I knew of Lee Israel from her writing in the New York Times .. in particular, the Elaine Stritch profile Stritch herself references in her one woman show AT LIBERTY (NY Times June 23, 1968, "Stritch: She Got Raves in 'Private Lives' (And Was Out of Work a Week Later)" [look it up in the NYTimes archives on line .. I did :)] ... Stritch calls Israel "one hell of a writer", and those kudos took me to this article. Israel ends the published profile with this quote (which Stritch paraphrases slightly differently, same effect, in her one woman show): "I think, too, that a lot of directors are afraid of me because, in the words of Gershwin, 'There's a lot of things I don't know, but I do know this,' And I do know the theatre. All I'm' looking for is somebody who knows more than I do. If they're interested, they can call. But I couldn't swing it with someone who knows less, because all I'll do is argue. I won't be able to make any music that way."

Great writer, great subject. And in this current memoir, this great writer turns her lens on herself .. often gingerly outlining the edges of stories (suitors, cats, various apartments, friends who fade and friends who stay around) .. and a dicey, illicit, white collar crime spree Ms. Israel dreams up in the early 1970s. Her actions of forging and repenting, her sweet and self-effacing and intriguing descriptions of her own journey ... aggravate and challenge and entrance me.

I'd love to meet her. And I'm mad at her. Hell, I'm a researcher and I love these same characters whose work she forged. Not sure if i can "forgive" her actions exactly, but hey, who am I? I do love her mind. and my my my, she can write up a dream. Stritch is abso-fucking-lutely right about that.

Israel is incredibly entertaining in this slim memoir -- funny, insightful, and absolutely unapologetic. I recommended this to one of my favorite library patrons, a very discriminating reader, and he enjoyed it so much, he bought some as gifts. Those unfamiliar with the authors whose letters Israel forged will find the story interesting, but it is truly wonderful when you can appreciate her gift. ( )

Interesting and at points hilarious, but her voice really pains me--snobby, bitchy, privileged. However, she led a fascinating life and I'm glad I had a chance to see part of it through this book. ( )

Book thief and forger Lee Israel's 'memoir' Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Simon & Schuster, 2008) is little more than a snarky, blame-everyone-else justification for her serious crimes (which included stealing original letters from various libraries, making and selling forgeries to autograph dealers, and replacing original letters with forgeries so that she could sell the originals).

Israel, the author of several celebrity biographies before she turned crook, tells us that she decided to start stealing and forging letters when she realized she might be able to make a buck from it. During the first major phase of criminal activity, from April 1990 through the following summer, she admits to creating more than four hundred fake letters and "enhancing" other stolen letters by adding forged postscripts. Once her creations began attracting negative attention from suspicious dealers, Israel found a co-conspirator and got him to fence original documents she nabbed. The FBI, aided by several New York autograph dealers, finally caught up with Israel; she took a plea deal and received a wrist-slapping punishment of house arrest and probation (which she basically admits to flouting).

The book itself amounts to less than a hundred pages of text, the remainder of the 125 pages being taken up with facsimiles of Israel's forgeries, which she is clearly very proud of (she says it was a "terrific compliment" that a couple of her forgeries were included in a collection of Noël Coward letters published in 2007). The title notwithstanding, there is no sense whatsoever that Israel actually wants to be forgiven: she certainly doesn't express any remorse about her forgeries, which she calls "larky and fun and totally cool." She claims to feel a twinge of guilt for her thefts from libraries, but says "My guilt ... is mitigated somewhat by the gathering in of the epistolary diaspora" (translated from her excessively verbose style, this means she "helped" the FBI find the original documents and make sure they were returned).

Frankly, Israel's behavior is nothing but disgusting and despicable. She's a liar, a thief, and a forger, and she seems to be little short of gleeful about it. So, as I said when I first mentioned this book, no, I won't forgive. Nor should librarians or dealers forget, because I have no doubt that, given the chance, Israel would not pause for even a instant before engaging in such behavior again.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/... ( )

An amusing read from the first to the last page! A nice short read. ( )