{"product_id":"scratched-a-memoir-of-perfectionism-paperback","title":"Scratched: A Memoir of Perfectionism - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eElizabeth Tallent\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the decade between age twenty-seven and thirty-seven, Elizabeth Tallent published five literary books with Knopf, her short stories appeared in \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker, \u003c\/em\u003eand she secured a coveted teaching job at Stanford University. But this extraordinary start to her career was followed by twenty-two years of silence. She wrote --or rather published-- nothing at all. Why? \u003cem\u003eScratched\u003c\/em\u003e is the remarkable response to that question.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElizabeth's story begins in a hospital in mid-1950s suburban Washington, D.C., when her mother refuses to hold her newborn daughter, shocking behavior that baffles the nurses. Imagining her mother's perfectionist ideal at this critical moment, Elizabeth moves back and forth in time, juxtaposing moments in the past with the present in this innovative and spellbinding narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe traces her journey from her early years in which she perceived herself as \"the child whose flaws let disaster into an otherwise perfect family,\" to her adulthood, when perfectionism came to affect everything. As she toggles between teaching at Stanford in Palo Alto and the Mendocino coast where she lives, raises her son Gabriel, and pursues an important psychoanalysis, Elizabeth grapples with the ferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her personal life and writing life. Eventually, she finds love and acceptance in the most unlikely place, and finally accepts an \"as is\" relationship with herself and others.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHer final triumph is the writing of this extraordinary memoir, filled with wit, humor, and heart--a brave book that repeatedly searches for the emotional truth beneath the conventional surface of existence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 240\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 7.9 x 5.2 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 23, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51789768982816,"sku":"9780062410399","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/f77d4925b4cf9c219273f4738a6b133d.webp?v=1780668601","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/scratched-a-memoir-of-perfectionism-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}