Taking in Secondhand Criticism

“I loved your book but my mom didn’t”

Nina Renata Aron

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Photo by ASTERISK KWON on Unsplash

A memoir is not actually an invitation for people to judge the events of your life — it’s a work of literature and memory. But readers don’t always see it that way. They often take reading one as an opportunity to evaluate the author’s life decisions, especially if that person is a woman. Double if she’s a mother.

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Nina Renata Aron

Author of Good Morning, Destroyer of Men’s Souls: A Memoir of Women, Addiction, and Love. Work in NYT, New Republic, the Guardian, Jezebel, and more.