Learning to Drive

US: Random House Trade Paperback, 2015. Paperback. Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Learning to Drive • Now a major motion picture starring Patricia Clarkson a nd Ben Kingsley Celebrated for her award-winning political columns, criticism, and poetry, Katha Pollitt now shows us another side of her talent. Learning to Drive is a surprising, revealing, and entertaining collection of essays drawn from the author's own life. With deep feeling and sharp insight, Pollitt writes about the death of her father; the sad but noble final days of a leftist study group of which she was a member; and the betrayal and heartbreak inflicted by a man who seriou sly deceived her. (Her infinitely patient, gentle driving instructor points out her weakness--"Observation, Katha, observation!") She also offers a ca ndid view of her preoccupation with her ex-lover's haunting presence on the Internet, and her search there for a secret link that might provide a reve lation about him that will Explain Everything. Other topics include the differences between women and men--"More than half the male members of the Donner party died of cold and starvation, but thre e quarters of the females survived, saved by that extra layer of fat we spe nd our lives trying to get rid of"--and the practical implications of polit ical theory: "What if socialism--all that warmhearted folderol about commun ity and solidarity and sharing was just an elaborate con job, a way for men to avoid supporting their kids?" Learning to Drive demonstrates that while Katha Pollitt is undeniably one of our era's most profound obser.