{"product_id":"2940013316805","title":"Grip: A Memoir of Fierce Attractions","description":"Why do smart women choose bad men? In this award-winning memoir, a woman examines her life with stunning honesty searching for an answer.  \u003cbr\u003eSet in San Francisco in the 1970s, Grip is the story of how a teenager fends off an armed intruder with only her wits, then goes on to become the toughest female martial artist in her karate school and an early advocate for women’s rights. Yet in private this five-foot fighter selects one wrong man after another, including a manipulative ex-con and a karate teacher with anger issues. Ultimately, she finds her real battle is an internal one. She has to face the emotional abandonment she experienced as a child before she can trust and love. \u003cbr\u003eWritten with rich detail that draws the reader in, Grip has been acclaimed as a memoir that reads like a novel. Winner of the Maui Writers Conference Rupert Hughes Award and the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association Book Award for “Best Memoir,” it is by turns riveting, heartbreaking and wise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“After being assaulted in her own bedroom by a masked intruder when she was a teen, Hamberg found her relationships with men complicated, to say the least. In this thoughtful memoir, she shares the victories and defeats that shaped those relationships in vivid detail ... Hamberg paints a portrait of a woman who stood up to her attacker, embraced feminism, and still managed to fall for the worst guy in the room, be he a spineless hippie, a manipulative ex-con, or a karate instructor with anger issues. ... Soundly edited, focused and well-crafted, Hamberg's memoir is an examination of what it means to be a strong, independent woman, and how we often manage to lead ourselves astray despite the best intentions.” \u003cbr\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e“God, how I loved this book! \u003cbr\u003eI had this terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach for the first 40 or so pages, culminating with me crying around page 50. But I didn’t take a break, I couldn’t, I kept reading like I was possessed. ... The writing is absolutely fabulous, the characters are complex, and they’ll keep you pondering and wondering well after you’ve read the book. ... I won’t lie, if you’re the sort that gets very emotionally invested in your reads, like I do, this will be rather intense, but also incredibly beautiful and somehow liberating.” \u003cbr\u003eLivia-Elena Olteanu, Butterfly Books\u003cbr\u003e“Grip is a page-turner.  It's a bold but intimate, seductive but serious, story of passion and how it can be used to inflict pain.  Hamberg explores the intersection of the erotic and the elegiac and does so with language that is intelligent and artistic.  Please read this book! Hamberg's powerful story will illumine the complexities of your own life.”\u003cbr\u003eJudy Goldman, author of “Easy Leaving”\u003cbr\u003e“Hamberg recounts her experiences with extensive detail and candor, recognizing that such personal insight transforms her work from history to literature. ... Structurally, Grip is a chronology of her lovers, whom she characterizes meticulously via sensory imagery and private anecdotes. ... Hamberg provides provocative insight to demonstrate how she renewed her sense of security from within ... until she finally meets a man who she doesn't need to prove it to, and then she stops having to prove it to herself.”\u003cbr\u003eForeword Reviews","brand":"Route One Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47082664067312,"sku":"2940013316805","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013316805_p0.jpg?v=1763579625","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013316805","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}