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meli65's review against another edition
3.0
I am ambivalent about this book. She writes beautifully -- I love how she describes the birth of her daughter who "emerged through me like a lit match makes a hole in paper." It is a memoir and I admire how she can capture a whole era in her life in one paragraph.
On the other hand, she talks a lot about her spirituality and/or lack thereof, and she is such a Debbie Downer all around that it left me feeling kind of bleak. Anne Lamott she's not.
On the other hand, she talks a lot about her spirituality and/or lack thereof, and she is such a Debbie Downer all around that it left me feeling kind of bleak. Anne Lamott she's not.
meli65's review
3.0
I am ambivalent about this book. She writes beautifully -- I love how she describes the birth of her daughter who "emerged through me like a lit match makes a hole in paper." It is a memoir and I admire how she can capture a whole era in her life in one paragraph.
On the other hand, she talks a lot about her spirituality and/or lack thereof, and she is such a Debbie Downer all around that it left me feeling kind of bleak. Anne Lamott she's not.
On the other hand, she talks a lot about her spirituality and/or lack thereof, and she is such a Debbie Downer all around that it left me feeling kind of bleak. Anne Lamott she's not.
amy_yuki_vickers's review
4.0
I would have given this book five stars except that the first few chapters started out so slow that I almost bailed on it. I'm glad that I stuck with it. It helped that I was home sick most of today.
I once heard a metaphor that I think describes this book well. Some stories hit you like a downpour, soaking you through the minute you encounter them. Others are like a dense fog. After you walk around in them for awhile, you look down and realize clothes have become heavy with dew. You get equally as wet, but it's a gentle and unassuming drenching. This book is like the latter.
It triggered a brief transcendent experience in me. It seems unlikely to me that that was Steinke's intention, but something in her writing spoke to me.
This is a memoir, her other books are fiction, none of which I've read, but I feel like she has probably not gotten a fair amount of recognition for her work. I intend to look into her other books now.
I once heard a metaphor that I think describes this book well. Some stories hit you like a downpour, soaking you through the minute you encounter them. Others are like a dense fog. After you walk around in them for awhile, you look down and realize clothes have become heavy with dew. You get equally as wet, but it's a gentle and unassuming drenching. This book is like the latter.
It triggered a brief transcendent experience in me. It seems unlikely to me that that was Steinke's intention, but something in her writing spoke to me.
This is a memoir, her other books are fiction, none of which I've read, but I feel like she has probably not gotten a fair amount of recognition for her work. I intend to look into her other books now.
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