A Likely Story: One Summer with Lillian Hellman By Rosemary Mahoney
Rosemary didn't just tell me a story. She invited me to join her in this miserable journey. And I suffered with her. As a 65-year-old reading this book, I well identified with the naive, inexperienced and hopeful 17-year-old. Now at 65, I can identify with the 72-year-old Hellman who was losing her youth, independence and probably compos mentis. Both of them babies, of a different kind, traveling through life navigating their way towards peace and purpose, they were a bad fit for each other. Rosemary Mahoney How much can you say, I really hated this book. Rosemary Mahoney A book is suppose to get a reaction out of you and boy did this book get a reaction. A angry one. I guess because I was once a 16 year old girl who got a job in eastern Colorado by telling a white lie. Just like Rosemary. My lie was that I knew how to cook. Well I thought I knew how to cook.
I learned so many lessons that summer such as: how to really cook, how to work with others, how to take orders, How to be a part of a team. I had a stern task maser who realized after one day I really could not cook. She left me detailed recipes and all the items I would need and I was absolutely terrified. Out of the 12 count crew I cooked for, I only once got one complaint because the boss lady gave a stern look to them as to say nothing. So every one kept their mouth shut and ate.
I worried a lot, I cried, I called my grandma. Got detailed notes the next day on how to do my job better. Believe me I read those notes. I learned so much. I appreciated the lessons. The loneliness of being at the big farm all day with no one to talk to gazing into the bright blue sky and rows of wheat fields and in the end the $100 check for one month of work. I knew how to cook after that. More than macaroni and grilled cheese.
The book Rosemary writes she is a critical little know it all at seventeen. She hates her boss finds every reason to hate her yet she gets to live on the beach, learn about gardening, cooking, doing a job right, and living with an elderly lady who is mostly blind and forgetful, opinionated and clearly fragile.
Rosemary still finds ways to prove she's right. Because well don't we all know everything at 17? I hated this book. But it gave me a lot to think about. Like compassion. Its not who is right or wrong, learning a lesson in each situation, being appreciative, learning how to be compassionate to a senior citizen. Because after all wont we all become a senior citizen one day. Forgetful, frail, scared? I think so.... So my advice to any 17 year old is this you cant always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need. Mick Jagger.
Four stars for getting a rise out of me. Rosemary Mahoney I had no idea exactly who Lillian Hellman was when I began this book; I was interested in the I worked for a literary celebrity angle. The author's summer job didn't work out as well as she'd expected - partly due to Hellman's being a rather difficult employer much of the time, as well as the fact that she'd been hired as a domestic servant (Hellman wanted her to wear a maid's uniform, but she got out of it), not a companion: housework, errands, some cooking. Her employer does sometimes play deliberate mind games, as well as being subject to bad moods and forgetfulness. However, there are points where she's kind and patient as well; I was left wondering whether she contacted the author the next spring regarding coming back again? Mahoney does get a glimpse of the (Vineyard) celebrity scene, leaving me not at all sorry to have missed it myself - not that those folks are rude or obnoxious, but that they're so insular.
As for the book itself, Mahoney does a terrific job evoking the people and places involved, both on Martha's Vineyard with Hellman, and in the alternating flashbacks to her own life. The latter didn't interest me much, after getting the basic idea that she was one of seven kids, raised by a single mom, attending a very prestigious boarding school.
Overall, I liked the book, though perhaps not for the reason(s) the author intended? Rosemary Mahoney The woman writes like a dream. Rosemary Mahoney
Now in paperback--from the author of the acclaimed Whoredom in Kimmage , a moving, controversial, and supremely intelligent memoir of a bright and vulnerable teenager's hellish summer job.
In 1978, Rosemary Mahoney, an aspiring young writer of seventeen, wrote her personal idol Lillian Hellman inquiring whether the famed woman of American letters might need domestic help for the summer. When Hellman responded affirmatively, Mahoney imagined an idyll on Martha's Vineyard of mentoring and friendship. But in reality Mahoney's summer unfolded into an exquisite and grueling exercise in humiliation at the hands of the acerbic Hellman and her retinue of celebrated acquaintances. By turns heartbreaking and uproariously funny, A Likely Story portrays the coming-of-age of a brilliant and troubled young woman--a universal tale of illusions shattered and an object lesson in the often misdirected search for heroes. A Likely Story: One Summer with Lillian Hellman
This is a tough review because I vacillated between a 2 and 4 star which seems strange but here’s the thing. Other than an excessive use of metaphors it was beautifully and frankly written. In some ways it was a good story, or at least it held my interest - but I would have enjoyed a memoir about her family more than one about the famous author (I’d actually never heard of her) with whom she lived for a summer.
Here’s why I ended up with the 2-star decision: there was no relief from the negativity. The woman with whom she lived - Lillian Hellman - may not have been the nicest person in the world, but she obviously had some redeeming qualities since she had plenty of friends. But it was exhausting reading Mahoney’s account of Hellman, almost demonizing her.
What was most off-putting was how frequently the author complained about feeling ignored. Hello. She was hired as an employee. Granted, Hellman could have been nicer but she was an old eccentric crotchety woman so give her a break.
In fairness, the author was 17 at the time she worked for her but she’s writing a book that’s looking back on that time of her life and it just felt mean and snarky, especially with her constant physical descriptions of an aging woman. That was just awful. Most of the time she sounded like she just wanted to write this book to dispense her rage. And her snotty attitude and petty revelations about other famous people who visited the house were equally distasteful to me.
This book would have been really good if the author had presented a more holistic portrait of Hellman, if she’d given us some comic relief, and/or if she had written the book as a humorous reflection on her own ineptitude and lack of qualification for a job which she got by lying. Rosemary Mahoney I can't believe I'm giving such a low rating to such a well written book. This is Mahoney's memory of the summer she was 17 and worked as Lillian Hellman's housekeeper on Martha's Vineyard. Guess what--Hellman treated her as if she were... an employee!! She never invited Mahoney to eat with her, or to join her and famous guests for drinks. When Hellman was served her meals, she expected Mahoney to leave the room, not join her for breakfast. She expected Mahoney to clean the floors and cook the meals and help her dress. Can you imagine that she expected this of the woman she hired to work for her?? At this point in her life, Hellman is 73, close to blind, alcoholic, scared, unable to do much without help. Mahoney is so ungenerous in her portrait of Hellmann, so mean spirited, it is shocking. Do we really need a description of how awful her 73 year old breasts look? Is it necessary to repeatedly mention her yellowed teeth, wrinkled skin, etc? And most of the shocking stuff Hellmann supposedly did is far from. She cheated at Scrabble!! She passed off cheap wine as expensive wine!! She cursed! She yelled! Big surprise.
Well written, yes, but so mean spirited that it was impossible for me to enjoy. Rosemary Mahoney It's funny, I spent a summer working on Martha's Vineyard too. Walter Cronkite hired me to help maintain his sailboat, and I had a similar experience.
'Hey, you there, what am I paying you for, my boat is a mess!' he said one day.
'Yes, I noticed that too, Wally' I said. I called him 'Wally', he didn't seem to like that, but I thought it seemed a bit less formal than 'Mr. Cronkite', or 'Walter'. I thought a casual attitude would lead to discussions of my feelings and ideas, rather than force us to focus on what I had been hired to do, which was to make sure his sail boat remained sea worthy.
'Well, could you get some work done, why did I hire you ?'
'I wish you would ask me about my feelings!, I have thoughts and opinions, you know! What about my ideas on U.S. foreign policy. Let's sit down and discuss the news of the day, Wally'.
'I thought you knew about sail boats, you haven't done any work here at all!'
'What about me!' I cried, and yes, I cried a lot. Weeping on the deck of the sail boat, while sitting in a lounge chair and working on my tan.
'That's the way it is, you lazy bum, that's the way it is! Now get to work!'
What a kidder that Wally was. Oh well, back to working on my tan I guess.
Ok, I'm kidding. I never worked for Mr. Cronkite, but who would believe that I did anyway if I wrote like that ? I'm exaggerating the style a bit, but you get the idea. I found this to book to be laughable. Written by a self-centered person clueless as to anything or anyone else but herself. Rosemary Mahoney Rosemary Mahoney’s genre-bending book, A Likely Story: One Summer with Lillian Hellman, creates a fascinating portrait of the famous writer at the same time that it tells the story of the teen Mahoney was in the summer of 1978.
Mahoney was 17 and went to work as a housekeeper for Lillian Hellman on Martha’s Vineyard that summer. This book explores her experience with Hellman. Because Hellman was famous and a larger-than-life character, the book operates a bit as a biography, but truly it’s Mahoney’s coming-of-age memoir.
Her father had passed away, her mother was an alcoholic, and Rosemary needed a job. She was about as equipped to be a housekeeper as I would have been at 17, which is to say, not at all. She had read Hellman’s memoir An Unfinished Woman and idolized her.
If you thought you knew Hellman, you will soon learn that there is a lot more to find out. The picture Mahoney creates of the older woman is not positive or uplifting, but it certainly glitters with star power. Under Mahoney’s pen, Hellman is not a nice person, and Mahoney grows to despise her; even so, there is some sort of attachment between the two women. After all, Mahoney was completely unsuited for the job and could (should?) have been fired by Hellman at any moment. A very complicated relationship shapes up as the book goes on.
Reading what Mahoney went through with Hellman, made me think there is some truth to this expression: whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Mahoney learned invaluable lessons that summer–maybe most importantly, not to fear anyone else and to have confidence.
Rosemary Mahoney This is the Mahoney's recollection of a summer she spent when she was 17 years old as Lillian Hellman's housekeeper, a woman she alternately idolizes and despises. Mahoney is honest, and doesn't come off as favorably as her mentor, but for that she (and her mentor) should both be given credit. Hellman didn't write that prettily about herself either. There were moments in the book that I wanted to sit the 17-year-old Mahoney down and say, What did you expect? You lied your way into a job you know you are not qualified for and you think Hellman should fawn all over you like some prodigy when you don't give any indication of being anything more than a sullen, resentful child?
Mahoney seems to take great pleasure in describing the aged and withered body of Ms. Hellman, focusing on her infirmities as if they were flaws in character or a personal affront to Mahoney's own wish for a Hellman who would be her best buddy and forgo her own personal taste in food in order to satisfy Mahoney's more limited range of appetite. There is a revealing passage of dialog when Ms. Hellman comments on some of the books Mahoney is reading, drawing astute conclusions from their content about Mahoney's interests that even she did not comprehend, as well as a tender moment when Ms. Hellman explains the importance of understanding your own mind.
Overall, I felt like the story revealed more of Mahoney's immaturity, lack of generational respect, comprehension of employment in the service industry and the futility of attempting to find resolution for the dysfunctional relationship she had with her alcoholic mother through her contempt for Ms. Hellman's drinking. Though Mahoney spends a lot of time explaining why she feels resentment, Ms. Hellman isn't allowed the same luxury, yet she is the one who comes off more favorably. She might have been a real drag to a 17-year-old girl, but she was a fascinating woman to many adults for the last two thirds of the 20th century. Rosemary Mahoney
