what does it say about a person that they love Anna Quindlen?

[Anonymous]

Specifically, her books.
I'm interested to know the stereotype.

[Anonymous]

huh? I think I need a little more context here OP.

Some younger people might not know who you're talking about, by the way.

[Anonymous]

I'm just curious- if this was the only thing you knew about a person, would you say that person is intellectual? Cheesy? Smart? High-brow? SES?

[Anonymous]

I would hope that someone was not just judging me for this one iota of information.

FWIW, I don't like traditional chick flicks/books and Jodi Picoult, The Notebook, RHONY, Lifetime tv shows etc. I do like Anna Quindlen's books from what I remember, and I did like One True Thing (pretty sad movie).

I did like her writing. It's not deeply intellectual or the New Yorker, but I can identify with her point of view. Kind of like Kathleen Parker if you read the Post.

She's like a 90s/00s version of Erma Bombeck.

[Anonymous]

Man, I remember reading her column in Newsweek as a kid. I LOVED it!

[Anonymous]

Not high brow: from wiki: Criticism

Writing in The New Republic, critic Lee Siegel cited Quindlen as an example of the "monsters of empathy" who "self subjugate and domesticate and assimilate every distant tragedy." He coined the term "The Quindlen Effect" to describe this phenomenon and suggested that it began with her Times column of December 13, 1992, in which Quindlen assailed the four alleged perpetrators of the Glen Ridge rape. "True to her niche," Siegel wrote, "Quindlen attacked with scathing indignation actions that no sane Times reader would ever defend."
In 2000, Villanova University invited Anna Quindlen to deliver the annual commencement address. But once the announcement was made, a group of anti-abortion students planned a protest against Quindlen’s positions on reproductive rights and she withdrew as speaker. Rather than retreat, however, she emailed the undelivered commencement address to a Villanova graduate student who had expressed disappointment at the situation.[citation needed] Years before the social web as we know it today, the speech spread like wildfire across the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Man, I remember reading her column in Newsweek as a kid. I LOVED it!

Me too! I had one of her columns (about Hillary Clinton and how she was as qualified to be president as Bill) taped to my closet door. I thought I was a weird kid, but maybe not--or maybe you were too

[Anonymous]

I think she's so much more insightful and writes better as a columnist. I read Life in the 30s in my early 20s.

As a novelist, I'd say her primary readers are women in her demographic (today in her 60s), want something a step above chick lit, but not exactly literary fiction.

[Anonymous]

I'd imagine them to be upper-middle-class married women with children who drink a little too much wine and are perpetually frazzled. Just the image I think of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd imagine them to be upper-middle-class married women with children who drink a little too much wine and are perpetually frazzled. Just the image I think of.

So you mean--most of DCUM?

(Honestly, OP, I mixed up the name on your post with the actress from True Blood.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd imagine them to be upper-middle-class married women with children who drink a little too much wine and are perpetually frazzled. Just the image I think of.

Oh hi. Have we met?

Yes, that's me. Yes, I love Anna Quindlen. Actually, I first noticed her years ago when she wrote about losing her mom at an early age. My mom died when I was 18, so I really identified with that part of her life.