Want to learn the ideas in Attachment better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Attachment by Rainbow Rowell here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of Attachment

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on Attachment, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Rainbow Rowell.

1-Page Summary of Attachment

Overall Summary

Vivian Gornick’s book, Fierce Attachments: A Memoir (1987), looks at the relationships between mothers and daughters. It is considered one of the best memoirs of the twentieth century because it offers a candid look into these relationships. She typically writes about controversial subjects, including politics and gender, but she also enjoys exploring familiar topics from new angles. Her books include Fierce Attachments and her feminist essay collection, The Men in My Life.

In Fierce Attachments, Gornick explores what it means to be a woman and mother. She talks about her relationship with her own mother and how that shaped who she is today. She concludes that there are many ways to be a mother, noting the importance of female influences in shaping girls into women.

Gornick starts by talking about her childhood and how she grew up with her mother. Gornick’s mother was extremely judgmental of the other people in their neighborhood, but as she got older, Gornick realized that it wasn’t because her mother was nosy; it was because women must look out for each other.

Linda Gornick discusses her mother’s upbringing in more detail. Ma grew up on the lower east side, where she slept every night for most of her life on two kitchen chairs if the family did not have a bed. Then one day an uncle came and would frequently wake Ma up at night to abuse her and label her as a bad child so others wouldn’t find out about it from telling anyone else. When Linda decided that she wanted to have a baby with someone (at this time), she understood what hardships mothers go through with how they feel, but there is always something mysterious about being able to discuss things shared between mothers and daughters together due to bonds formed watching them grow throughout their lives since birth until old age today.

As Gornick grows up, Ma tells her how important it is to be educated and to make something of herself. It’s also important for women not to rely on men because they should never feel subservient. Ma doesn’t want Gornick stuck in a loveless marriage like their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Drucker, who despises her husband so much that she makes him shower before she will sleep with him. He won’t let Mrs. Drucker get a job and forces her into domestic servitude instead of allowing her the freedom to pursue any career she wants or needs for happiness (which would have been better than staying at home).

Although Amy Ma is very opinionated, she loves her granddaughter and wants to do what’s best for Gornick. She doesn’t understand that she should be raising a daughter who thinks for herself and challenges the ideas of others. When Gornick goes against her mother’s wishes by getting an education, their relationship becomes strained because now they disagree on many issues. Ma feels as though Gornick no longer respects or loves her because she has gotten an education and talks back to her mother when they disagree about things.

In the book “Fierce Attachments”, Nancy Gornick talks about her relationship with her mother. She says that she used to see Ma through rose-colored glasses, but when she grew up, she realized that Ma was a real person and not just an idealized version of herself.

Gornick talks about the women who influenced her. She is particularly indebted to Nettie Levine, a woman across the hall from where she grew up. Gornick admired Levine’s femininity and feminine charms, which inspired her own sense of self-worth. At the same time, however, she struggled with Ma’s model of femininity as more independent and masculine than that of Levine’s.