logo

47 pages 1 hour read

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir

Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | Adult | Published in 2014

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Key Figures

Roz Chast

The author, illustrator, and narrator of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Roz Chast is a successful cartoonist. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and children, whom her memoir does not depict. She depicts herself in the illustrations as having glasses and blonde hair. Chast is the only child of Elizabeth and George Chast, whose families moved from Russia to America at the turn of the century in search of a better life. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in the same apartment her parents lived in for the rest of their lives. Chast has unhappy memories of her childhood. She recalls that because both her parents worked, she was left in the care of an elderly neighbor and later with various sitters. Her mother’s insistence that she come home for a lunch cooked by the sitter prevented her from making very many friends at school. Chast reflects, “I had no nostalgia for the Carefree Days of Youth, because I never had them” (18). After moving away from Brooklyn, she did not return for 11 years.

Chast notes that her personality is more similar to her father’s: “I was my father’s daughter, not my mother’s” (177).

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 47 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,600+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools