About Alice

October 30, 2006
Trillin (A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme
), a staff writer with the New Yorker
since 1963, has often written about the members of his family, notably his wife, Alice, whom he married in 1965. A graduate of Wellesley and Yale, she was a writer and educator who survived a 1976 battle with lung cancer. In 1981, she founded a TV production company, Learning Designs, producing PBS's Behind the Scenes
to teach children creative thinking; her book Dear Bruno
(1996) was intended to reassure children who had cancer. A weakened heart due to radiation treatments led to her death on September 11, 2001, at age 63. Avoiding expressions of grief, Trillin unveils a straightforward, honest portrait of their marriage and family life in this slim volume, opening with the suggestion that he had previously mischaracterized Alice when he wrote her into "stories that were essentially sitcoms." Looking back on their first encounter, he then focuses on her humor, her beauty, her "child's sense of wonderment," her relationship with her daughters and her concern for others. Trillin's 12-page "Alice, Off the Page" was published earlier this year in the New Yorker
, and his expansion of his original essay into this touching tribute is certain to stir emotions.

December 1, 2006
Trillin's tribute to his late wife, Alice, was originally published in the March 27, 2006, issue of "The New Yorker", where he has been a staff writer since 1963. Trillin's fans came to know Alice as the muse, accomplice, and traveling companion often mentioned in his magazine pieces and books (e.g., "Alice, Let's Eat"). This book begins with comments about condolence letters the author received from his fans, who felt they knew Alice as a friend. Trillin recalls incidents and events that reveal Alice's best qualities. She was a devoted parent, he explains, who valued family dinners and involvement in school activities. Her love of teaching found her offering courses at correctional facilities and drug treatment programs. She also produced a PBS series on visual and performing arts for children. As the story reveals, Alice realized that how one holds up in the face of a life-threatening illness is the measure of whether one remains in control of one's identity. While not at the center of the story, Trillin's account of Alice's attitude about her cancer serves as a positive lesson. Further, the love and respect Trillin shows for his wife surpasses the length of this slim volume. Recommended for larger public libraries.Joyce Sparrow, Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas Cty., FL

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2006
Anyone who has devotedly followed Trillin's decades of writing in the " New Yorker " about matters contemporary knows intimately Trillin's affection for his wife, Alice, who succumbed to lung cancer in 2001. His readers had grown accustomed to Alice's illuminating presence in Trillin's poetry and prose, and they grieved, if more remotely, almost equally deeply, the loss of the writer's companion, lover, and inspiration. This succinct account of Alice's upbringing, their meeting, their romance, their family, and her career beyond that of Trillin's helpmeet, offers glimpses into a multifaceted character. The optimism Alice radiated reflected that of her father, who kept his family together despite business reverses, and her life bore witness to a profound and encompassing embrace of the meaning of love, which Trillin documents in vivid anecdotes. Consonant with the woman's strength and courage, her unaffected outreach to fellow victims of death-dealing disease sets a worthy standard for tender yet honest compassion. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)

February 26, 2007
Trillin's narration of his loving reminiscences of his late wife Alice might best be described as an "unobtrusive" narration: he steps back and lets the words speak for themselves. Unlike many other autobiographical narrators, he does not try to create the illusion of spontaneity or intimacy, as though speaking directly to the listener. He reads clearly and with expression, but it is always obvious that he is reading from a printed text. As a result, this audio offers the same experience as reading the printed version: the listener is deeply moved by the words and gets a vivid picture of this complex and admirable woman, but the narration itself does not add additional emotional nuance or insight beyond what is in the words themselves. But the words are so powerful that Trillin's love and admiration for Alice still shine through. Simultaneous release with the Random House hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 30).