A natural sequel to "Fierce Attachments," "La mujer singular y la ciudad" is a fascinating and emotional map of the rhythms, chance encounters, and ever-changing friendships that make up life in the city, in this case New York. Walking through the streets of Manhattan, again with his mother or alone, Gornick observes what is happening around him, interacts with strangers, intersperses personal anecdotes and reflective pieces about friendship, about the often irrepressible attraction to solitude. and about what it means to be a modern feminist. These memoirs are the self-portrait of a woman who fiercely defends her independence, and who has decided to live out her conflicts instead of her fantasies.