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A review by annamickreads
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
5.0
"Like many others who turned into writers, I disappeared into books when I was very young, disappeared into them like someone running into the woods."
There are so many beautiful things about this series of essays it's hard to know where to begin. Solnit creates seemingly impossible parallels in theme across history and pop culture (including her own) to emphasize her points, and not only are they well articulated but I never failed to learn something about storytelling. Stories of her personal life are interwoven with brief history lessons and legends that show how cyclical humanity is, in the best way.
The bottom of every page has its own separate story that can be read cohesively, almost in the vein of "House of Leaves" but significantly less horrifying. This unique form of storytelling was not only compelling but made me work to keep up with both the essays and what was happening on the bottom of the page.
In short, there's so much to gain from Rebecca Solnit's words and to more deeply understand why we tell stories.
There are so many beautiful things about this series of essays it's hard to know where to begin. Solnit creates seemingly impossible parallels in theme across history and pop culture (including her own) to emphasize her points, and not only are they well articulated but I never failed to learn something about storytelling. Stories of her personal life are interwoven with brief history lessons and legends that show how cyclical humanity is, in the best way.
The bottom of every page has its own separate story that can be read cohesively, almost in the vein of "House of Leaves" but significantly less horrifying. This unique form of storytelling was not only compelling but made me work to keep up with both the essays and what was happening on the bottom of the page.
In short, there's so much to gain from Rebecca Solnit's words and to more deeply understand why we tell stories.