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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
As has been frequently my reaction to Gornick's writing, I kind of wished that I had lived at a time where I had more overlap with her references. This made me want to read [b:My Father and Myself|241651|My Father and Myself|J.R. Ackerley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657553340l/241651._SY75_.jpg|1429212].
The best thing about this book is that it's short. It reads as condescending and super impersonal. A few nice takeaways/things to ponder but overall, I am so disappointed and frustrated.
You are my muse, and from here it begins.
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All students need mentor texts, pieces of writing that can be entered again and again for different purposes-even adult writers. Especially adult writers because we come to the page with a litany of bad habits, preconceived notions of how the story should be told, and muddled ideas about its situation, or what we gleaned from the experience having removed ourselves from the intimacy of that moment in time.
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Enter stage right THE SITUATION AND THE STORY, a seminole guide to the blind memoirist searching for a way out, or in, as it were.
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All students need mentor texts, pieces of writing that can be entered again and again for different purposes-even adult writers. Especially adult writers because we come to the page with a litany of bad habits, preconceived notions of how the story should be told, and muddled ideas about its situation, or what we gleaned from the experience having removed ourselves from the intimacy of that moment in time.
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Enter stage right THE SITUATION AND THE STORY, a seminole guide to the blind memoirist searching for a way out, or in, as it were.
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.
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I LOVED the sections about Oscar Wilde, Lynn Darling and Agnes Smedley. The rest was enjoyable and interesting, too. Gornick has a nice way with words and I liked how she described things. I do have to mention that I drifted a bit with the last 50 pages but Gornick got me back at the end.
Gornick's writing is often convoluted and abstract, and I was surprised/disappointed by how heavily she relies on examples from dead white male authors. Despite all that, I'm glad I read this because her "situation and story" framework immediately made sense to me and will be a very useful way to approach my own nonfiction writing.
Review of the narrative genre; academic analysis drilling down to the fundamental story of a personal narrative/memoir. Helpful to reinforce ideas that I've been holding, but rather dense and wordy at times.
I rarely write book reviews, but this book was so far from what it is presented to be that I felt I needed to let others know my observations about it.
I enjoyed the first 26 pages (the introduction), but reading the rest of the book was an exercise in frustration. The introduction explains the difference between a situation and a story in a piece of writing - very helpful. I thought the remainder of the book would continue to explain these differences and how to know which one is which in one's own writing. I was wrong.
The sections on essays and memoirs were mainly lengthy passages from the writings of others followed by Gornick's opinion on what was beautiful, effective, affecting, and worthwhile about the piece. My frustration with this format is that Gornick continued to use the word 'we' instead of 'I' to describe her own reactions, observations, and connections, thereby presuming that the reader felt the same way and interacted with the work in question in precisely the same way as she did. Presumptions of how the reader feels, thinks, and observes are rampant throughout this book. One should never write as if one knows how the reader understands and responds to a piece. This is a very basic rule of composition. If she had just had the courage to say 'I felt this...This is when I realized what the purpose of the story was...This is how I responded, etc' instead of trying to get me to believe that we shared identical thoughts and experiences, I wouldn't have disliked the book as much as I did. I still would have thought that everything beyond the introduction was unnecessary and not what the book purports to be about, but I wouldn't have hated it like I did.
If it hadn't been for her frequent and lengthy copying of works by other authors, the book would have been nothing more than a pamphlet, which is what it should have been. All Gornick needed to show the importance of the situation and the story and the power of knowing the difference as a writer was the first 26 pages. The remaining pages were filled with the writings of others, grammatical errors, and presumptions.
I enjoyed the first 26 pages (the introduction), but reading the rest of the book was an exercise in frustration. The introduction explains the difference between a situation and a story in a piece of writing - very helpful. I thought the remainder of the book would continue to explain these differences and how to know which one is which in one's own writing. I was wrong.
The sections on essays and memoirs were mainly lengthy passages from the writings of others followed by Gornick's opinion on what was beautiful, effective, affecting, and worthwhile about the piece. My frustration with this format is that Gornick continued to use the word 'we' instead of 'I' to describe her own reactions, observations, and connections, thereby presuming that the reader felt the same way and interacted with the work in question in precisely the same way as she did. Presumptions of how the reader feels, thinks, and observes are rampant throughout this book. One should never write as if one knows how the reader understands and responds to a piece. This is a very basic rule of composition. If she had just had the courage to say 'I felt this...This is when I realized what the purpose of the story was...This is how I responded, etc' instead of trying to get me to believe that we shared identical thoughts and experiences, I wouldn't have disliked the book as much as I did. I still would have thought that everything beyond the introduction was unnecessary and not what the book purports to be about, but I wouldn't have hated it like I did.
If it hadn't been for her frequent and lengthy copying of works by other authors, the book would have been nothing more than a pamphlet, which is what it should have been. All Gornick needed to show the importance of the situation and the story and the power of knowing the difference as a writer was the first 26 pages. The remaining pages were filled with the writings of others, grammatical errors, and presumptions.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I found this book a little hard to follow. Lots of great food for thought, but couldn't get used to the style.
A slim but luminous book about the art of personal essay and memoir and the crafting of a persona; I wish it had been longer.