Finding Celia's Place

I've read lots of memoirs by women and written one. Let me tell you, Celia Morris' "Finding Celia's Place" is in a class all its own. For starters, it is beautifully written and hard to put down. More importantly, she pushes the envelope for honesty among women on the subjects of sex, motherhood, marriage, and politics. I can think of hardly any books that go as far as she does in depicting a woman's sexual maturation beyond youth and into late middle age. She stands almost alone among women who have written well about their intellectual roots and maturation. Simone de Beauvoir's "She Came to Stay" is the only book I can think of to compare to this one. judith paterson

Celia Morris is a well-known feminist and political activist who grew up in Houston, attended the University of Texas in the 1950s, and was drawn to the women's revolution as an adult. This fascinating memoire vividly describes her gradually developed understanding of women's thralldom in a sexist society, and her ultimately successful efforts to achieve freedom. Her story, however, is not simply an account of one woman's liberation. It is an extremely well-written, humane, and balanced account of her marriages to the writer Willie Morris and the Texas politician Bob Eckhardt, of her intense friendships with mentors--male and female--and of her complicated relations with her family as she broke free of the traditional constraints of woman's role as it was defined in the 1950s. There is much to be learned from Morris's autobiography. Not least is the long and difficult road many women her age have traveled to gain autonomy, and the special satisfactions that autonomy brings. I recommend it highly.

Morris displays a vivid and yet relaxed style in looking back on an incredible and still ongoing life in the world. She finds the words to recount her struggles in close detail yet with universal meaning. And she portrays the various men and women in her life--writers, politicians, and just friends--in full and fair ways. In the past, Morris has written fine historical biography and intelligent feminist journalism, but this is the best book of all.

This is the incandescent story of a woman born in Texas who travels the far geography of her mind and the earth unafraid to be strong, brilliant, bursting with life and laughter. The celebrated people she encounters in this country and abroad are vividly drawn, but none more so than herself. Her observations on her Texas roots and the intellects of Washington, New York and London are fascinating. "Finding Celia's Place" should find a place in every thoughtful woman and man's bookshelf and heart.

I loved this book and couldn't put it down once I started. The story is an autobiography of a girl who grew up in Texas in the 40s and 50s and her surprising life's journey. What interested me in the book was that Celia begins her life as the "perfect girl"- A "University Sweetheart" from the Theta sorority at the University of Texas. With her background and accomplishments, most would have predicted that she would have ended up in the suburbs with 2.5 children doing nonprofit work, etc., but she truly chose "the road less taken." Pulling her in a different direction was her intellectual ability and curiosity-she was a Phi Beta Kappa at Texas-which eventually led her to New York and the upper reaches of the literary world there. Part of the book is devoted to her marriage to William Morris, on paper the "perfect man"--Rhodes Scholar, noted editor--but in reality less than perfect. She is brutally honest about their marriage, their life and his and her infidelities. This book will be of particular interest to those women who came of age in the 50s and did end up in the suburbs for this glimpse of life "on the other side." This book would also be of interest to those who would be interested in how an ambitious and talented woman in the 50s attempted to break out of the norm and the difficulties that faced her. Her keen observations refreshed my childhood and youthful memories and her life's story provoked deep thought on the meaning of a successful life. It is a fabulous book.