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And Other Life Stories
Random House
September 2007
On Sale: September 4, 2007
224 pages
ISBN: 1400063329
EAN: 9781400063321
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Celebrated for her award-winning political columns,
criticism, and poetry, Katha Pollitt now shows us another
side of her talent. Learning to Drive is a surprising,
revealing, and entertaining collection of stories drawn from
the author’s own life.
With deep feeling and sharp insight, Pollitt writes about
the death of her father; the sad but noble final days of a
leftist study group of which she was a member; and the
betrayal and heartbreak inflicted by a man who seriously
deceived her. (Her infinitely patient, gentle driving
instructor points out her weakness–“Observation, Katha,
observation!”) She also offers a candid view of her
preoccupation with her ex-lover’s haunting presence on the
Internet, and her search there for a secret link that might
provide a revelation about him that will Explain Everything. Other topics include the differences between women and
men–“More than half the male members of the Donner party
died of cold and starvation, but three quarters of the
females survived, saved by that extra layer of fat we spend
our lives trying to get rid of”–and the practical
implications of political theory: “What if socialism–all
that warmhearted folderol about community and solidarity and
sharing was just an elaborate con job, a way for men to
avoid supporting their kids?” Learning to Drive demonstrates that while Katha Pollitt is
undeniably one of our era’s most profound observers of
culture, society, and politics, she is just as impressively
a wise, graceful, and honest observer of her own and others’
human nature.
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