MADreads

Writings on politics, family and fate

July 24th, 2006 Mary K. - Central

A while ago , I read a Vanity Fair essay by Marjorie Williams  about her struggle with liver cancer. It was very personal and sad.  Until then I had never read anything by Williams, and was not familiar with her. She was a columnist for the Washington Post and a freelance writer. When I saw that an anthology of her writings was being released posthumously and edited by her husband, I was eager to read it.  In The Woman at the Washington Zoo there are excellent essays in a variety of categories.  I found the portrait of Barbara Bush very interesting as well as the essays on contemporary issues like parenting and women and feminism. 

But it is the final section called Time and Chance that is the most gripping.  The essay that I had read in the magazine entitled “Hit by Lightning” is reprinted here, as well as some follow up pieces. Williams had undiagnosed liver cancer for quite some time, and even got a clean bill of health the first time she went to a doctor with her symptoms.  Her comments on the medical profession are enlightening and her stories about her two young children are heartbreaking.

The  book’s title comes from a poem by Randall Jarrell.  Interestingly, Amazon pairs this book with The Year of Magical Thinking (recently reviewed in MADreads).  That pairing seems to imply that  the sections on illness and death are the most important of the book.  They probably have the biggest impact, but read the book for the other sections as well, the writing is top notch and Williams’ insights on the people and politics of Washington are well worth reading.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction