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madisnowg's review
4.0
in this collection of essays, brown writes more than once about representation, about the profound experience of seeing herself in the writing of others, and the importance of writing the kind of thing other disabled people can recognize themselves in.
i read her essay “calling long distance,” included in this collection, in my dorm room in the spring of 2019. i was in a raw time of my life — for the first time, it was occurring to me that the sunk-in-my-bones feeling of what i now know as disability was shared by other people. i was nervous to use the word “disabled,” thinking maybe it didn’t apply to me. the way brown described being in pain at a party bit right at my heart. i could’ve written the words i was reading. it wasn’t the only data point i was working off of, but reading that essay pushed me over the edge towards knowing i was disabled, too.
similarly, this collection found me at a time in my life where i needed the author’s honest clarity about being alive in a different body. i have so much gratitude for her work, and i can’t wait to return to this again throughout my life.
i read her essay “calling long distance,” included in this collection, in my dorm room in the spring of 2019. i was in a raw time of my life — for the first time, it was occurring to me that the sunk-in-my-bones feeling of what i now know as disability was shared by other people. i was nervous to use the word “disabled,” thinking maybe it didn’t apply to me. the way brown described being in pain at a party bit right at my heart. i could’ve written the words i was reading. it wasn’t the only data point i was working off of, but reading that essay pushed me over the edge towards knowing i was disabled, too.
similarly, this collection found me at a time in my life where i needed the author’s honest clarity about being alive in a different body. i have so much gratitude for her work, and i can’t wait to return to this again throughout my life.
heidihaverkamp's review
5.0
Not only does Brown write candidly and beautifully about her life in her body, but about her tentative spiritual journey and becoming a Catholic, not only because of her father's New Orleans roots but her own longing for mystery and transcendence.
travisclau's review
5.0
The crip writing we need right now -- that kind of writing that witnesses you as much as you witness it. It gave me a vocabulary I didn't know I even needed for the nuances of disabled experience.
harborwriter's review
5.0
This book is an aesthetic pleasure as well as an incredible collection of essays. The way the last one ended—just wow.
beastreader's review
3.0
I had a friend who was born with cerebral palsy (CP). She may have moved a bit slower but she had tons of heart and determination. She used crutches when she was younger but now as an adult; she no longer has them. That is what Molly's message is with her essays. Just because someone may be born with a disability does not mean they are not capable of great things.
I enjoyed reading the different short essays/stories that Molly shared. Although, there were some I liked and just engaged with better. A couple like when Molly was a little girl and she was drawing. The therapist went to help guide Molly's hand as she drawled. Molly was not having any of this and promptly grabbed a new marker and handed it over to the therapist, while pushing her hand away. Another essay that really stuck with me was towards the end of the book about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. If you are a fan of essays or poems, you will want to check out this book.
I enjoyed reading the different short essays/stories that Molly shared. Although, there were some I liked and just engaged with better. A couple like when Molly was a little girl and she was drawing. The therapist went to help guide Molly's hand as she drawled. Molly was not having any of this and promptly grabbed a new marker and handed it over to the therapist, while pushing her hand away. Another essay that really stuck with me was towards the end of the book about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. If you are a fan of essays or poems, you will want to check out this book.
booksarentbinary's review against another edition
5.0
Molly McCully Brown surveys a life of navigating our own riven scapes, poetic renderings of such haunting realities.
This is known by parallels in both of our fragilities and strengths, which I found particularly in poetry, patience and prayer.
Sitting with this book gifted me a remembering of the places that my own body has been, the forms in which I have existed. Inspired, I began to collect notes on my own origins and ideas to integrate what may have until now been cast aside.
‘That there is no perfect reconciliation, only the way I hold it all suspended: wonderful, and hugely difficult, and true.’
This is known by parallels in both of our fragilities and strengths, which I found particularly in poetry, patience and prayer.
Sitting with this book gifted me a remembering of the places that my own body has been, the forms in which I have existed. Inspired, I began to collect notes on my own origins and ideas to integrate what may have until now been cast aside.
‘That there is no perfect reconciliation, only the way I hold it all suspended: wonderful, and hugely difficult, and true.’
pr_aniya's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
One of my reading intentions for 2024 is read more widely. I found this book on Libby last year and decided it would be a good time to now. I am so happy I stubbled across this book because I devoured it and it slightly broken me in ways a good book does. Molly is raw and open when she writes about her experience of being physical disable with cerebral palsy and how it effects her relationships with parents, lovers, travel, grief and her body. Her writing is so good and she describes a specific perspective but the emotional heartbeat transcends to feelings that left me needing a crying break between essays.
It is clear that the essays are a collection from other publications as there is repeated themes and topics, but she explored so many ideas each time.
It is clear that the essays are a collection from other publications as there is repeated themes and topics, but she explored so many ideas each time.
I blame [my body] for making me feel selfish all the time, because my attention is turned so thoroughly inward, attending to its needs. I blame it for my fear that my writing will always be narrow, hemmed in by its hurt and relentlessness. I blame it for screwing with my plans, for always demanding revision to fit its stringent reality. I blame it for the fact that I'm alone here, though I chose it... Above all, though, I blame my body for the fact that, after all these years, I'm still grieving a plain stupid grief that I can't hide. I blame it for being itself, for existing to be ruined and repaired.