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A review by jennifer
Loitering: New & Collected Essays by Charles D'Ambrosio
4.0
Thinking back over this far-ranging collection of essays, one common thread is how often I had to use the dictionary function on my Kindle to look up a word. I mention this not because it bothers me but because it says something about the kind of intentional writer D'Ambrosio is.
In his preface, D'Ambrosio makes clear writing is serious business for him, describing his stubbornness—"I wrote the earliest of these essays for The Stranger...because no one else would give me five thousand words and then agree not change a single comma"—and his dedication—"I worked on each of these pieces a stupidly long time." I get the sense that each word that could be perceived as highfalutin was a considered choice, and D'Ambrosio believed he was following Orwell's advice to "never use a long word when a short one will do." Rather than turn me off, this style made me feel like I was in good hands. In this political season it is akin to my belief that I want the person serving as President to be smarter than I am.
Truth be told, I didn't finish all the essays in the book. In Part 3: Reading Life, I gave up on both Salinger and Sobs and Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg, both of which felt too ponderous for my mood. But for me the whole book was worth reading for the short masterpiece that appears in Part 1: West of the West, Catching Out. This is Living, Orphans, and Misreading were also standouts.
In his preface, D'Ambrosio makes clear writing is serious business for him, describing his stubbornness—"I wrote the earliest of these essays for The Stranger...because no one else would give me five thousand words and then agree not change a single comma"—and his dedication—"I worked on each of these pieces a stupidly long time." I get the sense that each word that could be perceived as highfalutin was a considered choice, and D'Ambrosio believed he was following Orwell's advice to "never use a long word when a short one will do." Rather than turn me off, this style made me feel like I was in good hands. In this political season it is akin to my belief that I want the person serving as President to be smarter than I am.
Truth be told, I didn't finish all the essays in the book. In Part 3: Reading Life, I gave up on both Salinger and Sobs and Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg, both of which felt too ponderous for my mood. But for me the whole book was worth reading for the short masterpiece that appears in Part 1: West of the West, Catching Out. This is Living, Orphans, and Misreading were also standouts.