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A review by booksblabbering
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
4.0
An incredibly moving non-fiction manual on writing that also taught me a bit about life too.
There were so many parts of this book that I felt very seen and understood. It isn’t a singular experience, there are others - others who can put something I thought untellable into words. That is a magical feeling.
This is aided by the stream of conscious narrative and the interjection of personal stories and breaking the fourth wall. How can you break the fourth wall when this is literally a manual? The author manages it.
I would say this is more geared towards literary fiction or memoirs. An intense, intimate character study rather than building a plot.
<b>Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.
</b>
What prevented me from giving this five stars and what still makes me feel icky: the author’s occasional blunt observations that were ableist. For a book on writing, maybe sensitivity should have been covered. Just to give examples:
When sitting down to start writing: <b>You begin rocking, just a little at first, and then like a huge autistic child.</b>
Her description at what she termed ‘the special Olympics’: <b>She was a girl of about sixteen with a normal-looking face above a wracked and emaciated body. She was on metal crutches, and she was just plugging...</b>
Big red flags.
Thus, my inner conflict on whether to recommend it.
There were so many parts of this book that I felt very seen and understood. It isn’t a singular experience, there are others - others who can put something I thought untellable into words. That is a magical feeling.
This is aided by the stream of conscious narrative and the interjection of personal stories and breaking the fourth wall. How can you break the fourth wall when this is literally a manual? The author manages it.
I would say this is more geared towards literary fiction or memoirs. An intense, intimate character study rather than building a plot.
<b>Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.
</b>
What prevented me from giving this five stars and what still makes me feel icky: the author’s occasional blunt observations that were ableist. For a book on writing, maybe sensitivity should have been covered. Just to give examples:
When sitting down to start writing: <b>You begin rocking, just a little at first, and then like a huge autistic child.</b>
Her description at what she termed ‘the special Olympics’: <b>She was a girl of about sixteen with a normal-looking face above a wracked and emaciated body. She was on metal crutches, and she was just plugging...</b>
Big red flags.
Thus, my inner conflict on whether to recommend it.