Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Last Exit to Bettyville

Back in May 2016, we discussed George Hodgman's best-selling memoir, Bettyville, in which he alternates descriptions of caring for his aging mother and bittersweet memories of growing up gay in a Midwestern town.  I'm sorry to report that he passed away on July 22 at the age of 60, per this New York Times  obituary, which concludes with one of my favorite passages from Bettyville:

In his book, Mr. Hodgman wrote of why he decided to stay in Paris and care for his mother: He preferred her company to the empty apartment that awaited him back in New York.

"Turns out I am a person who needs people," he wrote.  "I hate that."

In 2016 Paramount Television announced plans to develop a TV show based on the book, starring Shirley MacLaine and Matthew Broderick, but the project never came to fruition.  Alas.

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2 comments:

DCSteve1441 said...

Not sure why it took the Post five days to run an obit on Mr. Hodgman, but here it is: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/george-hodgman-best-selling-author-of-bettyville-dies-at-60/2019/07/24/7f91fff8-ad67-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html?utm_term=.c7b3e6ddb7a9

Even more disappointing, there is only one fleeting reference to his sexual orientation: "Mr. Hodgman, a cosmopolitan New Yorker who was gay, had a hard time adjusting to life in a town whose population had shrunk to about 1,200." Nowhere does Matt Schudel, the reporter, reference the fact that it was precisely Hodgman's gayness that made his decision to take care of his dying mother all the more fraught--a connection his counterpart at the New York Times got.

July 29, 2019 at 2:13 PM
Tim said...

Post obituary

July 31, 2019 at 7:58 AM

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