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A review by kimberlyf
Any Person Is the Only Self: Essays by Elisa Gabbert
4.0
“I remember which side, verso or recto, my favorite parts appeared on, how deep in the book, how far down the page. A book always feels like a place I’ve been to.”
I love literature about literature and these essays are just that; essays that center around the love of reading and writing and they weren’t quite what I was expecting. Many of the first essays in this collection turned out to be a literary analysis of classic works of fiction such as Frankenstein, Fahrenheit 451, the work of Proust, and a lot about Plath’s work. While I found some interesting, I mostly found myself drifting—forcing my way through—during the writing about classical works that I either didn’t care about or haven’t read so couldn’t relate. The back 2/3 of this collection are what really made it for me. The essays were reflective, personal, and bright. The essay on journaling, Second Selves, and the one on loneliness and isolation, Complicated Energy, were my most favorites here.
An added, wonderful perk was the variety of books listed throughout the essays which helped me expand my “want to read” list.
While at their core these essays are about reading and writing, they also include musings on libraries, the pandemic, having autonomy over the art you consume, memory, dreams, isolation, feeling one’s own specialness (or lack of), a loss of childhood, and more.
Thank you, NetGalley, for my digital copy. Out 06/11/2024!
I love literature about literature and these essays are just that; essays that center around the love of reading and writing and they weren’t quite what I was expecting. Many of the first essays in this collection turned out to be a literary analysis of classic works of fiction such as Frankenstein, Fahrenheit 451, the work of Proust, and a lot about Plath’s work. While I found some interesting, I mostly found myself drifting—forcing my way through—during the writing about classical works that I either didn’t care about or haven’t read so couldn’t relate. The back 2/3 of this collection are what really made it for me. The essays were reflective, personal, and bright. The essay on journaling, Second Selves, and the one on loneliness and isolation, Complicated Energy, were my most favorites here.
An added, wonderful perk was the variety of books listed throughout the essays which helped me expand my “want to read” list.
While at their core these essays are about reading and writing, they also include musings on libraries, the pandemic, having autonomy over the art you consume, memory, dreams, isolation, feeling one’s own specialness (or lack of), a loss of childhood, and more.
Thank you, NetGalley, for my digital copy. Out 06/11/2024!