A review by blueberryhotel
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

another fantastic essay collection; i love reading writers writing about writing (lol). yeah maybe it’s self-congratulatory or even masturbatory IDC. it’s very instructive to me! and i think chee makes a great point in i believe the final essay of the book about “the point” of writing through perilous and dark times. creating something  that morphs and transforms as it leaves your mind and encounters an audience through which it is changed and altered into something entirely new. even if it only reaches one person: that’s magic, and that’s the point. you can really hear dillard’s influence as one of chee’s teachers. i admire the optimistic practicality that underscores much of their work. must read more chee (and read this one again soon)