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chillcox15's review against another edition
3.0
I have this fond memory, one that could take the form of a Chelsea Hodson essay, in fact, borne from a wistful time in my life when I was jobless and nearly penniless one summer, feeling paralyzed by indecisions and unforced boredom, when I heard about a great new chapbook called Pity the Animal, which I biked to Powell's to read. It was short, I could sit in the gigantic downtown store and read the whole thing. It was cheap, I could afford to spend the $5 to buy it for myself. It was small, I could fit it in my breast pocket on the ride home. I did all three, and read it again a few times that summer. It felt personal, moreso than the books that filtered in from the library and stacked next to the papasan I sat on all day as I had little else to do but read. It's a bit of a disappointment, then, to pick up Hodson's new collection, which includes Pity the Animal, and find it to be too heavy, too big, too laborious. What made that little chapbook special feels repetitive here, because Hodson so rarely changes gears away from that tone, of the semi-mystic, semi-regretful memorysmith.
leighbeevee's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this book. The pieces (they don't really read as essays) all blend together -- the titles get lost, the tone is the same in each, nothing really happens or is really revealed. There's a lot of beautiful phrases, but it's so vague and airy, all the bite has gone out of it. There's nothing to really hold onto.
katiesendlesstbr's review against another edition
4.0
I just really relate to people who long and yearn
larosier's review against another edition
5.0
longing, longing, longing; i guide the word in my mouth and try to chew it into something i can swallow without choking
zellm's review against another edition
2.0
This felt self-pitying and fatalistic and teen angst-y all in one. It was hard to get through and felt like it went around in circles and repeated itself ad nauseum. 2 stars because there was occasionally a passage that resonated with me.
torithelibrarian's review against another edition
I’m not entirely sure how to rate this book because there were certain essays that really resonated with me and others that didn’t at all