A review by bobbo49
Silences by Tillie Olsen

5.0

Although I didn't find the parts of the book focused on the writer Rebecca Harding Davis as captivating as the rest, I had to give Silences five stars because overall it is so remarkable, even nearly a half century later. The book is a reflection and analysis and commentary by Olsen on the overwhelming social and economic challenges and obstacles to writers - and particularly female writers - that produce the "silences" that so many (even the greatest male) writers suffer. Her observations are so deep and powerful that I literally gasped at some of them; much of the book is filled with quotations from history's best authors reflecting their own struggles and periods of silence. I think that every teacher of literature, every (even aspiring) writer, and every reader interested in the challenges of writing , should read this book.