With the subtitle “Family Stories”, this book recalls people from Maira Kalman’s family. Some of the portraits are funny, some are sad and some are very critical, but they are all written with a light sense of irony that exacerbates the sense of remorse we all have when it comes to family relationships. The writing is straightforward and witty, but what I like most about Maira Kalman are her paintings: colourful and very free. She doesn’t seem embarrassed by exact representations, which makes her paintings so lively. I love what she did.
“In her later years my mother was not a big fan of
friendships. She worried that if you made a friend you
were bound to be disappointed and then what?
How do you get out of it?
Better not to make friends and not be disappointed.
She did have friends. And talked on the phone.
And called them darling:
But in her heart, there was a limit.
In the end there was just family.”
