Me, My Hair, and I

June 8, 2015
Hair—whether cut, colored, coveted, allowed to go grey, or, under difficult circumstances, lost—can tell a woman’s story and proclaim something about her to the world: her sense of self, her politics, or her role models. In this splendid collection edited by Benedict (Mentors, Muses & Monsters), 27 female authors (including Jane Smiley, Deborah Tannen, Bharati Mukherjee, and Maria Hinojosa) discuss their trials with, and theories about, hair. By turns wry, tender, pointed, and laugh-out-loud funny, the selections take us along on the contributors’ tangled, complicated, and thoroughly engaging journeys. Hair and hair styles emerge as an arena for conflict with daughters, mothers, and sisters; a middle ground between tradition and change; and a means of expression of power, freedom, and feeling at home in one’s skin (or hair). Among the many insights offered: Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy are very common role models, and a good hairdresser is worth keeping forever. Going grey can bring liberation or call for a dye job; the loss of hair to chemotherapy means less than winning the war against the disease within. These talented women make it clear that hair is a distinct, if sometimes exasperating, marker of identity and meaning. Agent: Gail Hochman and Marianne Merola, Brandt & Hochman.

September 15, 2015

In "My Black Hair," one of 27 essays featured in this anthology, author Marita Golden says it best: "Hair is knotted and gnarled by issues of race, politics, history, and pride." On the surface, the female obsession with hair may seem a simple vanity. But this collection, edited by Benedict (What My Mother Gave Me) illustrates that "good hair" is about much more than superficiality. Katie Hafner details the "curse" of Jewish hair, intoning that many women "(wish) their Jewish looks weren't so indelibly etched on their heads." Anne Lamott jokingly laments the lunacy that women "devote so much of...prayer life to the desperate hope that there not be any weather." Discussions of straighteners, dreadlocks, the ever-evolving fashions of pubic hair, and poignant reflections on hair loss owing to cancer or rheumatoid arthritis--all from diverse and multilayered perspectives can be found here. Contributors include Jane Smiley, Jane Green, Bharati Mukherjee, and others. VERDICT We wear our hair every day, and this collection demonstrates--with great clarity and insight--the complexities of what that means for women of all backgrounds. An important conversation and worthy of note.--Erin Entrada Kelly, Philadelphia

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2015
A distinguished novelist gathers together essays that attempt to untangle the complicated relationship of females to their hair. The book contains 27 thoughtful essays from a diverse group of women writers who offer insight into why hair matters. Benedict introduces the topic by observing, "for women, hair is an entire library of information," about everything from self-image and sexuality to cultural values and interpersonal relationships. Writer and philosopher Rebecca Goldstein follows up by showing how the different colors and lengths she has worn her hair have revealed her struggles as, among other things, "a freethinker trapped within Orthodox Judaism" and an artist trapped within academia. In her essay on black female hair, Marita Golden suggests a woman's ethnicity can make hair inextricably bound to issues of "race, politics, history and pride." The way women treat the hair that grows on other parts of their bodies can also reveal a great deal about what passes for beauty and desirability, as Alex Kuczynzki shows in her comparison of the depilatory practices of Muslim cultures and the increasingly sex-obsessed culture of the West. Hair can also play a role in familial relationships. Linguist Deborah Tannen suggests that hair is one of the elements that mothers and daughters fixate on in each other because each regards the other as a mirror image and therefore worthy of "scrutiny that they otherwise reserve for themselves." For Anne Kreamer, hair-and in particular, graying hair-is a barometer of mortality that is either to be praised for the way it reminds wearers of "the passage of time" or boldly colored as a fighting statement against mortality. This collection is not only unique for the subject matter it addresses. It also provides cultural commentary that is by turns insightful, humorous, and moving. Other contributors include Jane Smiley, Anne Lamott, Siri Hustvedt, Myra Goldberg, Honor Moore, and Adriana Trigiani. Surprisingly engaging reading.

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August 1, 2015
Novelist (The Practice of Deceit, 2005) and anthologist (What My Mother Gave Me, 2013) Benedict has a knack for zeroing in on subjects with far-reaching, often surprising implications and resonance. In her third invitational collection, she has definitely tapped a nerve. Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. That's because hairstyles embody everything from sexuality to social standing. Hair is interpreted as an indicator of identity, age, religion, availability, temperament, hipness, and professionalism. Hair is a subject of contention between mothers and daughters, spouses, employers and employees. Women spend enormous amounts of money and time on their hair, agonizing over every decision. Variations on these themes are tackled with candor, wit, insight, and emotion by Benedict's 27 eloquently entertaining contributors. Manyamong them Marita Golden, Maria Hinojosa, and Anne Lamottreport vehement objections to and extreme efforts to tame bad hairthat is, frizzy, curly, kinky, nappy hair universally condemned as uncivilized. Other contributors to this irresistible, pithy, and right-on anthology include Jane Smiley, Deborah Tannen, and Bharati Mukherjee.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)