Margaux Fragoso

Margaux Artemia Fragoso (/ˈmɑːrɡoʊ fræˈɡoʊsoʊ/; April 15, 1979 – June 23, 2017) was an American author, best known for the memoir Tiger, Tiger.[1][2]

Margaux Fragoso

Ph.D.
BornApril 15, 1979 (1979-04-15)
West New York, New Jersey, United States
DiedJune 23, 2017 (2017-06-24) (aged 38)
Mandeville, Louisiana, United States
LanguageEnglish
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materNew Jersey City University
Binghamton University
Home townUnion City, New Jersey
GenreAutobiography
Notable worksTiger, Tiger: A Memoir
Years active2011–17
SpouseSteve McGowan
Tom O’Connor
Children1

Early life

Fragoso was born to a working-class family and grew up in Union City, New Jersey. Her father was a Puerto Rican jeweler who had a bad temper and drank heavily, while her mother suffered from severe mental illness, necessitating several hospitalizations. From the age of seven, Fragoso was groomed and sexually abused by a neighbor, given the pseudonym "Peter Curran" in her memoir.[3]

Career

Fragoso attended New Jersey City University and then Binghamton University, earning a Ph.D. in 2009. In 2011, she published Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir, which became a bestseller.[4] In The Guardian, Jenny Diski criticized it, saying "With all its explicit sex, melodramatic conversations and dogged chronological detail, Tiger, Tiger is as dreary a read as soft porn. It will titillate paedophiles and fantasists, but for most people, reading it will have the dismal, lowering effect either of reality TV or of a very bad novel."[5] Others praised it, Kate Elizabeth Russell citing it as an influence on her book My Dark Vanessa.[6][7] Dan Kois wrote on NPR's website, calling it "clinical" and "searing", but added "though Fragoso can write with terrible beauty, often her memoir is hampered by awkward sentences, sloppy storytelling and the kind of unbelievably detailed description and dialogue that makes you distrust a memoir's voice."[8]

Personal life and death

Fragoso was married twice, to Steve McGowan, with whom she had a daughter, and in 2010 married Tom O'Connor. She died of ovarian cancer in 2017, aged 38.[9][10][11]

References
  1. "'Tiger, Tiger' Author Shocks With Memoir of Affair With Pedophile". ABC News.
  2. Cardell, Kylie; Douglas, Kate (April 1, 2013). ""Indecent Exposure? Margaux Fragoso and the Limits of Abuse Memoir"". Prose Studies. 35 (1): 39–53. doi:10.1080/01440357.2013.781347 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
  3. "Graphic tale of abuse suggests seducer's in control from beyond the grave" – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  4. Schudel, Matt (June 27, 2017). "Margaux Fragoso, author of searing memoir of childhood sexual abuse, dies at 38" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  5. Diski, Jenny (April 10, 2011). "Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso – review" – via www.theguardian.com.
  6. Ovenden, Olivia (April 4, 2020). "Kate Elizabeth Russell On Writing Her Explosive Debut Novel, 'My Dark Vanessa'". Esquire.
  7. Harrison, Kathryn (March 4, 2011). "The Man Who Molested Me" – via NYTimes.com.
  8. "A Clinical, Searing Memoir Of Abuse in 'Tiger, Tiger' : NPR".
  9. Journal, Caitlin Mota | The Jersey (June 27, 2017). "Margaux Fragoso, child-sex-abuse victim and author, dead at 38". nj.
  10. Roberts, Sam (June 27, 2017). "Margaux Fragoso, Memoirist Who Wrote Hauntingly of Sexual Abuse, Dies at 38" – via NYTimes.com.
  11. "Margaux Fragoso author biography". BookBrowse.com.
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