Book Review - Here But Not Here by Lillian Ross

Here But Not Here by Lillian Ross is a non-fiction memoir about her life with William Shawn and her time with The New Yorker magazine. She was a renowned writer, Shawn was the fabled editor, and together there was a forty year love affair. He remained married to his wife and Lillian Ross respected that marriage. The wife knew about Ross and gave the relationship her blessing. Yes, this is a bit bizarre to contemplate, and yet it worked. She felt she had a “normal” life and never dated others, never considered her “single” life sad. She did not make demands of Shawn. The time they could spend together at work and go out in New York City proved enough.  He did not shirk his kids, etc.  This was a case for him of being immersed in love – a married love, and an amazing connection love.

The book covers the 1950s to Shawn’s death in 1992. Ross writes about meeting Shawn, her respect for him, her writing career, her time in Hollywood covering a John Huston film, and her life in New York. Here But Not Here is fascinating. It’s not creepy weird.  Yes, real life is stranger than fiction. And so is love. They had an intellectual connection that transcended conventions.

Lillian Ross’s descriptions of being a writer for The New Yorker, her respect for the magazine and it’s writers, her respect for the editors is rather interesting and pertinent for today.  The amount of work and editing and quality required was enormous. I’ve read other books by Ross – i.e. a collection of her articles and essays. She’s a talent, and this book – a memoir – is well done. Quite a tale!

Book Review - Reporting Always by Lillian Ross

Lillian Ross’s Reporting Always is a collection of journalistic pieces from The New Yorker magazine.  As a staff writer since 1945, Ross, in writing entertainment profiles created scenes, almost like a novel. She included humor and details that “bring her subjects to life on the page. Her style has been studied and imitated.” (cover blurb).  Her articles and Talk of the Town spans sixty years – meet Robin Williams and Mrs. Doubtfire, Harry Winston and the world of diamonds, Ernest Hemingway drinking champagne and shopping for a coat, John Huston on set, and John McEnroe on a tennis court.

She always considered herself a reporter. She was a pioneer and influence on writers. In the Forward, David Remnick writes, “Her hallmarks are her keen eyes and ears and an austere, straightforward style. As a storyteller, she has an abiding faith in the magical properties of facts. She has an antipathy to analysis, flourishes, and showing off. With an almost cinematic use of scenes, she makes her dramatic points by showing what she sees and hears, relying on the cumulative power of what happens.”  Show, don’t tell is the writers’ mantra.

Lillian Ross declared, “A reporter doing a story can’t pretend to be invisible, let alone a fly; he or she is seen and heard and responded to by the people he or she is writing about. A reporter is always chemically involved in a story.”  In her introduction she also says, “Innocence is an often ridiculed and abused word. To me it is a reliable one. And it naturally translates into humor. It is what has always let me to my subjects.”

Her heroes in writing are Hemingway and Salinger “because both had the strength to hold on to themselves…..More than ever, I respect them for their courage to have been like no one else on earth. And what they had in common was deepest innocence.”

I recommend Reporting Always by Lillian Ross for its writing, perspective, and reporting example. Her love of her job, the people she encountered, and her interest in the famous or the mundane shines through. I’m guessing you don’t last this long in the business without being a class act. And that shines through too.