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The spiritual/intellectual distance Roe falls below a Gandhi, a M.L. King, or many other symbolic persons is painfully obvious in her writing (we suppose Andy Meisler could write better but chose to retain the country flavor--or flatness). An un-heroic account of a very common lady swept along by outside forces. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
评论 (4)
出版社周刊评论
McCorvey, the pseudonymous plaintiff in the landmark 1973 case legalizing abortion, here candidly chronicles a rough life of struggle and survival. She was sent to a reform school in Texas, was raped by a male relative and, at 16, married an abuser. Pregnant and divorced, she found a home in Dallas's lesbian and gay subculture. She bore a daughter, whose custody was taken over by her mother, and gave up another baby for adoption. In 1970, age 21, pregnant and not wanting another child, she sought an abortion, claiming falsely that she had been raped. She met lawyer Sarah Weddington, who was looking for a pregnant woman to become plaintiff in a case challenging Texas anti-abortion laws. The suit dragged on, and McCorvey delivered a baby that she gave up for adoption. Drunk and suicidal, she was caught shoplifting by the manager of a food store who became her lover and helped her rebuild her life. McCorvey came out as a lesbian in 1989 and now has a business cleaning buildings. The Supreme Court eventually ruled for Roe in 1973. With the help of freelancer Meisler, McCorvey offers a direct, unsentimental and often harsh account of a real life at the heart of historical events. Author tour. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
McCorvey, known to the world as Jane Roe, the plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, candidly tells her life story. McCorvey kept silent about her identity as Jane Roe until the 1980s, when she began to emerge as a public figure, granting interviews to the press and addressing pro-choice rallies. She gradually began to disclose parts of her past that she had long kept hidden to protect herself and the pro-choice movement-- admitting, for example, that in her Roe testimony she lied about being raped. During that time, though, she endured other people's representations of her story, sanitized, for instance, by a TV movie or politely censored by well-meaning reporters. In I Am Roe she is relieved to recount her own life at last. (She is aided by freelance journalist Meisler). Some sections give historical background on abortion rights, accompanied by pleas for reproductive justice; these have the formulaic tone of a Planned Parenthood fund-raising letter. By contrast, McCorvey narrates the events of her own life with originality and courage. She acknowledges that she does not ``fit many people's idea of a historical role model;'' she is working class, has led most of her life as an open lesbian, and battled alcohol and drug addictions. She has also survived three unplanned pregnancies, a violent husband, rape, and physical abuse from her mother. In the detailing of such depressing events, the moments of joy are often the freshest--such as McCorvey's account of the warm community of girls and women in her reform school, or of meeting her life partner while shoplifting from her convenience store. I Am Roe is a compelling exploration of how one woman negotiates being a symbol and being herself. (Author tour)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
This autobiography of the long-invisible plaintiff in the case that produced the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision that the Texas law prohibiting abortion was unconstitutional is better written and more interesting than even most pro-choice readers would probably expect. McCorvey, who first acknowledged publicly that she was "Jane Roe" in 1984, has never been a simple feminist hero: she spent several years in reform school, dropped out of school, worked as a waitress, bartender, and carnival barker, had three unmarried pregnancies, lied to her Roe lawyers that her third pregnancy had been caused by rape, and admits to problems with alcohol and drugs, one suicide attempt, and a monumental temper; in 1989, she disclosed that she is a lesbian. Freelance journalist Meisler no doubt helped McCorvey pace her story and blend the tale of her life with developments in the national struggle over abortion. But what makes I Am Roe fascinating autobiography is the sense that, as she nears 50, McCorvey has come to terms with her past. Younger pro-choice women in particular will want to know more about the troubled, feisty, chip-on-her-shoulder survivor who was Jane Roe. ~--Mary Carroll
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Meet the plaintiff, Jane Roe, otherwise known as Norma McCorvey: 45 years old, divorced, a lesbian, and a one-time owner of a cleaning service. She has abused drugs and alcohol and was briefly married to a man who beat her. The child of that marriage was adopted by McCorvey's mother, who forbade McCorvey to see her. Employed by a carnival, McCorvey becomes pregnant again and wants to end the pregnancy. Meet McCorvey's friend, Sarah Weddington, an ambitious young lawyer, who encourages McCorvey to challenge the Texas state law that keeps her from controlling her body. Knowledgeable, privileged, and zealous to make abortion legal, Weddington fails to treat McCorvey as a person with real needs. Already two and a half months pregnant when she meets Weddington, McCorvey is led to believe that she can have a legal abortion after the lawsuit against the State of Texas is won. McCorvey hitchhikes across the country and makes friends at bars. Nonetheless, she portrays herself as so naive that she had to look up ``abortion'' in the dictionary. This book, a sad account of an underprivileged and uneducated woman who inadvertently becomes a symbol for freedom for all women, is sure to be a big seller. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/93.]-Paula N. Arnold, Vermont Coll. Lib., Norwich Univ., Montpelier (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.