Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous, Duchess Goldblatt on February 23, 2023
Genres: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures, Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Humor / Topic / Internet & Social Media
Pages: 240
Format: eBook
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I was very torn on how I felt about this anonymous memoir. It was a unique premise. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt tells 2 different stories. One side of her story is about her pain and grief she had to deal with. It was a raw, bleak account of loss. The other side of the story was how she dealt with the grief by building an “alter ego” online and created a community from it. There were things I liked and things I didn’t like about this story.
I’ll start with the things I disliked. I felt like after she became Duchess Goldblatt, she became a little conceited. For example, in one of her tweets she signs off by saying “Try not to fall ever more hopelessly in love with me tonight.” There was a progression of her tweets making it seem like she felt more God-like. This made me worry about her mental health. As I was reading this, I thought for sure she had multiple personality disorder. It’s funny that she came up with all these things she could give awards for, for example a literary prize, dog, & cat show prizes. If she was really trying to promote kindness, etc., would she try to make a competition out of so many things? And I didn’t like that she created a fake daughter that was in a Mexican prison for life. How sad!
Now to what I liked. I thought the parts about how she was able to meet with Lyle Lovett were funny. I did like her made up town of Crooked Path. She was maybe trying for some magical realism in her ideas and she had something with her town and it’s elements. When I first started looking at her tweets, I thought she might be high, but I can see she was trying to be clever. Most were very clever. It was exciting how people came together in support and celebration of Duchess Goldblatt. It’s too bad she couldn’t have joined in on the fun. It was interesting to find out about where the name came from. I also liked that she shared her sad story of her past. It made her seem more real to me. She had a lot to deal with, like her father getting sick when she was in college and taking care of him and her brother’s suicide. Also, not knowing your mother has to have an effect on your psyche.
Before reading this book, I had never heard of Duchess Goldblatt or looked at any of her tweets. So this was a lesson on Twitter & Duchess for me. This is a story I won’t forget. This memoir would make for great book club discussions. It’s a witty and raw story of how Duchess Goldblatt came into being. If you’ve ever heard of her, this book is a must! This is essentially a book about overwhelming grief and pain, but finding light in the dark. How she did it was creative. Even if you haven’t heard of her, it’s unforgettable.
“When I edit, I remove the words that don’t want to be there, hand wash them in warm water, and lay them flat to dry. I might use them later.”
“The only way to be reliably sure that the hero gets the girl at the end of the story is to be both the hero and the girl yourself.” — Duchess Goldblatt