Exit Interview with My Grandmother

On 76th Between Columbus and Amsterdam, a Ninety-Two Year Old Woman Is Reading Sally Rooney

De: Lily Meyersohn

Narrado por: Lily Meyersohn

Lily Meyersohn’s Exit Interview with My Grandmother is a rumination on young adulthood, through the prism of her relationship with her 92-year-old grandmother.

At once profoundly personal and far-reaching, Exit Interview with My Grandmother serves as a meditation on the beginning of a young woman’s life and the series of questions that arise from examining love, loss, family, memory, and death. Moving between cities and centuries, Meyersohn probes her family's Jewish history and her grandparents' relationships in part to decipher her own young queer relationships, but also to examine how we ought to behave in the face of a world riddled with uncertainty and doubt.

Comprising a personal narrative and an intimate, recorded conversation with her grandmother, Meyersohn’s essay confronts what it means for something to begin, what it means for something to end, and what we should hold onto along the way.

©2019 Lily Meyersohn (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

Not what I was expecting

I thought this book was going to be much more about the author interviewing her grandmother than it was, instead I felt it was more about her lesbian love life. For a very short book, I really wanted to know a whole lot more about her grandmother, her grandfather and all her ancestors having left Europe and surviving the Holocaust. Nice her family accepts her sexuality, but I didn’t think all of going into that was needed. Write a different book for that or change the title of this one.

Profound

This was the most moving and prophetic book I've digested for some time. Of course, the grandmother's insights were the gems of the book. And to hear her voice -- an oral history of sorts -- made this a brilliant presentation. I was moved by her description of the value of a long marriage (a lifetime conversation). And fascinated by her description of what it is like to live with a spouse who is suffering from dementia. And I was impressed with her literary acumen.

But, still, I was pleasantly surprised to find the 23-year-old granddaughter to be a masterful presenter as well. Lily Meyersohn's own wisdom shines through, despite little experience in life.

At the start I wanted hear more from the Grandmother, and less of the ruminations of the young author. But as the presentation moved along I came to see that the author was a stand in for every young person who KNOWS she doesn't yet KNOW much about life. Who is struggling to believe in their own value and ideas, yet feels like a weak copy. Lily Meyersohn is not a weak copy. She is someone to watch -- and listen to.

A new take for books

I won't say I loved it, but it was very interesting. A new writing technic.

FASCINATING AND MOVING

Thank you for creating such a beautiful, inspiring moment. I love your grandma. Thank you for sharing her with us. In a time where grandparents are increasingly absent from their grandchildren's lives, this is a touching reminder that we should all step back and spend more time with them. Beautiful.

Interesting . . .

It was interesting, but I just couldn’t cash in on the emotion of Lily Meyersohn. It was there, for sure, but it somehow seemed unreachable to me. Even her father who flew all the way to Europe to be with her as she discovered things about her family’s past seemed unreachable. I think the grandmother did the very best she could, but she was torn between the old ways, and trying to seem more up-to-date. At least that is how it struck me. I guess it is just the way some people are. Perhaps it has to do with the holocaust. Those things are so tightly tucked away by some people that they cannot be expressed. I just know when I finally made it to Denmark last year, and saw the land that my grandfather left, I was a puddle of melted goo. But then, his leaving had nothing to do with the Holocaust. It rather had everything to do with turning his face toward America and freedom, and joining with others who believed as he did. Still, he left everyone and everything he knew to learn a new language and a new way of life. It wasn’t easy. I know Meyersohn had a lot of deep feelings. It was just hard for me to connect with them. It might have been easier if she had let the grandmother do more of the talking. I was looking forward to learning much more about her, but we hardly got to know her at all.

Beautifully Written

The author is the perfect person to read this book! I loved the interviews with her wise grandmother- so beautifully articulate! The author’s relationships with her parents and girlfriend, are woven wonderfully into the story which is fresh, creative, and poignant.

I could listen to her talk and talk

I loved the interspersed voice of her grandmother. it truly gave a ae se of her moxie and how grand she was. I wish there was more conversation between them

Touching

I enjoyed the insight of Lily’s Grandmother and how the relationship is so conveyed so treasured.

Expected more Grandmother

This felt like two different topic stories, both good, but both left me wanting more. On one hand, I wanted a lot more grandmother wisdom than was given. I was entranced by the grandmother’s words and advice. The other subject matter could have easily been a good LGBTQ love story on its own but not what I was expecting at all.

Not quite what I expected

This is an interesting work by a very talented young writer who is on a journey of discovery and reflection about mostly the women in her life. I appreciate the points of views that differ from my own. I wanted a little more of a feel good tale than a lot of the all too often harsh realities of life.