Why read Famous Father Girl?

Book cover of Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein

Book description

The intimate memoir of Leonard Bernstein and his family, that helped inspire the new movie Maestro

“Unique among classical-music memoirs for its physical intimacy, its humor and tenderness, its ambivalence toward an irrepressible family genius. . . . The existence of this well-written book, with its poignancy and its shuddery…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Famous Father Girl as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Albert Glinsky

Author

I’ve been a fan of Leonard Bernstein’s music and his peerless conducting since I was a child and I knew that his personal and creative life was stormy. But I was gobsmacked by Jamie Bernstein’s deeply personal tour through the up-close, at-home world of this timeless genius. She invites us into Lenny’s study, his living room, or seats us at the dinner table as he puffs his umpteenth daily cigarette, downs a scotch, and holds forth on the sacred, the profane, and the mundane.

As a biographer, I gleaned much from this powerful memoir, a confessional chronicle that emboldened me…

From Albert's list on The best myth-busting books about iconic 20th century figures in technology and the arts.