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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I still think about this book when I read books of many genres (short stories, memoir, novels, and poetry) that try to tell a story but fail.
It is a great book about personal essays, narratives, and memoirs, and we as readers connect to them. As Gornick says in her conclusion, you can't teach people how to write, and she doesn't try. Instead, she focuses on what makes personal narratives so powerful that at the core of every story is a powerful emotion born from human experiences. Gornick inspired me to find the feeling in my own writing that there is more to a story than just the story.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I recently re-read this book, and I very rarely re-read at all. But there is so much packed into this pithy volume that I knew I hadn’t absorbed it all the first time. Much underlining later, I feel like more has been revealed, but I’m still learning. I noticed that I got more out of the Essay section of the book than the Memoir section, and the only thing keeping me from giving this the full 5 stars is that I wish it had included some more recent, or at least more diverse, books. Since it was published in 2001 I can’t fault it too much for having old examples, but the vast preponderance of white writers used in examples isn’t something that can be overlooked. Still, I will return to The Situation and The Story again, I am sure.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I didn't find it helpful, and I think it's that she's basically just saying, "Have a point to what you're writing and don't forget what the point is," which, sure, is helpful for any good writing. But, duh. She goes through examples of personal essay and memoir, explaining why they're good, but somehow I don't get the how.
Oh well. This book was recommended to me but it was a waste of time. I mean, I didn't get to the end, really. All I got is some opinion which is hard to understand because VG doesn't intend to get her point across - she wants to write beautiful prose regardless of its understandability. Yuck.
I hated the long (full) quotes - although some of them were quite good - but I think in such a book the writer should be able to show examples instead of pages long shorts.
I got her opinion but I didn't get advice or anything that could help me write better.
Don't waste your time and money with this book!
I hated the long (full) quotes - although some of them were quite good - but I think in such a book the writer should be able to show examples instead of pages long shorts.
I got her opinion but I didn't get advice or anything that could help me write better.
Don't waste your time and money with this book!
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
—5.0 stars
"How does the writer of personal narrative pull from his or her own boring, agitated self the truth speaker who will tell the story that needs to be told?... I trained my eyes on the writing: how it got done, how it functioned, took its place in the world, helped alter literary history. "
This book is a reminder that recounts why I love writing and Vivian Gornick is responsible for adding the fuel to the flame to its resurgence.
"The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative" by Vivian Gornick has never failed to left me in awe in every fragment at its tail end. The book gave me insights on the 'persona' that we should adapt when writing, that we should know who we are at the moment of writing and when questioned with the "Who am I?," one must deliver not with an answer but with the depth on inquiry.
I love every part of the "one. THE ESSAY" and least liked the part "two. THE MEMOIR" because I am still confused on the idea of "becoming." This helped to discover and dissect literary pieces and I love how Gornick gave explanations that I found very compelling. I find her narrative just my taste and her analogies are (I don't know, I would say) punchy. It lead me to discovering essayists and memoirists that are excellent storytellers and their works that I would definitely happy to consume in the future.
I love every part of the "one. THE ESSAY" and least liked the part "two. THE MEMOIR" because I am still confused on the idea of "becoming." This helped to discover and dissect literary pieces and I love how Gornick gave explanations that I found very compelling. I find her narrative just my taste and her analogies are (I don't know, I would say) punchy. It lead me to discovering essayists and memoirists that are excellent storytellers and their works that I would definitely happy to consume in the future.
This book is one great read and I would definitely look back to it with gratitude that it existed in the right time when I need it and is well-received by my psyche because what it is addressing is alive. Now. Right now.
"With relief I thought, I’m not losing myself. Suddenly I realized there was no myself to lose. I had a narrator on the page strong enough to do battle for me. "
I struggled with the tone this book, for a number of reasons but starting with it felt condescending. I wasn't surprised to find out the author is a writing professor - their views are prescriptive and sometimes dismissive. However, for anyone writing memoir or personal essays I still recommend it because the core point is an interesting one.
I would read the first chapter and the section of Baldwin's writing alone if I was to read again. I think that's enough to give you sometimes to think about.
I would read the first chapter and the section of Baldwin's writing alone if I was to read again. I think that's enough to give you sometimes to think about.
This book feels the same as when someone describes a movie to you frame by frame instead of letting you watch it for yourself. Inevitably, someone else's play-by-play is only going to bore and steer you away from the thing they're trying to sell. Instead of block quoting entire memoirs and essays, why didn't she just put together an anthology? Or do a podcast? It's such an ineffectual method of arguing.
Also, weirdly exoticizes people of cultures different from hers and is uselessly judgmental--I just don't buy when people think they can make claims about what's good without defending why.
Also, weirdly exoticizes people of cultures different from hers and is uselessly judgmental--I just don't buy when people think they can make claims about what's good without defending why.