Quirky fun. ( )

Just as delightful in the second reading as in the first one. ( )

I read 70 pages of this 221-page memoir and then gave myself permission to return it to the library. When I began to make excuses for myself so I wouldn’t have to read another page, I knew it was time to move on.

The book is described as “part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination.” I did not find this a joyful romp. It was a sad and depressing slog. ( )

I listened to this memoir on audio as was recommended. I enjoyed it but may not have kept up with it in print. The narration was more compelling than the plot in the beginning. I stuck with it and am glad I did. I was not familiar with the Duchess and her social media following. It was fun to learn the backstory and her commentary was enjoyable. In many ways, it’s a sad story of loss and grief, but her success in battling back by creating a world of kindness was uplifting. ( )

A publisher told me I was approved for a book but also said I needed to be on specific social media accounts. Including Twitter. So, I created an account and followed publishers and authors I had read or was reading and other bookish folk. Those authors referred to other Twitter accounts which I then followed. An author shared something by Benjamin Dryer, and I followed him and bought his delightful and informative book Dreyer’s English and read it. Another author mentioned Elizabeth McCracken and I followed her and bought her novel delightful comic Bowlaway and read it (and every book she has published since.) And it was likely from them that I discovered Duchess Goldbatt, for they were early Duchess fans.

No one knew who was writing the Duchess’s posts. They were funny and sharp. They were compassionate and inspiring.

When the Duchess wrote her memoir Becoming Duchess Goldblatt I bought it and it has been on my ebook TBR shelf for a long time. I promised myself I would to ‘free reading’ between now and the end of the year, and then put my nose to the grindstone again tacking the review books waiting for me. I opened Duchess to check her out, and ended up reading the memoir in a day.

Fictional people can now give blood. Of course, we have always given our blood; we have always poured out every bit of ourselves to you.
from Becoming Duchess Goldblatt

The author tells the story of the end of her marriage, suddenly and cruelly, separating her from her family by marriage and from her preschool son, costing her financial security and the new house they had just moved into. Even her friends seemed to offer no comfort. Her job was being phased out. The shock of it all closed her down and she was detached from everything but her pain.

The author needed something to distract her. She opened a social media account for her fictional alter ego, Duchess Goldblatt. Strangers befriended her. It was pretty surprising to her. But she closed the account. Later, the Duchess resurrected on Twitter. People responded to the clever writing, especially writers. The Duchess became well known.

Her made up world is hilarious. Crooked Path, NY is ten minutes north of Manhattan and ten minutes south of the Canadian border, and shares a border with Kansas–and has its own navy! It “was founded by a sect of anti-cartography zealots:” I loved that it had “a day spa specializing in the therapeutic laying on of obese dachshunds.”

They’re razing Crooked Path’s Mobius strip mall today. Delicate job. The place has no exits. We haven’t been sure who’s inside. Or outside.
from Becoming Duchess Goldblatt

The author’s friends didn’t get the Duchess or her purpose. Why be nice to strangers?

Where is the line between the author and the character? The Duchess was friends with people, but the author wasn’t friends with them because they didn’t know the real author. And she preferred to keep that distance. It appeared that people needed the Duchess. The Duchess brought strangers together into a community. The Duchess gave kindness to those who needed it.

One fan was Lyle Lovett, and the author had been his fan forever. He understood what she was doing and the importance of her work. He invited the author to concerts. He was one of the few who knew the real person behind the Duchess.

Throughout the book, tidbits from the Duchess are shared, and I loved and laughed at so many of her thoughts. She is the perfect foil to the trauma of the author’s story of loss and the backstory of her childhood and dysfunctional family.

Grief and loss can be dealt with in many ways, from the vengeful to the self-destruction. The creativity of the author in inventing the Duchess and finding a way to connect to others and form a community is uplifting and inspiring. ( )