Why Not Say What Happened?: A Memoir (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Well folks, right out of the gate I felt like I wasn't going to really enjoy my time in bed with this book. Lowell comes right out of the gate crying about the life of wealth, fame and the rest. I mean, the lower caste of society isn't reading to hear about your privileged life, but rather how you managed to fuck it all up. It's like when the pretty girl gets a nasty acne flare up before prom or when the smart girl whips up her hand in traditionally speed-of-light fashion and then flubs the answers like the Patriots flub Super Bowls against the Giants. Gimme the part where you mess it all up & I pretend it makes me feel better about myself please.Not that it doesn't tickle me pink to read about pubic hair transplants on a Wednesday morning. I mean if you really need a hump day pick-me-up, this ones for you!That said she just words things so poorly. Such as, "one particularly annoying aspect of being sexually abused..." Seriously?? SERIOUSLY?!? Just makes me question the validity of her abuse story. A horrible thing to say, but then so was that.Overall, I battled through this book. I'm not really sure what she was going for with it, but if she was looking for sympathy she can find it between shit and syphillis in the dictionary. Thank god it's just finally over and I can move on... I think I only gave it two stars bc maybe she deserves merit on at least knowing how to read. At least I think she can. Lowell's memoir of her famous family is fairly typical of the "poor little rich girl" genre, but flashes of insight into her mother, their relationship, and Lowell's own substance abuse spark the darkness every now and then. Readers with some small familiarity with the people mentioned (the Guiness sisters, Robert Lowell, and the literati of the time) will enjoy this more than those coming to it as a clean slate, i suspect.
What do You think about Why Not Say What Happened?: A Memoir (2010)?
I couldn't get past the poor-little-rich-girl idea surrounding this book.
—m_montero_61
We were good at gloom-Ivana Lowell, Why Not Say What Happened
—breka
Great read. Speaks of her experience and addictions.
—beaujrka
