A review by bookish_smorgasbord
Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir by Lillian Faderman

5.0

Lillian Faderman, author, is merely one aspect of the complex and fascinating woman that is Lillian Faderman. In her memoir, Naked in the Promised Land, Faderman explores the seeds of her identity as a small child in New York City to her trial by fire adolescence and young adulthood in East Los Angeles. Her mother and her aunt were the sole survivors, due to their immigration to the United States, of their family's destruction by the Nazis. Faderman struggled to realize their dreams, as well as find her own. The memoir follows her through rough periods of acting, modeling, relationships, and burlesque dancing. Supportive persons emerge along the way, helping her to eventually realize her academic dreams. The memoir is rich and does not shy away from all gradations of her person. I highly recommend it!