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A review by chickenx1000
All Down Darkness Wide by Seán Hewitt
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
5.0
I had seen this book recommended a dozen times, yet every time I got close to ordering it, I backed out. Something about the summary didn't reach me, seemed too individual, too private and yet, at the same time, too banal -- too close to some of my own experiences.
I don't know what finally convinced me to read it, but when I started it, in audiobook format, hearing the very first lines, my hesitation came back. Hewitt is a poet, and I've never been as good as I wished I were with poetry. But as I listened to the author's elegant, measured and still somewhat shy voice, I got used to the rhythm of his words and the deeply personal meaning of their lyricism sunk in.
This was a very beautiful memoir, mostly, it turns out, due to Hewitt's gorgeous poetic writing. Perhaps the story had seemed banal to me, but Hewitt but words on it, created images out of it that made it so soul-touchingly gorgeous, and nothing but ordinary.
I don't know what finally convinced me to read it, but when I started it, in audiobook format, hearing the very first lines, my hesitation came back. Hewitt is a poet, and I've never been as good as I wished I were with poetry. But as I listened to the author's elegant, measured and still somewhat shy voice, I got used to the rhythm of his words and the deeply personal meaning of their lyricism sunk in.
This was a very beautiful memoir, mostly, it turns out, due to Hewitt's gorgeous poetic writing. Perhaps the story had seemed banal to me, but Hewitt but words on it, created images out of it that made it so soul-touchingly gorgeous, and nothing but ordinary.