Essays by a displaced over-40 divorcee with deep Midwestern roots
who moves to Manhattan. Onetime Minnesota Public Radio reporter
Lanpher decided as far back as her teens that she would never live
in New York because "I didn't want to pay the price." The point of
reference: a college acquaintance with an intimidating Park Avenue
address who liked to boast that "she had her own shrink."
Nonetheless, the day came: Lanpher was offered the job of co-host
of Al Franken's Air America radio show and-on a leap day, Feb.
29th-made the jump, renting out her beloved, cozy house in Saint
Paul and moving to an apartment in Greenwich Village. Initially,
these essays have a somewhat predictable tone; she is, to all New
Yorkers she meets, from cab drivers and deli countermen to
cold-staring strangers, the stereotypical out-of-towner, little
lost farm girl in the concrete jungle, etc. She doesn't know enough
to not hail a cab going the wrong way on a one-way street; she uses
odd words-like "sack" to mean "bag." As far as she's concerned,
it's one egregious faux pas after another. But behind her wit and
perspective, Lanpher rallies; she'll learn how to act, how to
dress, how to talk like a native and properly scorn the tourists.
Forcing its way into the picture, however, is some serious
introspection, about her failed marriage, about her childlessness
(she wonders, by choice?). Finally, after two years, she finds
herself "going home" on the subway in Manhattan.Tempting fare for
anyone who's ever wondered: Who am I and how did I get here?
(Kirkus Reviews)
Katherine Lanpher, whose essays have appeared in the New York Times
and More magazine, officially moved to Manhattan on a leap day,
transferring from a rooted life in the Midwest to a new job, a new
city, and a new sense of who she was. But re-invention is a tricky
business and starting over in the middle of life isn't for the
feint of heart. Katherine Lanpher's short essay on her first six
months in New York - 'A Manhattan Admonition' was published last
August in the New York Times op-ed page and remained on their list
of most e-mailed stories for weeks. Now she has written a book
chronicling how her past life and loves have prepared her for
unexpected discoveries in her new home. Lanpher looks back on her
marriage, her early days in newspapers, and her childhood in the
Midwest. And, with startling insight, she examines her new
world--how beauty is defined in New York, how the landscape differs
from the Midwest, and how good food and books have been constants
in her life.
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