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saguaros 's review for:
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir
by Maggie Smith
I don’t read a lot of memoirs, though I like the *idea* of them so much. Something about the Polaroid-esque nature of them: a snapshot, a specific moment or period of time examined by the person who has lived it. Like a long diary entry. Not a biography but a “this is what happened when I was bedridden for a year” or “this is what happened when I did beekeeping for a year” etc. My favourite ones are ones by non-famous people and interwoven with food or nature writing. The connection between life and change and the natural or cultural world.
I guess Maggie Smith’s memoir isn’t quite that. While not a huge celeb, she is semi-famous in some way, and this is not laced with nature or food writing and thoughts, but it is, very often, poetical and beautiful (a given considering she is a poet). It is, however, also mainly about 2 things I don’t really care about reading in general (divorce/marriage & motherhood/parenting) and 1 that I do enjoy (second chances/starting over/(re)-finding oneself).
I like memoirs that explore form as well. In fact, it’s often what fascinates the me the most, above what it contains—the way someone chooses to talk about/present their life. A silent insight.
I like Smith’s format here: very short vignettes, repetition of themes to create a certain rhythm, the occasional one-paragraph chapter.
Unfortunately, I think that’s also one of the downside of the book. It is… bloated, for lack of a better word. There are too many repetitions: of thoughts, of processes (though there is something here about the nature of healing—it is rarely linear) and I thought certain asides were unnecessary (The fake play, for example). I also didn’t really like some of the 4th wall breaking (not all of them), particularly the repetition that she wasn’t gonna tell this or that, that she was keeping things from the reader etc. Not that I think she needed to do so, but going on about it was annoying. We got it the first time she said it wasn’t a tell-all book.
There were some interesting insight. I read parts of it to my spouse (especially in the first half—the full divorce happens about halfway through the book and the second half is the aftermath, the healing etc) and we had some interesting conversations about relationships, gender roles, etc. But ultimately, beside form and format, I don’t think it said much more than what has already been said about marriage and divorce and parenthood.
An interesting and overall quick read, but not a fave, and probably, in the end, not for me.
I guess Maggie Smith’s memoir isn’t quite that. While not a huge celeb, she is semi-famous in some way, and this is not laced with nature or food writing and thoughts, but it is, very often, poetical and beautiful (a given considering she is a poet). It is, however, also mainly about 2 things I don’t really care about reading in general (divorce/marriage & motherhood/parenting) and 1 that I do enjoy (second chances/starting over/(re)-finding oneself).
I like memoirs that explore form as well. In fact, it’s often what fascinates the me the most, above what it contains—the way someone chooses to talk about/present their life. A silent insight.
I like Smith’s format here: very short vignettes, repetition of themes to create a certain rhythm, the occasional one-paragraph chapter.
Unfortunately, I think that’s also one of the downside of the book. It is… bloated, for lack of a better word. There are too many repetitions: of thoughts, of processes (though there is something here about the nature of healing—it is rarely linear) and I thought certain asides were unnecessary (The fake play, for example). I also didn’t really like some of the 4th wall breaking (not all of them), particularly the repetition that she wasn’t gonna tell this or that, that she was keeping things from the reader etc. Not that I think she needed to do so, but going on about it was annoying. We got it the first time she said it wasn’t a tell-all book.
There were some interesting insight. I read parts of it to my spouse (especially in the first half—the full divorce happens about halfway through the book and the second half is the aftermath, the healing etc) and we had some interesting conversations about relationships, gender roles, etc. But ultimately, beside form and format, I don’t think it said much more than what has already been said about marriage and divorce and parenthood.
An interesting and overall quick read, but not a fave, and probably, in the end, not for me.