In an essay collection that is digestible yet poignant, readers are invited to consider new perspectives.
REVIEW: Graceland, At Last: Notes On Hope and Heartache From the American South by Margaret Renkl
Category: Reviews
An archive of our reviews of memoirs, essay collections, and other works of creative nonfiction.
REVIEW: Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift by Jessica DuLong
The maritime community’s response on 9/11 shows ordinary people can offer respect, assistance, and kindness to help through the worst crisis.
REVIEW: I Named My Dog Pushkin (And Other Immigrant Tales): Notes from a Soviet Girl on Becoming an American Woman by Margarita Gokun Silver
Using a hybrid form, the comic memoir-in-essays chronicles the author’s journey from girl who left Moscow to completely assimilated American.
REVIEW: In Defense of Ska by Aaron Carnes
Through history, interviews, and personal anecdotes, the book rekindles love for a genre that flamed out as quickly as it appeared.
REVIEW: The Other Mothers by Jennifer Berney and The Trying Game by Amy Klein
Two books examine challenges women face having a baby: an LGBTQ memoir one and a second combining memoir and advice.
REVIEW: The Guild of the Infant Saviour: An Adopted Child’s Memory Book by Megan Culhane Galbraith
Galbraith’s remarkable hybrid memoir focuses on the adoptee experience from both a personal and historical perspective.
REVIEW: Face: A Memoir by Marcia Meier
Reconstruction by surgery in Face aligns beautifully with reconstruction of memory and personal history through writing,
REVIEW: Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America by Kate Washington
Washington proves that familial caregiving is taken for granted by doctors, necessary for patients’ recovery, and frequently devastating.
REVIEW: Anything Will Be Easy after This: A Western Identity Crisis by Bethany Maile
Bethany Maile confronts the fabled American West with a sharp journalistic eye and deep personal insight.
REVIEW: Crossing the River: Seven Stories that Saved My Life by Carol Smith
The wisdom Carol Smith renders from these experiences reads like a gripping “how to” on coping with loss.
