{"id":187,"date":"2019-09-12T14:42:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T21:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andrea.juntosoft.com\/?p=187"},"modified":"2019-09-30T12:27:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T19:27:13","slug":"kirkus-review-memoirs-of-a-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/12\/kirkus-review-memoirs-of-a-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirkus Review, Memoirs of a Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.29.3&#8243; background_image=&#8221;https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/andrea-content-background.jpg&#8221; parallax=&#8221;on&#8221; parallax_method=&#8221;off&#8221; fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _i=&#8221;0&#8243; _address=&#8221;0&#8243;][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;2_5,3_5&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;row&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.27.4&#8243; background_image=&#8221;https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/andrea-content-background.jpg&#8221; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; _i=&#8221;0&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0&#8243;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_5&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.25&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; _i=&#8221;0&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0.0&#8243; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;Back Button Code&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.29.1&#8243; text_orientation=&#8221;left&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||10px|5px|false|false&#8221; animation_style=&#8221;fade&#8221; animation_delay=&#8221;500ms&#8221; locked=&#8221;off&#8221; _i=&#8221;0&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0.0.0&#8243;]<input type=\"button\" value=\"Back\" class=\"alg_back_button_input \" style=\"\" onclick=\"window.history.back()\" \/>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_image src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Memoirs-of-a-Ghost-1.jpg&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.29.3&#8243; custom_margin=&#8221;|5px||10px|false|false&#8221; animation_style=&#8221;fade&#8221; animation_delay=&#8221;300ms&#8221; box_shadow_style=&#8221;preset2&#8243; _i=&#8221;1&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0.0.1&#8243;][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/amazon_button.png&#8221; url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1505319625?creativeASIN=1505319625&#038;linkCode=w00&#038;linkId=EFGCNIKQJVUS4524&#038;ref_=as_sl_pc_tf_til&#038;tag=wwwandreacaga-20&#8243; url_new_window=&#8221;on&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;3.29.1&#8243; width=&#8221;60%&#8221; animation_style=&#8221;fade&#8221; animation_direction=&#8221;left&#8221; animation_delay=&#8221;350ms&#8221; _i=&#8221;2&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0.0.2&#8243;][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;3_5&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;3.25&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; _i=&#8221;1&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0.1&#8243; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_blurb _builder_version=&#8221;3.29.3&#8243; header_level=&#8221;h1&#8243; header_text_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; body_text_color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; background_enable_image=&#8221;off&#8221; parallax=&#8221;on&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; _i=&#8221;0&#8243; _address=&#8221;0.0.1.0&#8243;]<strong>BOOK REVIEW<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A ghostwriter pens her own revealing story.<\/p>\n<p>Cagan (<em>Peace Is Possible<\/em>, 2007, etc.) has worked as a professional writer for more than 20 years. On the surface, she\u2019s lived an enviable, adventurous life, hobnobbing with the rich and famous and traveling the world. Yet her memoir is an honest, balanced reflection that follows the circuitous path she took to achieving peace and, perhaps, contentment. Cagan was a dancer for years before taking a foray into acting and eventually ending up as a writer. The self-confidence and discipline that Cagan learned in ballet helped her in many of her subsequent challenges and prepared her for the unconventional life she would ultimately lead. Later, as a ghostwriter, she learned the art of ordering the chaos of another person\u2019s life and truly dissolving her own self to become \u201cthe other.\u201d The memoir then reflects on her work as a writer, in addition to other aspects of her past, such as failed marriages, her relationship with her mother, and the death of a loved one. She explores broad topics, such as religion and aging, offering numerous anecdotes and relating hard lessons she\u2019s learned. It\u2019s an intriguing and potentially frightening undertaking to move from composing others\u2019 stories to exposing one\u2019s own inner workings. As Cagan does so, she\u2019s often candid, humorous, reflective, and remorseful; she doesn\u2019t shy away from divulging the darker aspects of her life, including frequent drug use and abusive relationships. Her memoir takes a nonlinear, thematically organized approach. This strategy pays off as the chapters pull from different eras of her life, connected by thematic threads. In \u201cIntrepid,\u201d for example, the topics range from her father\u2019s fearlessness to her own courage years later volunteering at an AIDS hospice. In the closing pages, Cagan wonders whether she\u2019s \u201cdone enough\u201d to pen an interesting memoir. Simply put: she has.<\/p>\n<p>A memoir from the shadows that\u2019s just as fascinating as those that inhabit the spotlight.[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;An honest, balanced reflection. Intriguing.Cagan wonders whether she\u2019s &#8216;done enough&#8217; to pen an interesting memoir. Simply put: she has.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","category-endorsements","category-memoirs-of-a-ghost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreacagan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}