kaileycool's review against another edition
5.0
Read this in the bathtub today. A moving meditation on how our relationships are and are not shaped by the relationships of our parents. Will the balloon make it all the way around the world? Are we using the tools properly? Will the kite fly away? A lot of metaphors that sometimes got jumbled up together, but I think that was the point.
zoeelisabeth's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.75
renatasnacks's review against another edition
4.0
Wowww. Eula Biss know what the fuck she is doing with words.
sabinereads's review against another edition
3.0
Anecdotes from the author's childhood interspersed with a compelling, terse memory of her own romance - intentionally disjointed but enjoyable.
milo_rose's review against another edition
5.0
The Balloonists is my kind of book--short, evocative, associative bits strung together into something captivating. I feel a lot when I read this. I am also maybe so invested because Biss went to my undergrad (before me) and this book at least started (I think) as her final (division iii) project there. Also: Eula Biss' writing always makes me want to write.
sofiaxaguilar's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic relationship
balletbookworm's review
3.0
Interesting collection of interlinked microfiction (I keep seeing these referred to as prose poetry but that strikes me as not completely correct - it's more like vignettes).
otterno11's review
5.0
I am not exactly sure what to say about Eula Biss’ collection of prose poems, except that I find myself totally taken with them. I am not sure how Biss expresses so much in a few lines of factual statements, but I crave more, to learn how to accomplish this. A memoir of family and childhood, Biss shifts viewpoints and time to analyze and . There is a sense of collage here, pieces of memory and thought pasted together into a picture of human relationships.
"Stories are only true if we believe them. Or if we live them. It is unclear where our parent's stories end and where our stories begin."
There are a lot of themes explored in the Balloonists, from storytelling, tools and their use, disasters, but especially the strained relationships of people, women and men, adults and children, Most of all, it was just so evocative and lovely to read.
"Stories are only true if we believe them. Or if we live them. It is unclear where our parent's stories end and where our stories begin."
There are a lot of themes explored in the Balloonists, from storytelling, tools and their use, disasters, but especially the strained relationships of people, women and men, adults and children, Most of all, it was just so evocative and lovely to read.
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