A review by lattelibrarian
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

Alicia Elliott is an incredibly talented writer. I read her debut novel first, then this when our library purchased it. Each essay is masterful--especially that in which she weaves Susan Sontag's thoughts on photography with her own experience being photographed without consent by her friends through the lens of voyeuristic and racialized photography. She also has an interactive essay at the very end which blurs the line between abuser and victim as she discusses intergenerational trauma, family histories, and poverty.

Perhaps the most compelling essay for me is the one about lice where Elliott states that her family's crime was not neglect, but being impoverished. They had love and discipline and food. They just didn't have the money to treat the lice that ravaged her and her siblings for years on end.

Elliott also goes into detail about her depression, her mother's bipolar disorder, and her father's forceful institutionalization of her mother. I can only imagine what this must have felt like to finally publish, to "air out" all the family secrets, so to speak. She's brave, but she's also simply telling the truth. I really respect her for that.

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