Life Stories #73: Annabelle Gurwitch

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photo: Jeanne Cole

I’ve known Annabelle Gurwitch for years, so I was delighted to have her as a guest on Life Stories to talk about her new collection of personal essays, I See You Made an Effort, when she came to New York on her book tour. It’s a wonderful series of reflections on turning 50, from humorous interludes like accompanying her teenage son to a rock concert to more serious stories like a gathering of women who come together to help a dying friend with an assisted suicide. Annabelle also opens up about her own family past in more detail than she’s ever shared in previous books, and, as she said during our conversation, “Luckily, there’s no money that I can be disinherited from.”

As a friend, I’m hugely biased in Annabelle’s favor, but I loved this book—both as a reading experience and as a dramatic monologue that I saw her workshop earlier this year—and I’m thrilled that it’s become a New York Times bestseller. If you haven’t picked it up yet, I hope this episode will convince you to give it a try.

Listen to Life Stories #73: Annabelle Gurwitch (MP3 file); or download this file by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click). Or subscribe to Life Stories in iTunes, where you can catch up with earlier episodes and be alerted whenever a new one is released. (And if you are an iTunes subscriber, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast!)

30 May 2014 | life stories |