Fierce AttachmentsVivian Gornick's relationship with her mother is difficult. At the age of forty five, she regularly meets her mother for strolls along the streets of Manhattan. Occasionally they'll hit a pleasant stridefondly recalling a shared nostalgia or chuckling over a mutual disgustbut most often their walks are tinged with contempt, irritation, and rages so white hot her mother will stop strangers on the street and say, 'This is my daughter. She hates me.'