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seebrandyread's review
5.0
I consider myself a slow reader, but occasionally I will find a book that I wish I'd read even slower. Small Fires by Julie Marie Wade is one of those books. The book is made up of a collection of essays that chart Wade's coming of age and the pain of living with an impossible-to-please mother, a kowtowing father, and the secret of her sexual identity.
The collection delves into Wade's relationships with her grandmother, mother, father, and a beloved aunt. She has structured her book in a way that groups these relationships together including four "triptych" essays about each person. The order feels intentional, and for that reason, I think the essays should be read in order, even though each can stand alone.
Family and inheritance play important roles, the different shapes family takes, what is inherited from one generation to the next, and our choice or lack thereof of whom our relatives are. Julie's mother is cruel and exacting, but she is the child of an even crueler mother. Though Julie is an only child and one who was born at great physical expense, her identity has deep and irreparable affects on her relationships with her parents.
The body is another recurring theme. Two essays, one titled "Skin" the other "Bone," appear back to back about positive (good bone structure) and negative (bad skin) genes passed down from parent to child. Illness plagues the bodies of women she loves, and Wade's own body is seen as a traitor when she discovers her preference for women.
Wade's writing is full of pain and beauty. She creates beauty from her pain, and she explores the pain necessary to achieve physical beauty. The book itself has a beautiful cover with a house that looks like it could be made of paper surrounded by thumbtacks which is apt without being obvious. It's a rare find for every aspect of a book to feel so careful and complete.
The collection delves into Wade's relationships with her grandmother, mother, father, and a beloved aunt. She has structured her book in a way that groups these relationships together including four "triptych" essays about each person. The order feels intentional, and for that reason, I think the essays should be read in order, even though each can stand alone.
Family and inheritance play important roles, the different shapes family takes, what is inherited from one generation to the next, and our choice or lack thereof of whom our relatives are. Julie's mother is cruel and exacting, but she is the child of an even crueler mother. Though Julie is an only child and one who was born at great physical expense, her identity has deep and irreparable affects on her relationships with her parents.
The body is another recurring theme. Two essays, one titled "Skin" the other "Bone," appear back to back about positive (good bone structure) and negative (bad skin) genes passed down from parent to child. Illness plagues the bodies of women she loves, and Wade's own body is seen as a traitor when she discovers her preference for women.
Wade's writing is full of pain and beauty. She creates beauty from her pain, and she explores the pain necessary to achieve physical beauty. The book itself has a beautiful cover with a house that looks like it could be made of paper surrounded by thumbtacks which is apt without being obvious. It's a rare find for every aspect of a book to feel so careful and complete.
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