06/29/2015
Melissa Rivers offers a humorous and tender retrospective on the life and character of her mother, the late comedian Joan Rivers (1933–2014). Melissa recollects her mother’s hilarious and outlandish behavior, her persistence to overcome her personal demons, her larger-than-life presence as a celebrity, mother, and grandmother, and their final moments together. Melissa portrays her mother as intelligent and sensitive, with a strong sense of traditional values about life and family. Her impact on her daughter’s life is clear from the stories Melissa shares, but also in Melissa’s narration. Melissa’s speech patterns and the slight rasp in her voice are reminiscent of her mother. Moreover, she conjures Joan’s spirit in a pitch-perfect imitation of her mother. While much of the memoir achieves its goal to make people laugh, it also succeeds in defining Joan Rivers beyond her outrageous sense of humor. A Crown Archetype hardcover. (May)
In the spring we celebrate rebirth and rejuvenation, a changing of seasons, and hardy resilience married to fragile beauty—as do these six new titles chronicling the exceptional lives of amazing women. These stories promise love, laughter, and light after a winter that has held on for too long. If you pre-order now, perhaps you’ll be reading them […]
There is not, nor will there ever be, another comedian like Joan Rivers. A pioneer, a truth-teller, and an unapologetically sharp-tongued staple of the red carpet and talk-show scene, she could get as good as she gave, which is saying something when your zingers include lines like, “I hope she was going for laughs, because she got […]
It seems like only yesterday we could tune in and hear the not-so dulcet sounds of Joan Rivers gabbing away on E!’s Fashion Police. The legendary and groundbreaking comedienne passed away in September of last year, only eight months ago—not a long gestation period for The Book of Joan, a heartfelt tribute from her grieving daughter and […]