February 2013

As it opens in Pasadena, California in the early ’60s, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF US by Aria Beth Sloss starts as many stories do --- with two friends. One is quiet; the other is the new girl in town. Right from the beginning, Alex, the new girl, tells Becky that she has chosen her as her friend, seeing beyond the pretty popular girls to this shy one. From there, a bond is formed that will be tested and pushed, and stretched from one coast to the other, but will tie Alex and Becky, the very unlikely friends, together for decades. These girls do not want to become their mothers, who they see as trapped in their lives, but they are not sure how to break free to not become them.

Captured here are all the social mores that wrapped women’s lives up tight in the early ’60s --- and in the years to follow, we see what unfolds to unravel them. Along the way, the friendship fractures and fails, and then picks itself up and takes a very strange turn. I am cautioning you…NO reading ahead!

And oh, can I see book clubs having a field day with this one, as there are so many plot threads to explore. Let the discussions begin!