Appreciated Edwidge Danticat’s honest words about grieving her mother as I go through my own grief process. In this book she intertwines some writing Appreciated Edwidge Danticat’s honest words about grieving her mother as I go through my own grief process. In this book she intertwines some writing about losing her mother with analysis of how other writers describe death in their works. Though I found the analysis portion a bit distracting from Danticat’s writing about her mother’s passing, I liked the intelligence of her commentary as well as how she emphasized the importance of including specific detail to help readers feel more connected to those who have died. Her writing about her mother, while on the briefer side, shows the love they had for one another. I hope writing this book felt cathartic or at least meaningful to Danticat in her grieving process....more
A fabulous, fierce essay collection that uplifted my soul in the busy season of graduate school applications. Double Hugo Award winner Kameron Hurley A fabulous, fierce essay collection that uplifted my soul in the busy season of graduate school applications. Double Hugo Award winner Kameron Hurley writes about the intersections of feminism, science fiction and fantasy, and the struggles she has overcome in her personal life. She sheds light on the sexism women encounter online and in the writing industry, in a way that conveys strength and hope. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite essays of hers, "In Defense of Unlikable Women," which I will include various snippets of throughout this review:
"I see this double standard pop up all the time in novels, too. We forgive our heroes even when they're drunken, aimless brutes or flawed noir figures who smoke too much and can't hold down a steady relationship. In truth, we both sympathize with and celebrate these heroes; Conan is loved for his raw emotions, his gut instincts, his tendency to solve problems through sheer force of will. But the traits we love in many male heroes - their complexity, their confidence, their occasional bouts of selfish whim - become, in female heroes, marks of the dreaded 'unlikable character'."
I loved two things most about this essay collection: Hurley's big heart and her commitment to discussing intersectionality. Throughout the book, she advocates for more compassion toward women and men, more kindness on the internet, and more justice for those who suffer because of circumstances outside of their control. She writes with idealism without sounding naive. Her awareness of intersectionality shines as well, as she emphasizes the importance of supporting and strengthening the voices of minority writers. Here is another quote from the same essay, again about the double standard within writing male and female characters:
"Male writers, and their male protagonists, are expected to be flawed and complex, but reader expectations for women writers and their characters tend to be far more rigid. Women may stray, but only so far. If they go on deep, alcoholic benders, they'd best repent and sober up at the end. If they abandon their spouses and children, they'd best end tragically, or make good. Women must, above all, show kindness. Women may be strong - but they must also, importantly, be vulnerable. If they are not, readers are more likely to push back and label them unlikable."
Overall, recommended to anyone who wants to learn more about feminism, in particular its intersections with science fiction and internet spaces. Some of Hurley's essays in the latter half of the collection feel a little repetitive and lack the depth of her more critical, externally-focused pieces. Still, her courage and tenacity inspire the heck out of me, and I am confident this book will rile readers up in the best possible way. To end this review, one more quote from that stellar essay I have quoted twice above:
"Like it or not, failure of empathy in the face of unlikable women in fiction can often lead to a failure to empathize with women who don't follow all the rules in real life, too. I see this all the time in conversations with men and women alike. It's these same questions that get brought up when women who have been assaulted dare to report abuse. What was she wearing? Did she provoke him by talking back? Was she a bad wife? A bad girlfriend? Was she a good woman, or a bad woman? This line of questioning, and the assumptions that prompt it, is one we would never apply to their male counterparts - unless they are men of color...
... This justification of violence against those who step outside of the roles of the dominant culture puts them into can be reinforced or challenged by the stories we tell. Stories tell us not only who we are, but who we can be. They paint the narrow behavioral boxes within which we put ourselves and those we know. They can encourage compassion and kindness and acceptance, or violence and intolerance and reprisal. It all bleeds from the page or the screen into the real world. Who deserves forgiveness? I'd hope we all do."...more
A slender and poetic memoir by African American feminist and intellectual bell hooks. In sparse, three-paged chapters, hooks details her experience grA slender and poetic memoir by African American feminist and intellectual bell hooks. In sparse, three-paged chapters, hooks details her experience growing up as a poor black girl in an era of racial segregation. You can see her budding feminist roots in Bone Black, as she shares poignant memories such as the joy and shame of discovering her sexuality, how people labeled queer and gender nonconforming folk as "funny," and the complex feelings she experienced whenever she saw the ways women made themselves silent and subservient around men. hooks reflects on her girlhood with a bittersweet tenderness, one that acknowledges the painful parts of her childhood while celebrating her development as a reader and a writer.
However, I did not love the narrative style of Bone Black. hooks's distance from her own story and the non-linearity of the book made it difficult for me to invest myself in her childhood. The occasional use of third person, while an interesting device to delve into her trauma, did not elevate the book as a whole. Despite these qualms, I would recommend this memoir to anyone interested in a vulnerable account about growing up as a black girl with little privilege, as well as to anyone who wants to give experimental prose a shot. I cannot wait to read more of hooks, as her masterpiece The Will to Change still amazes me to this very day. ...more
If I did not essays to write and finals to study for, I would write a lot here about the joys and pains of writing. Lorrie Moore captures the writing If I did not essays to write and finals to study for, I would write a lot here about the joys and pains of writing. Lorrie Moore captures the writing process well in this witty and ironic short story. She titles her piece "How to Become a Writer" and provides no actual indication of how to write at all. Her discursive, witty movement from event to event portrays the writing life well, showing how there remains no one path to becoming a writer: you write, and you are a writer, and that is that. Just throw in some existential crises, judgment from family and friends, and endless self-evaluations of your self-worth (or lack thereof).
Writing and reading have always served as lifelines for me. I appreciate Moore approaching the art of writing in all of its unpredictability and idiosyncrasies. ...more
A cerebral and abstract homage to the art of personal narrative. Vivian Gornick skips over the fundamental techniques of creative nonfiction 3.5 stars
A cerebral and abstract homage to the art of personal narrative. Vivian Gornick skips over the fundamental techniques of creative nonfiction to address the craft's deeper issues: the importance of empathy, the construction of the self, and how this style differs from fiction and poetry. She spends a large portion of the book analyzing other writers' work and dissects how they use their "selves" to separate the situation and the story. As a creative nonfiction fanboy, quite a few passages made me sigh in pleasure. One quote I enjoyed about the fashioning of a persona through nonfiction narrative:
"To fashion a persona out of one's own undisguised self is no easy thing. A novel or a poem provides invented characters or speaking voices that act as surrogates for the writer. Into those surrogates will be poured all that the writer cannot address directly - inappropriate longings, defensive embarrassments, anti-social desires - but must address to achieve felt reality. The persona in a nonfiction narrative is an unsurrogated one... The unsurrogated narrator has the monumental task of transforming low-level self-interest into the kind of detached empathy required of a piece of writing that is to be of value to the disinterested reader."
Overall, a thoughtful and thorough examination of the essay and the memoir. Those who want more direct instruction may feel disappointed with this one, because Gornick shares a few gems about writing and then applies them to a gamut of work. Still, her years of experience and deep appreciation of the craft shine in The Situation and the Story. Would recommend for those who want to get serious with writing personal narrative. A couple more quotes I loved from the book to end this review:
"In all imaginative writing sympathy for the subject is necessary not because it is the politically correct or morally decent posture to adopt but because an absence of sympathy shuts down the mind: engagement fails, the flow of association dries up, and the work narrows. What I mean by sympathy is simply that level of empathic understanding that endows the subject with dimension... For the drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent. Above all, it is the narrator who must complicate in order that the subject be given life."
"The idea of the self - the one that controls the memoir - is almost always served through a single piece of awareness that clarifies only slowly in the writer, gaining strength and definition as the narrative progresses. In a bad memoir, the line of clarification remains muddy, uncertain indistinct. In a good one, it becomes the organizing principle - the thing that lends shape and texture to the writing, drives the narrative forward, provides direction and unity of purpose. The question clearly being asked in an exemplary memoir is 'Who am I'? Who exactly is this 'I' upon whom turns the significance of this story-taken-directly-from-life? On that question the writer of memoir must deliver. Not with an answer but with depth of inquiry."...more
As someone who aspires to write a memoir of his own one day, I found The Art of Memoir both engaging and encouraging. Writing a memoir requires more tAs someone who aspires to write a memoir of his own one day, I found The Art of Memoir both engaging and encouraging. Writing a memoir requires more than just journaling memories onto a page. The practice forces you to punch yourself in the gut multiple times as you uncover the ugliest and most personal truths about yourself. Mary Karr offers several sage pieces of advice on how to do just that, ranging from the importance of remaining truthful to the skill of always addressing your target audience. She uses a gamut of memoirs, including her own, to use as case studies for her arguments.
On a deeper level, I enjoyed Karr's emphasis on voice. Therapy and memoir-writing differ in that the latter pushes you to scrutinize yourself with unrelenting, often-painful precision, all so you can cultivate a style to call your own - the compassion can come later. Memoir may appear simple because it originates from the self. But the amount and intensity of self-exploration required to pen a solid memoir highlights the genre's complexity: you must search yourself, over and over again, for the truth. Then you must meld it into its most honest, readable form. One quote from Karr's book that captures this process:
"Carnality may determine whether a memoir's any good, but interiority - that kingdom the camera never captures - makes a book rereadable. By rereadable, translate: great. Your connection to most authors usually rests in how you identify with them. Mainly, the better memoirist organizes a life story around that aforementioned inner enemy - a psychic struggle against herself that works like a thread or plot engine."
Overall, a wonderful book I would recommend to anyone who likes reading memoirs or may want to write one of their own some day. Though some parts dragged a bit, Karr does an excellent job of dispensing advice while honoring her own unique voice....more
A straightforward guide to writing solid nonfiction. William Zinsser offers sound advice, including how to eliminate clutter and ways to target your aA straightforward guide to writing solid nonfiction. William Zinsser offers sound advice, including how to eliminate clutter and ways to target your audience. He spans several genres within nonfiction, ranging from sports writing to travel articles to memoir. He incorporates several example passages from his favorite writers and from his own work.
On Writing Well provided tangible, quality writing tips. It did not excite me, though. Zinsser has a somewhat eurocentric perspective and his writing selections often come from white men. His tone itself bored me as well - it did not irritate me, it just failed to provoke any emotion. Still, I give this book four stars based on its content, even if its voice did not stand out. Overall, recommended to those searching for a pragmatic, more technical book about writing nonfiction. ...more
In her writing-centered memoir The Writing Life Annie Dillard distills profound wisdom on what it truly means to write for life. She delineates the prIn her writing-centered memoir The Writing Life Annie Dillard distills profound wisdom on what it truly means to write for life. She delineates the process, people's perception of the art, and events from her life that have influenced her writing. But the best part of this book was her penchant for metaphor - perhaps it would have gotten tiresome in a longer work, but here it blew me away. How she compares a log at sea to finding a story, misguided butterflies to individuals addicted to movies, and just her style of association in general made this memoir unique. I highly recommend it for those searching for a contrasting book in the same genre as Stephen King's On Writing. Here's a quote that exemplifies why I hold so much affection toward this work and Annie Dillard in general:
The line of words fingers your own heart. It invades arteries, and enters the heart on a flood of breath; it presses the moving rims of thick valves; it palpates the dark muscle strong as horses, feeling for something, it knows not what. A queer picture beds in the muscle like a worm encysted - some film of feeling, some song forgotten, a scene in a dark bedroom, a corner of the woodlot, a terrible dining room, that exalting sidewalk; these fragments are heavy with meaning. The line of words peels them back, dissects them out. Will the bared tissue burn? Do you want to expose these scenes to the light? You may locate them and leave them, or poke the spot hard till the sore bleeds on your finger, and write with that blood....more
While there were some snippets of writing genius in One Writer's Beginnings - especially surrounding the idea of confluence - I felt that the majorityWhile there were some snippets of writing genius in One Writer's Beginnings - especially surrounding the idea of confluence - I felt that the majority of this book was dulled by details regarding Welty's winding family tree. Perhaps one would glean great insight in a discussion about this book but I would hesitate to recommend it based solely on its own merit. Ardent fans of Welty searching for more information about her life would love it though....more
Bird by Bird is my new bible. Not just for writing, but for life - it is my favorite work of nonfiction so far. Stephen King's On Writing impressed meBird by Bird is my new bible. Not just for writing, but for life - it is my favorite work of nonfiction so far. Stephen King's On Writing impressed me, but Anne Lamott's book had me tearing up and laughing at the same time. Her self-deprecating sense of humor and her harsh yet realistic approach to writing won me over. If I could, I would throw this book at every student at my college studying English or Creative Writing. Lamott tackles topics ranging from the neurotic mentality of writing to the woes and joys of publishing; I would recommend Bird by Bird to literally everyone, especially to those who possess even a remote interest in the writing life. Here are a couple of passages that portray her voice and wisdom, the first pertaining to books and the second concerning perfectionism:
"Because for some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die."
"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it."
This is a fantastic book about writing - recommended to me by numerous friends and acquaintances, it did not disappoint. With most nonfiction I feel aThis is a fantastic book about writing - recommended to me by numerous friends and acquaintances, it did not disappoint. With most nonfiction I feel as if I do not really need to remember every detail or fact listed, but with On Writing I wish that I could. It offers an abundance of useful advice that would do any writer much good, regardless of age or experience.
At first I felt unsettled by the anecdotes - when I began the novel, I expected something like "writing = grammar + salesmanship" or something formulaic. Needless to say, King razed that assumption rather easily. His personal approach to the book enhanced its effect on the reader. Instead of reading a writer's manual, it was like I listened to a person sitting across the table, telling me his story.
I loved the grammar section too. I have already violated some of the things he stated (see: don't use adverbs). One major rule I've taken from this book is to be concise. That is one of my problem areas, and through reading this book I've realized how much better succinct writing can be.
I wish all nonfiction was this enjoyable. Note that I also have broken the passive voice vs. active voice rule in this review. I mean, how are you supposed to write with active voice in a book review? "This book spoke volumes to me. It taught me many things. Some of them were.. etc." Wait, that wasn't so hard. Never mind.
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