Suzy Gershman Tribute from Diane Johnson
I guess everyone will agree that Suzy was an exceptional human being, with the warmest heart ever, remarkable lightning wit, beauty, unbelievable energy, generosity and charm. She was a true friend and always seemed to know what her friends needed, whether counsel, hairstyle advice, something new from HongKong or just a good bucking up if you were in low spirits. And she came through for her friends despite her own life's difficulties. You can't help but rail against fate for how it is treating Suzy. We could fall back on The Good Die Young, or Whom God loveth he taketh, but old saws are hardly consolation. Who's going to come over for tamales and football (American) tapes brought back from Texas in her hugely overweight baggage?
On my computer I have a draft of her novel Lunch, safe, in case she dispiritedly deleted it sometime on hers, and maybe it can be privately circulated among her friends so that we will have her final opinion of us. It may make us laugh, as she did, with her joyous, cynical take on things, but it can never make up for her loss. But maybe she will always be with us rather as she was in life, for she was always somewhere else and it was hard to have her physical presence. Still, she was a force from anywhere. Would that they had email from heaven. Thank heaven she got to see her grandchild.
Diane Johnson, who splits her time between Paris and San Francisco, is a novelist and an essayist. Her books include Le Divorce, Le Mariage and L'Affaire. With filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Johnson co-authored the screenplay to The Shining (1980) based on the horror novel of the same name written by Stephen King.
I loved her shopping guides. I was just in Paris and used her suggestions, only to discover on my return that I will never again be able to buy a new Born To Shop. I was definitely a little sad. RIP my shopping angel.
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