SKETCH BOOK REVIEWS: Three Faves
A roundup of great books that didn't make it into Sketch Book Reviews this year
Reviews
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A World Where We Are Known and Loved: Shelley Wong’s As She Appears
to be seen is not the same thing as being known
Take Your Divagations Seriously: Geoff Dyer’s The Last Days of Roger Federer
The Last Days . . . has nothing much to do with tennis or with Roger Federer, who appears sparingly in these pages . . . [nor is it] “intended to be a comprehensive study of last things, or of lastness generally.”
The Art of Attention: Jill Christman’s If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays
“If you really want to look at someone, then your only option is to look at yourself, squarely and deeply.”
When Writing about Pain is Political: In Sensorium by Tanaïs
In In Sensorium . . . Tanaïs inhabits their pain fully and seeks new ways to describe and transcend it through scent, rather than just words.
Revising Time: Nonlinear Memory in Brian Tierney’s Rise and Float
I’m getting too close to the poems, but Tierney’s collection demands a closeness.
Indiana Anomie: Budi Darma’s People from Bloomington
a portrait of the American tendency to keep the suffering of others at arm’s length as if misfortune were contagious, or to ruthlessly eliminate it entirely
The Verdant Heart of a Mythic Neighborhood: Cleyvis Natera’s Neruda on the Park
In Natera’s masterful debut novel, a simple New York City park becomes the verdant heart of a mythic neighborhood, where fire escapes are like golden staircases and the community goodwill of friends and neighbors becomes a nurturing flame that sustains its members’ hearts and souls.
Not One Thing, But Many: A Review of Cynthia Cruz’s Hotel Oblivion
How would that candy taste in my mouth? How would that blue chiffon offset my dark hair and plain features? How would the world look to me through the eyes of this woman and this one and this one? What else could oblivion mean to me, if not for the living as many?
Survival and Hope: Akwaeke Emezi’s You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty
You Made A Fool organically makes the argument that friendships can be just as important and fulfilling as romantic relationships.
History Is Fluid: R.F. Kuang’s Babel
In Babel, language is a resource stolen from the mouths of native speakers.
Sketch Book Reviews: A Line in the World by Dorthe Nors
While this book is about a tiny part of the world, it's universal in its particularity—a must-read for anyone who loves lyric essays.