Reviews for Nothing to Fall Back On: The Life and Times of a Perpetual Optimist

The average rating for Nothing to Fall Back On: The Life and Times of a Perpetual Optimist based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-07-16 00:00:00 Matthew Oberg Although I've vacationed in Cape Cod countless times, I'd never checked out the Provincetown Library, which, among many other things has lovely bay views on the Mezzanine floor, an air conditioned non technology reading room, places to take your laptop, and a half scale model of a wood schooner on the second floor. I recently clinched my already high opinion of this library when I accidentally came across Betty Carter's terrifically inspiring, witty memoir, Nothing to Fall Back On, subtitled the Life and Times of a Perpetual Optimist. Carter, nee Cohen (her parents were Jewish refugees who escaped Nazi Germany in 1936) like me moved with her family to Florida in her high school years, and even attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, where I spent my senior year in High School. Carter is able to laugh so well at her misfortunes she is able to remind you in a funny yet not corny, way that life is actually worth it even at the worst of times. Despite Carter's almost Guinness Book of World Records level of bad luck, she managed to complete her life's dream of becoming a prominent journalist. At the height of her career she was senior editor for Esquire for many years, and even convinced some publishing heavies to let her begin and run one of the first literary/glamour women's magazines, New York Woman. Best of all, Carter's Nothing to Fall Back, sparkling with non-pretentious name dropping, and reminiscences of newsworthy events and scenes from the 60's through its publication in 2002, is a page turner autobiography with humor on a level of Jon Stuart and Joseph Heller.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-17 00:00:00 Leslie Gutierrez I adore Betsy Carter's writing style. I've read and enjoyed every fiction book she's ever written, and once those were all read, I got my hands on this nonfiction memoir of hers. Her trademark style is still there, still enjoyable. But for some reason, she decided to write her memoir entirely out of order, in what seems to me to be an absolutely random order. I can't figure out why she did this, as it detracts from the book (you have to re-orient yourself at the start of every chapter), and I don't see what it adds to the book. Despite this odd stylistic decision, I still zipped through this book. I don't think I came out of it any more intelligent or emotionally enriched, but I still liked it.