Dear Mr. You
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings5
Average rating3.8
"A wonderfully unconventional literary debut from the award-winning actress Mary-Louise Parker. An extraordinary literary work, Dear Mr. You renders the singular arc of a woman's life through letters Mary-Louise Parker composes to the men, real and hypothetical, who have informed the person she is today. Beginning with the grandfather she never knew, the letters range from a missive to the beloved priest from her childhood to remembrances of former lovers to an homage to a firefighter she encountered to a heartfelt communication with the uncle of the infant daughter she adopted. Readers will be amazed by the depth and style of these letters, which reveal the complexity and power to be found in relationships both loving and fraught"--
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Dear Mary Louise Parker:
I'm sorry for thinking, when I picked up your book, that it would be rubbish, that you had nothing to say, no ability to entertain, that your celebrity was sufficient to get you published, that an epistolary autobiography was a bad idea. I was wrong in all of these things. I won't pretend I got all of it but I certainly enjoyed the ride; you even made me cry.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher so thank you to Simon & Schuster.
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader. If you liked this, you might like more there.
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I'm not sure what I expected from this, but this wasn't it. But whatever this was? It was a real treat to read.
I guess it's basically, Alanis Morissette's in book form. The book is a compilation of letters to a wide assortment of men in her life – or adjacent to it – some named, some nicknamed (“Blue”), some described (“Cab Driver”).
The style varies from letter to letter, a little bit, but on the whole the voice is consistent, it's the content and audience that drives the mood. Seemingly very honest and candid, this carries all sorts of situation – the doctor who saved her life, the uncle of the girl she adopted, her grandfather, her daughter's future significant other, a few former paramours, a few total strangers. The strongest material involves her immediate family – her father, her son, her daughter, especially her father.
Given Parker's acting ability and the personal nature of this material, if she does the audiobook for this, I think it'd be more effective than than the dead-tree version. But that's just a guess.
Sure, not every letter is gold – a few bored me. But the majority kept me reading, entertaining me, making me chuckle, giving the occasional “aww” moment, and even jerking a few tears. Anyway you slice it, this lady can write.
