Jamie Bernstein

Jamie Bernstein, Famous Father Girl: A Memoir  of Growing Up Bernstein

   I finished reading this memoir by Leonard Bernstein’s daughter. It is a most interesting book—and well-written to boot—and by no means limited to that “Famous Father.” Indeed, in the latter half of the book the canvas becomes very broad and had me continuing to read without skimming. I can certainly recommend this volume, though I won’t prod my reader further by actually writing a review.

   I want to make one observation that I find pretty unusual. Before the book’s index is a section entitled “Acknowledgements.” What’s unusual about so normal a suffix is that it thanks by name 162 persons (if I counted correctly), most of them identified by descriptive phrases. I’m a lot older than Jamie Bernstein, but I couldn’t remotely match that feat.