cover image Family Secrets: One Woman's Affectionate Look at a Relatively Painful Subject

Family Secrets: One Woman's Affectionate Look at a Relatively Painful Subject

Sherry Glaser. Simon & Schuster, $11 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-684-83023-0

In the her one-woman show of the same name, Glaser performs various monologues as different members of her family. This memoir, which is based in part on that performance, is predictably all over the map. Most of the more interesting parts take place within the confines of Glaser's family, because once she leaves for California, her experiences (or at least her recollection of them) take on a New Age quality that will make more Earth-bound readers cringe (""Her character is a combination of my New Age Goddess-worshipping self and the great mother that I am""). There is a hint of this as Glaser starts off by explaining those characteristics that reflect her zodiac sign (""Air represents the aspect of the self that is the mind""), but she is on solid ground when recalling childhood in Queens and then on Long Island: a foiled attempt at sexual abuse by a stranger, prepubescent sex games and experiences of bulimia, as well as an ovarian cyst that Glaser believes related to her creativity. Glaser moves to California for college, and her parents follow. Once there, she forms a female comedy troupe called the Hot Flashes in 1980. Years of sexual indecision are followed by a scene at the Santa Barbara Women's Music and Comedy Festival (after which Glaser begins announcing ""I'm a lesbian,"" to anyone within earshot), then by marriage to a golfer named Greg and a baby. This narrative is occasionally interrupted by pages of monologue from her show, which while inventive, read like a play and tend to be distracting. Glaser is like your wacky aunt from California: she's endearing and sweetly honest, but sometimes you feel embarrassed about liking her. (Jan.)