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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
schaerk's review
I really miss the Best American Nonrequired Reading which stopped being published in 2019. I was hoping this would be similar, but it really isn't.
keliseb's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
3.0
this did take me about a million years to finish but with that being sad some of these were individually mind blowing and brought me to tears and got shared with loved ones. however, i could not read the introduction. and i tried several times. too dense
maureenstantonwriter's review
4.0
This year's collection was well curated, leaning more toward essay than memoir, with rich long thoughtful pieces, some very powerful. There were two or three that I wasn't excited about, but the majority belonged in this collection of "best."
the_slackening's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
in a big essays phase right now, and this is essays, so yeah
I only had to nope out of the "because" essay, it was unreadable for me
I only had to nope out of the "because" essay, it was unreadable for me
klaws500's review
4.0
Fantastic as usual. I have begun to really look forward to this anthology every year. There were several essays in this collection that really impressed me, ones I'll remember and go back to. I especially liked the first and last entries this year, Jenisha From Kentucky by Jenisha Watts, and A Rewilding by Christienne L. Hinz. Woodstove by Brock Clark, As Big as You Make it Out to Be by Austin Woerner, and An Upset Place by James Whorton Jr. were also stand outs for me. I always enjoy my time with this series.
jenniferavignon's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
atom12's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
julieemeunier's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
3.5
I appreciate the diverse range of voices, each sharing their lived experiences with candor and creativity. Introducing Sallie Tisdale’s essay on memoirists as inherently unreliable narrators early in the series set the tone for the entire collection. Tisdale’s perspective encouraged me to approach each piece with a deeper awareness, knowing that the truths presented were as much about interpretation, as they were about fact, and the flexibility of what “fact” might mean to each and everyone one of us.
My personal stand outs:
* Mere Belief by Sallie Tisdale (see above)
* The Lives of Bryan by Jennifer Sinor on grief, suicide, and the many lives one lives before they can no longer keep going
* Proxemics by Jonathan Gleason on the realities of incarceration, and intergenerational trauma
* The Anatomy of Panic by Michael W. Clune offered an unparalleled depiction of anxiety—both original and entirely accurate
* The Ones We Sent Away by Jennifer Senior provided a look at the history of eugenics and the treatment of people with disabilities across North America
* Love is a Washing Line by Remy Ngamije (my favourite, favourite) on marriage and boxing. “Your marriage has a line, too. It stretches from “I do” until death do us part. Except it is not tight. It is more like a washing line, weighed down by laundry, buoyed down by time. It can carry a lot. Until it cannot.”
* A Rewilding by Christienne L. Hinz on our ecosystem, and its inherent implications of race; the traumatized people living in a traumatized ecosystem.
My personal stand outs:
* Mere Belief by Sallie Tisdale (see above)
* The Lives of Bryan by Jennifer Sinor on grief, suicide, and the many lives one lives before they can no longer keep going
* Proxemics by Jonathan Gleason on the realities of incarceration, and intergenerational trauma
* The Anatomy of Panic by Michael W. Clune offered an unparalleled depiction of anxiety—both original and entirely accurate
* The Ones We Sent Away by Jennifer Senior provided a look at the history of eugenics and the treatment of people with disabilities across North America
* Love is a Washing Line by Remy Ngamije (my favourite, favourite) on marriage and boxing. “Your marriage has a line, too. It stretches from “I do” until death do us part. Except it is not tight. It is more like a washing line, weighed down by laundry, buoyed down by time. It can carry a lot. Until it cannot.”
* A Rewilding by Christienne L. Hinz on our ecosystem, and its inherent implications of race; the traumatized people living in a traumatized ecosystem.
marireadstoomuch's review
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
This was an odd one for me, personally. I’m an avid essay reader so figured this collection would be an easy go for me (albeit perhaps unlikely to fulfill the second task of “accessible essays to assign to students” given the lengths of many of the pieces).
I found myself really enjoying some essays and completely disconnecting from others. I believe “The Ones We Sent Away” by Jennifer Senior was my standout, dealing with the particularly tricky subject position of speaking on disability and systemic abuses of disabled people historically as an able-bodied and neurotypical author. I also enjoyed and was enriched by some others (I think James Wharton Jr’s “An Upset Place” was notable here). The final essay — “A Rewilding” by Christienne L Hinz — was a fundamental delight that shone through my foul mood (caused by another essay that so put me out). Finally, Jennifer Sinor’s “The Lives of Bryan” reached my own personal experience in a resonant way, and I think captured the immediacy of grief in a way that felt textured and real.
There was one particular essay that I reacted viscerally against, not because I disagreed with the premise or necessarily the conclusion, but because the ideological framing of the piece (seen in its language use and approach to its topic/underlying assumptions) was ethically untenable to me in 2024. (To be sure I wasn’t being overly sensitive, I Googled the author and determined his political views ran at odds with his own essay’s assertions about the importance of the archive of cultural memory.) It didn’t color the bulk of the collection as it’s quite late on, but it did shape my mood — making me probably a bit unfair on some of the last pieces.
In general these things are a matter of taste, and perhaps my own taste overlaps and diverges dramatically from Morris’s in some areas — some authorial voices frankly annoyed me so much that I struggled to take their content seriously. More than anything, this book has made me re-think my general enjoyment of essays; it seems I am far pickier than I had thought.
I found myself really enjoying some essays and completely disconnecting from others. I believe “The Ones We Sent Away” by Jennifer Senior was my standout, dealing with the particularly tricky subject position of speaking on disability and systemic abuses of disabled people historically as an able-bodied and neurotypical author. I also enjoyed and was enriched by some others (I think James Wharton Jr’s “An Upset Place” was notable here). The final essay — “A Rewilding” by Christienne L Hinz — was a fundamental delight that shone through my foul mood (caused by another essay that so put me out). Finally, Jennifer Sinor’s “The Lives of Bryan” reached my own personal experience in a resonant way, and I think captured the immediacy of grief in a way that felt textured and real.
There was one particular essay that I reacted viscerally against, not because I disagreed with the premise or necessarily the conclusion, but because the ideological framing of the piece (seen in its language use and approach to its topic/underlying assumptions) was ethically untenable to me in 2024. (To be sure I wasn’t being overly sensitive, I Googled the author and determined his political views ran at odds with his own essay’s assertions about the importance of the archive of cultural memory.) It didn’t color the bulk of the collection as it’s quite late on, but it did shape my mood — making me probably a bit unfair on some of the last pieces.
In general these things are a matter of taste, and perhaps my own taste overlaps and diverges dramatically from Morris’s in some areas — some authorial voices frankly annoyed me so much that I struggled to take their content seriously. More than anything, this book has made me re-think my general enjoyment of essays; it seems I am far pickier than I had thought.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Grief