Book Rec of the Day 3/15/2007

MEMOIRS

You’d be forgiven for dismissing Gilman’s book as just a campy romp. Exhibit A: the silly title, the chick lit-style jacket design. But start reading, and you find a compelling and, yes, hilarious, memoir of growing up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the 1970s. There is substance beneath the pouf, and all Gen-Xers (and many of their parents) will relate to this bright, funny coming-of-age story. “If you don’t absolutely love this book, you are simply dead inside,” says Laurie Notaro (The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club).

HYPOCRITE IN A POUFFY WHITE DRESS: TALES OF GROWING UP GROOVY AND CLUELESS, by Susan Jane Gilman (Warner, 2005)