\u003cem\u003eA\u003c\/em\u003e tentative embrace of creating something contradictory and new is finally what this oddly enthralling memoir embodies.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMaureen Corrigan, NPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Ms. Tallent’s exploration of perfectionism is an exploration of living as a writer and living as a woman…But as she turns perfectionism over, studying its facets, its idiosyncrasies, it becomes clear that this disorder stems from something more universal than writing or womanhood: the loss of love…Her writing is beautiful and precise, full of flashing insights and bracing honesty.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eElizabeth Winkler, Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Reading \u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e gave me the feeling of standing very close to a blazing fire. It is that brilliant, that intense, and one of the finest explorations I know of what it means to be a woman and an artist.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSigrid Nunez, author of The Friend and Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tallent published four lauded books in the 1980s and 1990s, but this is not a memoir about that; readers meet her again as a Stanford professor and the divorced mother of her young son, grasping for the root of her perfectionism and its stunting effects on her writing. Tallent's personal literary endeavor contains many wildly evocative passages and breathtaking sentences, making it a must-read for lovers of writers’ memoirs.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888808030437,"sku":"NP9780062410375","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062410375.jpg?v=1730229870","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/scratched-a-memoir-of-perfectionism-isbn-9780062410375","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}