Mornings with Mailer : a recollection of friendship

"Mornings with Mailer is a tender and affectionate view of the protean author at the end of the Big Novel that was his life. Dwayne Raymond's book offers a uniquely intimate perspective on one of our literary giants. Applause." — Tom Piazza, author of City of Refuge "In this moving memoir, Dwayne Raymond provides an intimate look at the daily routine of a great writer in the last years of his life." — Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Team of Rivals Mornings with Mailer is the revealing memoir by Dwayne Raymond, the man who worked as Norman Mailer's personal assistant during the last five years of the iconic author's life. Recasting the legendary writer of such classics as The Naked and the Dead and The Executioner's Song in a new light, Mornings with Mailer describes the powerful bond that formed between him and Raymond from April 2003 until Mailer's death in November 2007.

In the spring of 2003, Norman Mailer, who was then eighty years old, invited an improbable companion into his life: Dwayne Raymond, a young writer who was waiting tables at a restaurant in Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, where Mailer spent most of his final years. Raymond became Mailer's aide in all matters professional and private, assisting the Pulitzer Prize–winning author on the four books he published during this time, including his last novel, The Castle in the Forest. As Raymond's responsibilities grew, so too did his closeness to Mailer, who in turn taught him how to navigate his own personal challenges.

In this touching memoir, Dwayne Raymond presents a loving portrait of Norman Mailer in his twilight years, depicting a quirky and complex but achingly human man so unlike the Mailer of disquieting legend. Beautifully written and honestly portrayed, Mornings with Mailer is a personal and revealing story of a great writer, his man Friday, and their unlikely but enduring friendship.

Publishers Weekly

In 2003, hard at work and happily ensconced at his home in Provincetown, Mass., Norman Mailer invited young writer Raymond, a casual acquaintance, to become his assistant, beginning a relationship that would change Raymond's life and ease the end of the literary icon's. Raymond's responsibilities were varied, including researcher, cook, critic, and technology liaison, enabling him to catalog Mailer's idiosyncrasies in work and home life ("He would suggest I buy the best possible wine for dinner guests and then ask me to make sure we had plenty of Hershey's Bars"). Raymond was clearly enchanted with Mailer, and this intimate but respectful look at Mailer's life is entirely free of mudslinging; Mailer is portrayed as a devoted husband (to sixth wife Barbara), and an indulgent father. Through devoted eyes, Mailer emerges a witty, hard-working, tragic figure: discussing the Norman Mailer Society, he complains that "most authors are dead who have these societies. I feel slightly pushed ahead." Raymond also captures the sobering moments of a legend approaching its end, including a particular moving scene in which the extended family gathers around Mailer in a hospital room, passing around a clandestine rum cocktail.
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In this touching memoir, the author presents a loving portrait of Norman Mailer in his twilight years, depicting a quirky and complex but achingly human man so unlike the Mailer of disquieting legend. Beautifully written and honestly portrayed, this book is a personal and revealing story of a great writer, his man Friday, and their unlikely but enduring friendship. --from back cover A memoir that presents an alternative portrayal of Norman Mailer, a writer who is frequently described as controversial, combative, and verbose. It depicts that Mailer is a comparatively temperate, comprehensive man whose quirky, human qualities far outweigh the disquieting legend. The author who worked as Norman Mailer's assistant during the last years of his life offers an intimate, memoir that depicts Mailer as a temperate man who taught his assistant how to navigate his own personal challenges.