George Hodgman is a veteran magazine and book editor who has worked at Simon & Schuster, Vanity Fair, and Talk magazine. His writing has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Interview, W, and Harper's Bazaar, among other publications. He lives in New York City and Paris, Missouri.
Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner Praise for Bettyville "A
remarkable, laugh-out-loud book . . . Rarely has the subject of
elder care produced such droll human comedy, or a heroine quite on
the mettlesome order of Betty Baker Hodgman. For as much as the
book works on several levels (as a meditation on belonging, as a
story of growing up gay and the psychic cost of silence, as
metaphor for recovery), it is the strong-willed Betty who shines
through."
--The New York Times "A lovely memoir . . .You won't finish
this tale dry-eyed."
--People, Book of the Week "A gorgeously constructed memoir
. . . Hodgman creates an unforgettable portrait of his mother,
Betty--a strong-willed nonagenarian struggling against the
slow-motion breakdown of her mind and body. He evokes her with wit
and tenderness."
--The New York Times Book Review "Without a doubt my favorite book
of the year. Wise, witty, and heartbreaking . . . a surprisingly
profound and hilarious look at aging, mothers and sons, fathers and
sons, growing up gay and small-town life in America."
--Nathan Lane, "Who Read What: Books of the Year 2015," The
Wall Street Journal "A humorous, bittersweet account of Hodgman's
caring for his aging, irascible mother."
--Vanity Fair "Hodgman has written what will be seen, even
years from now, as the quintessential book on taking care. . . .
His desire to empathize, his focus on goodness, his search for hope
allow him to find the beauty in the hour of now."
--Chicago Tribune "An intimate, heartfelt portrait of a mother and
son, each at the crossroads of life . . . Hodgman's sharp wit
carries the book ever forward."
--Minneapolis Star-Tribune "A superb memoir . . . Hodgman is
by turns wry, laugh-out-loud funny, self-deprecating, insecure to
the point of near suicide, and an attentive caregiver despite
occasional, understandable resentments. . . . I have read several
hundred American memoirs; I would place Bettyville in the top
five."
--Steve Weinberg, Kansas City Star "In his tender, sardonic,
and fearless account of life with Betty--who has never acknowledged
that her son is gay--Hodgman delivers an epic unfolding of his
lifelong search for acceptance and love."
--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Hodgman paints a witty
and poignant portrait of a son and his mother reconciling their
differences and learning, among other things, how to cook, come to
grips with caretaking, understand unspoken sexuality, and treat
each other with patience, love, and self-respect. Surely we all
have a beautifully complex and hilarious (if not
semi-dysfunctional) relationships with our mothers, but none of us
are likely to commemorate it with the skill and humor of
Hodgman."
--Los Angeles Magazine "An exquisitely written memoir about the
complicated but deeply genuine love a son feels for his courageous,
headstrong, vulnerable mother in the twilight of her life. George
Hodgman is stunningly clear-eyed and yet so darned big-hearted.
Bettyville is just wonderful."
--Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle "The idea of a
cultured gay man leaving New York City to care for his aging mother
in Paris, Missouri, is already funny, and George Hodgman reaps that
humor with great charm. But then he plunges deep, examining the
warm yet fraught relationship between mother and son with profound
insight and understanding. This book looks outside, too, offering a
moving lament for small-town America. Hodgman tenderly evokes the
time before family farms and small businesses were replaced by meth
labs and Walmarts. Yet he's not sentimental about that lost
world--he knew its cruelties firsthand. As George and his mother
come to terms with one another at the end of her days, the book
begins to shimmer with something much more rare than love: a
boundless, transcendent, and simple kindness. Bettyville is a
beautiful book about the strange plenitude that comes from finally
letting go of everything."
--Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home "Bettyville is a
beautifully crafted memoir, rich with humor and wisdom. George
Hodgman has created an unforgettable book about mothers and sons,
and about the challenges that come with growing older and growing
up."
--Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club
"This is a superior memoir, written in a witty and episodic style,
yet at times it's heartbreaking . . . filled with a lifetime's
worth of reflection and story after fascinating story."
--Library Journal (starred review) "Hodgman writes
with wit and empathy about all the loss he's confronted with.
Betty's poor health is mirrored by the fail-ure of towns like
Paris, whose farms and lumberyards are now Walmarts and meth labs.
Coming out in the age of AIDS, he lost the people he was close to
when he had nowhere else to turn. . . . That doesn't mean
Bettyville is without humor--far from it. Paris eccentrics (one
woman shampoos her hair in the soda fountain) com-pete with
Hodgman's colleagues in the office of Vanity Fair. . . . This is a
portrait of a woman in decline, but still very much alive and
committed to getting the lion's share of mini-Snickers at every
op-portunity. When things are left un-said between parents and
children, it leaves a hurt that can never be completely repaired,
but love and dedication can make those scarred places into works of
art. Bettyville is one such masterpiece."
--BookPage "The book is instantly engaging, as Hodgman has a
wry sense of humor, one he uses to keep others at a distance. Yet
the book is also devastatingly touching. Betty is one tough cookie,
and she is crumbling. Hodgman as a young man came out around the
same time AIDS did, complicating his already complicated feelings
immeasurably. There's a lot for Hodgman to handle, yet he does,
despite the urge to give in to his own sadness and his own former
drug addiction. A tender, resolute look at a place, literal and
figurative, baby boomers might find themselves."
--Booklist "Bettyville is a gorgeous memoir. I was
completely engaged, not just because of George Hodgman's great ear
and his sense of timing, but because he delivers Betty to us in
such a manner that she steps off the page . I felt transported to a
better place, to a time period and a web of relationships with
which we can all identify, no matter where we grew up. Beyond the
humor and the pathos, the quotidian and the bizarre, there remain
profound lessons about life and love that I will carry away."
--Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone "George
Hodgman achieves something stunning with this book--by paying such
deep, loving attention to his mother's (admittedly colorful) life,
he offers us the chance to pay close attention to our own strange
and beautiful Bettyvilles, which in the end is all we can ask of
any art. This bejeweled pillbox is rich and funny and
heartwrenching and might just you cure you of your ills; if those
ills include loneliness or feeling like you don't belong--you are
not alone."
--Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
"One of the great benefits of reading memoir is that it offers the
reader more people to love. I love Betty, and I love George
Hodgman, whose beautiful book this is. Read Bettyville. Laugh,
weep, and be grateful."
--Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog Life
"Bettyville reminded me of some Homeric legend, complete
with treacherous chimeras and ravenous gorgons, except that it is
told with such grace, wit, and spirited generosity that you hardly
sense you are on a fragile bark, adrift on a perilous sea. This
story of a sensitive Midwestern boy coming to terms with his
homosexuality, his drug addiction, his clueless parents, his
all-out war with shame, is nothing short of epic. It begins as a
simple trip home from fast-track Manhattan to Paris, Missouri, to
care for a failing mother, but by the time we are through, we have
descended to an underworld, witnessed a plague, traveled all nine
circles of hell, and emerged exhilarated by the grit and valor of
our remarkable guide. It is, in every sense, a tale about the power
of love."
--Marie Arana, author of American Chica "With great
tenderness, honesty, and a searing, sardonic humor, George Hodgman
has written a love letter to his mother, at once a penance and a
tribute. In doing so, he has given us Betty, a character for the
ages. This is a beautiful, illuminating book."
--Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion "When I read the first few
pages of Bettyville, I immediately connected. The detail is poetry
and, yes, George Hodgman tells a story that is all our stories if
we grow up different, struggling not to hurt those we treasure. But
what I will most remember is the human struggle of Betty--the woman
at the window, the woman at the piano, the woman whose desire to
help others represents the best of small-town America. The silence
she was taught and the complications of our parents' journeys to be
there for us, as best they could, is what I will take away from
Bettyville, where she will always reside. Hers is the quiet love
that outlasts the distances and lets us survive."
--Richard Blanco, United States inaugural poet, author of The
Prince of los Cucuyos: A Miami
Childhood
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