Megan Peters's Reviews > You Could Make This Place Beautiful

There's a lot to like about this, not the least of which is that Smith definitely has a way with words, as evidenced by the poem after which this collection of essays is titled. However...

It repeats itself sooo oooo oooo much. It loops back on itself and not in the fun way that reveals something new with each passing, but like she forgot she told us this thing already and has to keep saying it, and then you're like, Mom, you told me this already, let's move on. It's tough to rate this fairly because after reading Leslie Jamison's recent book about her divorce, I'm finding this one so lacking in self-awareness and growth by comparison. I was gobsmacked at the end to find that this is not her first but her SECOND book about her divorce, and I stopped reading it as an artifact and wanted to reach out to her and see if I could help her move on.*

*To be extremely fair - her ex-husband does sound like a total knob and like she's definitely better off without him. Which is why I want her to get over it so badly so she can go make some other kind of art rather than dedicating so much print to being mad at this absolute DB. WE WANT BETTER FOR YOU, GIRL! THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE YOUR BRAIN!