This is the study of five artists engaged in the act of creation that engages us all -- the composition of our lives. Each of us has worked by improvisation, discovering the shape of our creation along the way, rather than pursuing a vision already defined. Thus Mary Catherine Bateson begins her extraordinary book, in which she uses the complex and varied lives of four women, as well as her own life, to explore the work in progress -- the life creatively lived.

lives of 5 women artists

Liked the general premise but was hoping for more... Disappointed by the bitter and condescending tone. ( )

I appreciate the insightful reviews here on GoodReads. I wanted to like this book more than I did for the reasons others have articulated. It's dated and its flaws more apparent now than they would have been 25 years ago. Our lives are not monolithic, but patchwork, and I think this holds true for most people now - men and women - in ways we need to explore but in an atmosphere less rarefied.
Plus side: this book stimulated my imagination to think about the lives of 5 of my dear friends and what a book would look like if I wrote about their lives; it was exhilarating. What stories there are to be told!
Still, there are insights in nearly every chapter which are graceful. There is an honoring of the rituals of homemaking, for example, "There is real work involved in housekeeping, in providing food and shelter, but even if we learn to minimize the mechanics of these jobs, the tasks of homemaking cannot be eliminated for their value goes beyond the mechanical. We enact and strengthen our relationships by performing dozens of small, practical rituals, setting the table, making coffee, raking the lawn - giving and receiving material tokens..."

(note to self: good quotes on p.55,97, bottom of 105) ( )

This book had a few interesting things to say, but overall I found it to be an annoying gripe session about the author's experiences at Amherst. Interestingly, I found several related topics with the previous book I read, Who's Afraid of Marie Curie. I'm not disappointed that I read the book, but it was quite a drag to get through. ( )