A review by minipurr
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
2.25
I had wanted to read this for years, and know so many people who absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, I had to force myself to finish it.
Some essays were lovely like “The Rosary” and “Mr. and Mrs. B”, and the title essay was powerful. As someone who loves reading essays, I know that a collection that includes everything from queer stories, family history and issues, growing up as an Asian American to using writing a novel as a way of retrieving buried emotions and memories, is hard to come by and something we’ll never have enough of. There were golden bits in this collection for sure.
But, oh my, was this hard to read. It started when I learned that he grew up in Cape Elizabeth, one of the most wealthy and privileged communities in the entire state. And I feel like Chee tried all his life to distance himself from that fact.
I also felt like I was reading what Chee wanted himself to believe. He spoke a lot about how naturally gifted he was, how he was the only one to become fluent in Spanish that one summer, and recounts all the fellowships he won, all the famous writers he studied under, speeches at Yale, how he got into the Iowa Writers Workshop when his boyfriend hadn’t, Chloe Sevigny learning his name, using his expensive Italian sports car as a lighter, etc. This memoir felt more like a long list of humblebrags. He writes like an only child would.
As someone touted to be one of the “finest essayists of our generation”, I was disappointed. I felt like the writing itself was lackluster, lines of beautifully written ‘nothing’. There was no Honesty or Clarity here.
I am not proud of this review, but felt like I had to write how I felt. I do, however, want to grow a beautiful rose garden.
Some essays were lovely like “The Rosary” and “Mr. and Mrs. B”, and the title essay was powerful. As someone who loves reading essays, I know that a collection that includes everything from queer stories, family history and issues, growing up as an Asian American to using writing a novel as a way of retrieving buried emotions and memories, is hard to come by and something we’ll never have enough of. There were golden bits in this collection for sure.
But, oh my, was this hard to read. It started when I learned that he grew up in Cape Elizabeth, one of the most wealthy and privileged communities in the entire state. And I feel like Chee tried all his life to distance himself from that fact.
I also felt like I was reading what Chee wanted himself to believe. He spoke a lot about how naturally gifted he was, how he was the only one to become fluent in Spanish that one summer, and recounts all the fellowships he won, all the famous writers he studied under, speeches at Yale, how he got into the Iowa Writers Workshop when his boyfriend hadn’t, Chloe Sevigny learning his name, using his expensive Italian sports car as a lighter, etc. This memoir felt more like a long list of humblebrags. He writes like an only child would.
As someone touted to be one of the “finest essayists of our generation”, I was disappointed. I felt like the writing itself was lackluster, lines of beautifully written ‘nothing’. There was no Honesty or Clarity here.
I am not proud of this review, but felt like I had to write how I felt. I do, however, want to grow a beautiful rose garden.