Wear and Tear Hardcover – 23 Feb. 2017

A good read, book in good condition.

Tracy is the only child of Kenneth Tynan the theatre critic. Her mother is Elaine Dundy an author. Tracy was born in 1952. It was soon apparent that both parents were snobs. They loved dropping names like Larry Oliver and Marlene D. They were obsessed by celebrities. The author says it was an addiction. Se was told to curtsey to these people! What famous person was coming to dinner was what mattered not Tracy.Her mother was bordering on being an alcoholic. Dad ditto. Tracy has to be pitied for her parents were a dreadful couple. Arguments and violent rows were commonplace.. As a child, Tracy, understandably, was very frightened. She writes that watching her parents was akin to watching a horror film. She admits to becoming a voyeur. The language that flowed between her parents was foul and full of threats. Crockery was smashed along with furniture. Tracy says she cannot remember every having a family meal. As her parents were seldom around, Tracy was reared by au pairs followed by boarding school which she liked very much. The contrast with her home environment must have been immense. When 13, her mother rang from Mexico to tell her that she had divorced Kenneth. Holidays were spent mainly with Elaine who was constantly depressed and drunk. Eventually, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital where she stayed for five years. Dad, meanwhile married Kathleen Halton, a journalist and screen writer.Tracy went to Sussex University to study social anthropology. 200 guests were invited to her 21St. They included many of Hollywood fame and leading actors of the stage. Cocaine flowed. Tracy moved to Los Angeles after graduation and married a film director. She became a costume designer.Her father and Kathleen also moved to Los Angeles. Her father boasted about his affairs and use of prostitutes and in general his sexual behaviour became appalling. He died in 1980 aged 53. Twelve diaries were left for Tracy. Her name appeared only eight times. Her mother moved to Los Angeles but the daughter couldn't bear her company. Elaine was found dead a heart attack in 2008 while Tracy was driving to a retreat. She rang a cemetery then continued her journey. Elaine had left instructions that she wanted to be buried near Marilyn Monroe in Westwood.The author declares her own addictions which include clothes, no doubt fostered by her work. Many readers may find the number of pages devoted to clothes somewhat excessive.This is a book that should have been organised much better. To have her father die halfway through was a mistake. The mass of detail regarding clothes is excessive, and some of the stories are rather banal. The main weakness is the lack of memorable insights but then given her dreadful upbringing this is is perhaps too much to expect.

Not an exciting read ~ did not live up to the review I read.

Great service..great price for v-good quality book..

This is a very amusing, often poignant and interesting book. I have enjoyed reading one chapter a day.

Fascinating.

I really loved “Wear and Tear.” It’s a wonderful memoire about the influence of popular culture, the evolution of a career, and the true meaning of love. Tracy Tynan's voice as a woman, as an artist, and as a wife and mother comes through loud and clear. Writing memoire is an act of emotional courage, as it requires a complete and thorough excavation of each and every dark place that most of us want to forget or avoid. Tynan's book is unflinching in that respect. While reading it, I was always very conscious of her -- the person behind the words. That person comes across as kind, honest, inquisitive, and open to life itself. Not only is she a feminist through and through, but also her activism on the part of disadvantaged women is a wake up call. Plus she has a great sense of humor.

I liked this well written, informative book.Obviously Tracy Tynan's literary chops were inherited but her sensible forgiveness are hers alone and hard won. Her parents were appalling. How she survived her childhood their selfish behavior and addictions is beyond me? But she has survived as this book attests to.I highly recommend this interesting book.

We can see how this might happen. An off-spring of two volatile and famous people offers to "tell all," i.e., to talk about her life as their child. Despite the reams of material already published about her famous parents,including their diaries, eager editors hope that new details will break through the news cycle and be sensational. After all, both parents and child did meet and know a great many people of accomplishment and appetite in the English theatre. Kenneth Tynan was a wizard with visions; Elaine Dundy was a fine writer,albeit an unhappy one. Both drank and smoked and had multiple affairs. And in the course of their lives they intersected with both Oliviers as well as notables from publishing, the Old Vic, the National Theatre, not to mention Hollywood. So- what do we get here?We get the story of a not ugly duckling finding her wings in the folds of gowns, shoes, overcoats, hats and gloves as she becomes a solid costumier for film and theatre. If one wants a career in costume design, this book might be invaluable. For others, not. Our tall thin heroine (who in this respect resembles her father) grows up timorous and solitary, often cast off or aside,finding as her best friend a sealskin coat. Eventually she meets and marries a very nice man and has a family.What we (As well as the editors) might have expected rarely is allowed to peak out at us from the page. Even the jacket photograph,intriguing as it is,is about as much as we get of Mama and Poppa Tynan.This is a good-hearted book, hinting only at the ins and outs of which is parent, which child. There is little of which its author need be ashamed. Her progress through life is steady and sensible, and her goals achieved. Actually, it's refreshing to read of a young woman who turned out so well and so independently.John Neufeld, author ofEDGAR ALLAN and LISA, BRIGHT and DARK (both Kindled)

I admire Tracy Tynan because despite her parents’ neglect and their inappropriate behavior, she managed to create a happy and meaningful life for herself. Her memoir tells this story with wit and humility. I especially appreciated the chapter on what a Hollywood costume designer actually does, including all the crazy demands and problems of the job. The account of the difficult birth of her daughter (with its happy ending) was riveting. It was hard to put the book down. But when I did finish reading it and set it on my coffee table, I thought to myself, “That was fun!”

What a brave and interesting memoir. For anyone who has begun a story with reference to what someone was wearing, and only then move on....to all of us who's memories are consistently prompted by a piece of clothing, this is your book. But it is not limited to that, because this is a story of a search for family. A universal need in all of us to belong to a clan, to have not just one person have our back, but a tribe to fill us with love and security. Tracy Tynan, the daughter of an eccentric and talented theatre critic and an unstable, alcoholic, novelist Mother, tells her story of surviving as a single child to building an extended family of her own. She tells it though her love of clothing inherited from her father. At times whimsical and other times heartbreaking, but never self serving. Her humility and humor tell the story with great condor.