You’ve got the pedal to the metal.
Ninety miles an hour, that’s how you live your life. Zooming here, careening around corners, racing to the next deadline, the next milestone, the next goal. Once in awhile, you run out of fuel, but it’s back on the road tomorrow and you can’t imagine living any other way. As in the new memoir “Joyride” by Susan Orlean, it’s been a wild journey.
For much of her life, Susan Orlean has been “lucky.”
She was born at a good time in history and had the benefit of privileges. Though her parents constantly sniped at one another, they were supportive of Orlean and encouraged her natural curiosity. Her father pressed her to become a lawyer, but Orlean knew early-on that she only wanted to be a writer.
It ended up being the only job she’s had for nearly 50 years.
Orlean started with a gap-year position in Portland, where she discovered that she had a deep interest in diving into subjects that few people knew about, hidden places and cultures, small corners of society, and quiet heroes. She talked her way into stories that generous editors allowed her to follow, and she learned how to be a better writer.
Eventually, her talents took her to New York City, where she worked for The New Yorker magazine, with editors who nurtured her career further, allowed more travel for research, and encouraged Orlean to be the storyteller she wanted to be. Her first book was optioned for a movie. She was trying to stop a coming divorce then, thinking about motherhood, while birthing a second book, which also became a movie.
Her third book came after her second marriage and her son’s entry into the world.
Yes, throughout her life, luck has been a big feature, says Orlean.
“Little scratches on a page… delivering knowledge and emotion and mystery — it’s astonishing.” she says. “To make those little scratches on the page for a living is a miracle.”
So you always wanted to be a writer. You’ve taken classes, dabbled with words on paper, maybe even won a contest or two. Things like this haven’t been easy, have they? But they sure are fun, as you’ll see inside “Joyride.”
If you’ve ever wondered about the life of a writer-author, then let Susan Orlean fill you in. Her story — one that’s common and unique at the same time — takes readers from the late 1970s to recently, from alt-weekly newspapers to slick fashion magazines to Hollywood. The journey is shared in a breezy, charming, and sometimes self-effacing and offhand manner, name-dropping with no fuss, honest ups and downs front-and-center. It’s fun to read, and aspiring writers will be awed at this life, while readers and neophyte scribes will find much here to dream about.
This is a great memoir for nontraditional authors, for newbie writers, Orlean’s fans, readers with a lifelong passion, and for anyone who wants a top-down, wind-in-your-hair memoir despite the occasional bumps in the road. Find “Joyride” soon — and then buckle up.
“Joyride: A Memoir” by Susan Orlean
c.2025, Avid Reader Press $32, 368 pages