9½ Narrow

Patricia Morrisroe’s … love for shoes started with a crush on a little friend’s white Mary Janes. She successfully lobbied for her own pair, only to have her quirky mother—her comic foil throughout this book—offhandedly inform her that she was born with 12 toes. What’s entertaining about her life story and footwear adoration is the irony Morrisroe blends into every scene; her comic timing brings peels of laughter… Romances and a peripatetic career in journalism also spark wry observations.

Chatty and endearing, this episodic memoir flows … Morrisroe recreates many of her shoe lust milestones growing up in the 1960s in Andover, Mass., shopping for white Mary Janes, wedgies, Beatle boots, and ghillies…Straightforward and funny, Morrisroe proves to be a great companion as she navigates shoe stores, high heels, and foot fetishes.

I love shoes and this delightful memoir shines a light on all things shoe, as well as all things personal.  Patricia Morrisroe’s life unfolds through her wedges, ruby shoes, t-strap heels, and Manolo slingbacks.  As I read it, all my memories came back in a flood, and yours will too.

9 ½ Narrow is an utterly charming — I might say fleet-footed — memoir about entering life with big (but narrow!) feet and bigger dreams.  Patricia Morrisroe depicts the agonies of growing up as a born sophisticate in a Catholic family and a small town with an enviable lightness of touch — and a comic’s sense of timing.  It is hard to read this book without laughing — or occasionally grimacing — in recognition at the truth of an observation or situation, leaving you wondering how someone else has figured out exactly how you feel about everything from getting a bad perm to Bergdorf’s shoe department.

This ebullient memoir chronicles a woman’s life through the shoes she’s loved…Morrisroe shows how our footwear tells our stories and reveals our character.

Patricia Morrisroe writes with the sharpness of a stiletto and the wit of a Louboutin.

The book is full of… funny and keenly observed details. Blessed be any woman willing to tell the truth about heels.

Morrisroe hits the mark … A funny, warm and insightful trek through one woman’s life and American popular culture—a successful blend of form and function.

9 ½ Narrow is a 10! A girl becomes a woman and shares her memories, her loves, family, and shoes.  You’ll identify with Patricia, laugh with her and at her – page after page.  You’ll want to call her up and talk.  I don’t know her but I wish I did.