Write your own review!
Diana P. (Schulenburg, TX)
North of Crazy
Neltje Doubleday has had a very interesting life of financial security and cultural society. Her childhood was a nightmare of abandonment by her totally dysfunctional parents. She is a survivor who had to fight everyone and everything to get what was rightfully hers. Later in life she became the most stable and successful member of her family. She is a well known artist, an entrepreneur, a rancher and most of all a strong woman who is comfortable in her own skin. She is someone I would really like to meet. Anyone who likes to see a woman find her place in life and become self sufficient will certainly enjoy
…more reading this book and it would definitely make for good book club discussions. (less)What is the difference between a memoir and an autobiography that reads like a novel? Whichever this is, memoir or autobiography, North is a fascinating book and reads like fiction...surely it must be fiction. No, truth once again trumps fiction.
Neltje, daughter of the owner of Doubleday experiences abuse and criminal, shocking acts at a very young age. She lives in an environment similar to Gatsby. It is all hard to comprehend for a reader and astonishing that this person could turn out to be such a loving and productive figure in her later life. She abandons all of the East coast lifestyle and moves out west
…more where her heart is captured by openness and freedom.
A great book...don't miss it. (less)Enjoyed reading the book and feel it was well written. It is amazing that the author was able to raise a well adjusted family given the way she was raised. What a survivor, and one who went on to have a fruitful life as an artist. You can clearly see how lack of love as a child can lead to bonding issues.
Meredith K. (Hackensack, NJ)
Thanks Mom and Dad for caring
This was a heart filled true story of Neltje Doubleday of the Doubleday Publishing fortune, who as a youngster was bullied by her arrogant, opinionated, and perpetually drunk father and a mother also a drunk and narcissist who used her children, Nelson Jr and Neltje as "show pieces" to be presented to their business friends"
You cringed as you read all the details of their upbringing and the cruelties that especially Neltje had to endure.
After two disastrous marriages Neltje finally becomes "the person she was meant to be" and not the socialite her parents raised her to become.
By the end of the memoir you're
…more rooting for Neltje and happy that she is finally at peace.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting, good read. (less)This book is a memoir written by Neltje Doubleday. She was the daughter of the founder of Doubleday Books and Doubleday Publishing. Her memoir starts as far back as she can remember as a child, daughter of a self absorbed mother and a traveling father who when was present was usually found drinking and entertaining. Neltje and her brother were raised by a governess and the household servants. She had a traumatic childhood feeling unloved and not wanted which later in adult life had a profound effect on her marriages and her decision not to stay in the family business and ended up moving to Wyoming, becoming a
…more rancher, an expressionist painter and where she still lives today well into her 80's. (less)I enjoyed the book. That is if one can enjoy a front row seat into another person's life. Perhaps it's better to say I was engaged by it. Neltje is a complex woman and her writing reflects this. The book reads slowly, almost tentatively, when she is recounting difficult, tragic times of her life.. It's ever with self-pity or even regret. A longing perhaps for what wasn't. When she's in love with life, her children, a man, her art, the story practically skips with lightness. The books reads like life. The sad taking it time to pass, the good moving at light speed.. An unusual book about a strong, sensitive and
…more brilliant human being. Definitely worth the read, maybe a few times. As with her art, the book challenges it's reader to find how it fits into their own life. Bravo Neltje. Bravo. (less)This was a very well written autobiography. Her life was more interesting and I read it quicker after she started her life in Wyoming. That said, you needed the first part of her life to understand the life she made for herself. She is the ultimate survivor. I thought she was at her best in Wyoming. She has a profound connection with art and nature. I feel that they were therapy for her. I felt bad that she was not able to reconnect with her brother Nelson. This is a very good memoir. It would be good for book clubs and for feminists. She brings up many issues that deal with inequalities in the way women and men
…more are treated. This book would also be of interest to older women. (less)I had never heard of Neltje until I opened this book. And then, there she was--the daughter of a prominent publisher, a child desperately wanting to be loved, a wife and mother trying to live according to the rules of a society she never felt part of, and, finally, a woman who took her life in her own two hands and created the life she had always envisioned for herself. Neltje's journey was populated with many prominent authors, artists and people of renown. She lived her life on a wide stage.
Neltje was born into a very wealthy family. Her father was an alcoholic. Her mother was an enabler who believed that men
…more should always win and women should stay in the background. Neltje was not a "stay in the background" kind of girl! She stood up for what she believed, no matter the opposition. She was fiercely determined. After years of searching for her unique "voice" she found herself in Wyoming where she discovered the space to develop her artistic expression and as an extra bonus learned how to manage a restaurant!
I found Neltje fascinating, flaws and all. I loved that she threw herself into whatever situation loomed ahead of her with grit and determination. Her memoir paints her as a woman who lived her life--the great times, the dark times, and all the in-between times--to the fullest.
I'm suggesting this book to my book club. Neltje certainly gives a clear description of a woman's situation in the 50"s and 60"s and it's a far cry from where women find themselves today. It was inspiring to me to see what she was able to accomplish for herself. Good read! (less)
.gif)