What to Read: A New Memoir from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

WHEN NEW YORK SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND decided to write a memoir, she apparently knew a solid thing or two about the genre. She knew that memoir was not about me – or, in this case, her – that it was about something else, and that she was the illustration of that idea. She knew that writing a memoir well required writing from one area of your expertise at a time. She knew that having an argument was essential to making a readable book, and that the structure of that book was based on that argument and, perhaps of the greatest importance, she knew that the actual writing makes or breaks a book. In short, she knew it all, and the result is a fine memoir.

Off the Sidelines, whose subtitle is Raise your Voice, Change the World is the call to action and power that many of us hoped would come out of Sheryl Sandberg’s bestselling Lean In. Personally, that book fell short for me with its strong emphasis on obtaining the corner office. Many of us do not want a corner office – the view from mine is just fine, thank you – though we do want to be heard. And for me, Off the Sidelines is the combo-platter I’ve waited for in a book.

Skillfully written as a memoir, the narrative is the life of a New York resident, lawyer, daughter, granddaughter in a political family, member of Congress, now New York Senator, mother of two and wife who has never ascribed to the absurd dictum that women want to have it all. In fact, she abhors that phrase, as do many of us who felt from the moment it first appeared it unfairly labeled us as acquisitive as opposed to the inquisitive, contributing women we strive to be.

Just out from Random House, the book will appear this weekend on The New York Times bestseller list. And for good reason. It raises our expectations as well as our hopes.

Want to meet Senator Gillibrand, hear her speak, and get a copy of the book? You can, when I interview her this Saturday, September 27, at 4 PM at the University at Albany Campus Center Ballroom as part of The New York State Writers’ Institute Visiting Writers series. The $27 ticket price includes a copy of the book. Come have it signed, and while you are there, please stop by and say hello.