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samwreads's review against another edition
4.0
Essays suffused with confusion and anger.
Biss does a good job of taking injustices playing out on the national or international scale and bringing them back to a very personal level.
That said, I personally liked the two essays without a distinct narrative arc the best - the ones on telephone poles and on apologies. Their economy of language and concise paragraphs really distilled the emotional and logical content, while letting the message build more like a poem than a traditional essay.
Overall I do think that the essays in this book serve more as an introduction to challenging topics rather than say things I found distinctly new. But they do this well and the anecdotes, while often sad and frustrating, are also humorous in a darkly entertaining way.
Biss does a good job of taking injustices playing out on the national or international scale and bringing them back to a very personal level.
That said, I personally liked the two essays without a distinct narrative arc the best - the ones on telephone poles and on apologies. Their economy of language and concise paragraphs really distilled the emotional and logical content, while letting the message build more like a poem than a traditional essay.
Overall I do think that the essays in this book serve more as an introduction to challenging topics rather than say things I found distinctly new. But they do this well and the anecdotes, while often sad and frustrating, are also humorous in a darkly entertaining way.
graceinthebooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
richardwells's review against another edition
4.0
A Nation Book Critics Circle Award winning collection of perceptive essays concerning race and white privilege, religion, violence - these are American essays - among other things. The collection is broken down: Before, California, the Midwest, and After, with a Coda. It's written in a personal and personable manner, but the easiness of the read is not an indication of the difficulty of the subject matter - these are American essays.
Worth it.
Worth it.
djinnmartini's review against another edition
5.0
if I were a teacher is assign to read with Als' WHITE GIRLS. perfectly woven, pithy, thoughtful critique.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
"Is This Kansas" annoyed the hell out of me (I understand from reading the notes why she took the approach she did but that doesn't mean I have to like it) however the rear of the essays are first-rate. Excellent style.
slowlytyped's review
5.0
There are books that happen to find people at just the right time, and this one is mine. Biss, like Didion, has a way of taking you right up to a conclusion and setting you free to construct your own judgement. Beautiful, honest, and some of the best nonfiction I've read yet.
dcmr's review against another edition
4.0
I agree with this assessment:
" . . . a mix of insistence and quandary, as though she is despairing and pressing on simultaneously." -- says Robert Polito, who awarded this essay collection the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize (it also earned the National Book Critics Circle Award).
" . . . a mix of insistence and quandary, as though she is despairing and pressing on simultaneously." -- says Robert Polito, who awarded this essay collection the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize (it also earned the National Book Critics Circle Award).