"In this remarkable memoir, the qualities that have long distinguished Francine Prose's fiction and criticism–uncompromising intelligence, a gratifying aversion to sentiment, the citrus bite of irony–give rigor and, finally, an unexpected poignancy to an emotional, artistic, and political coming-of-age tale set in the 1970s–the decade, as she memorably puts it, when American youth realized that the changes that seemed possible in the 60s weren't going to happen. A fascinating and ultimately wrenching book." - Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
"Deeply felt and devastatingly confessional, this brave personal reckoning isn't easy to forget." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Prose's novels are . . . rollicking, flinty, teasing, fabulist yarns . . . . You close the book, and what lingers is the frictional plentitude, the radiant funk, of changing and being changed by other people . . . . Many Prose books deal with authorship feigned, manipulated, and stolen, and 1974 continues the theme . . . . she belonged in the driver's seat, not sitting shotgun . . . . Russo lost a helpmeet, and literature gained a grande dame." - 4Columns
"To regard Francine Prose's award-winning title list–she has written 23 works of fiction and nine nonfiction books–is to understand that some people really do know more, work longer, and write harder. Yet her first memoir, 1974: A Personal History, is imbued with an utter lack of self-importance. In 1974, the self is a lens through which the light of the world can pour, as well as its darkness. Prose pairs her merciless scrutiny of that era's misogyny, moral compromise and sexual liberation with a keen inquiry into her own motivations for dating the whistleblower Tony Russo." - Electric Literature
"Prose's first memoir makes something dark and dizzying of a tumultuous decade." - New York Magazine
"Captivating . . . . With its fraught, late-night conversations about secrets and regret–most of which take place in a big American car hurtling down San Francisco's rain-slicked streets–1974: A Personal History often reads like a heady film noir set amid the ashes of '60s idealism." - San Francisco Chronicle
"Prose's memoir of course reflects her own experience, but like all memoirs, it also offers a snapshot in time, in this case a tumultuous period in U.S. history. . . . Prose brings a sharp lens to her shortcomings. . . . This is among the many reasons Prose is widely admired as a writer. She spares no one, including herself. Intentionally or not, with this book she is making the case that she was indeed meant to be a writer." - Washington Post
"A personal history of great charm and sensitivity. It is also an artful portrait of those maddening times . . . . Ms. Prose makes a fine Virgil through the period's sometimes infernal landscape." - Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal
"[Prose's] first memoir . . . after a career of more than 50 years and more than 30 books, is a mesmerizing, gut-wrenching one . . . . The younger Prose she creates on the page is as vivid as the characters in her novels, from Blue Angel to The Vixen; she's curious and open-minded and searching but also grievously uncertain, not yet in possession of her true north." - Alta
"Enthralling–a searching and fearless account of a misbegotten love affair as well as a wrenching elegy for the baby boom generation." - The Forward
"Deeply personal . . . revealing . . . . Joyful and sad nostalgia offered up in spades." - Kirkus Reviews
