Chapters 1-3 Summary and Analysis

About Alice by Calvin Trillin is a touching memoir about the author's wife, Alice. After his wife's death, the author received many touching notes of condolences from friends and readers alike. Trillin answers these notes with this poignant look at the woman with whom he shared nearly forty years of his life. The book is both humorous and moving, allowing the reader a peek at the woman Trillin felt was his companion, his teacher, and his muse.

Calvin Trillin found the many condolence letters he received from his readers after his wife's death touching. So many people felt they knew his wife because of his writings. However, Trillin believed none of these people truly knew Alice and that she would have been amused by their assertion that they had. Alice was a force in Trillin's life, and, as a...