Ivy Days

During my first months of college, this book was a great comfort to me. Toth writes, quite affectingly, about being homesick and feeling out of place; she also manages to capture the excitement of being away from home, immersed in books she'd always dreamed of reading, and finally, realizing she's found a place for herself. The subtitle of the book says it all-- this modest memoir quite vividly describes the process of creating a place for oneself in the world. An excellent read, especially for any future, present, and past English majors out there.

In IVY DAYS, published in 1984, Susan Allen Toth remembers her student residence at the prestigious Eastern college for women, Smith, during the latter half of the 1950s, and her subsequent post-graduate time at UC Berkeley. It's also a sequel to her previous book BLOOMING, in which she recollects her experiences growing up in Ames, Iowa in the late 40s and early 50s. Taken together, the books are a coming-of-age story that might apply in some degree to any average American who grew up and went off to college during that period. It's a gently self-deprecating and perceptive memoir from a woman who writes with the hindsight achieved by age forty. Most of IVY DAYS - a relatively short work at 199 paperbacked pages - relates to Smith. The trauma of leaving home to live in a house with strangers of the same sex and age. The awkward process of fitting-in, which included learning how to smoke, drink socially, survive at mixers, and, most importantly, acquire a steady boyfriend. The sifting through the various academic disciplines with the purpose of declaring a major. The pressure of living up to the academic expectations of others and self. Friendships. Petty enmities. Confusion. Disappointment. Depression. Elation. Insecurities. Triumphs. Defeats. Boredom. Excitement. The patchwork quilt of life.It's in the last chapter, "Up, Up and Away", where Susan briefly mentions her initial brief trip to London and England. This first exposure eventually blossomed into an affectionate connection to that island nation that produced the delightful travel essays (MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH ENGLAND, ENGLAND FOR ALL SEASONS, ENGLAND AS YOU LIKE IT) that first drew my attention to this author. I myself love the place more than I can say, and, in this regard, Susan and I are soulmates. I wish I could sit down with her over High Tea and just talk.There's a an occasional bittersweetness to Susan's words, especially when it comes to the subject of men, or at least finding the right one. Having grown up with the ingrained notion that "someday your Prince will come", she ruefully writes at one point:"I had never stopped to consider what would happen if he came, and I couldn't get him to talk to me."Finally, at Berkeley, she meets the man she was to wed, have a child with, and ultimately divorce. (Happily, she's since remarried to James, her boon companion for the journey to other countries and old age. The reader meets him in Susan's England trilogy, and he seems a first-rate fellow.)IVY DAYS, like BLOOMING, isn't a can't-put-down book. But it is a charming and congenial insight into the life of a person I wish I knew better and could have as a personal friend. Thank you, Susan, for all you've shared.

_Ivy Days_ is the memoir of Toth's college experiences in the late 50's and early 60's. Her narrative is honest, humorous, and filled with moments that will strike a chord with anyone who has traveled through the halls of higher education