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A review by savaging
Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani Shapiro
2.0
This book opens with a tale about trying to kill a woodpecker. Then it moves to fear of bees. Many scary bees. Then scary wolves, scary crime, scary diseases, scary storms, scary accidents. And above all, scary poverty. While friends are winning pulitzers and macarthur grants, her little family is "on the edge," "just getting by," "barely paying the bills." In between the trips to Europe, of course.
And more scary bees. She knows she's not allergic, but can't help herself. Like, once she's a writer-in-residence in Florida but get this: she thought she'd be relaxing on the beach, but there's no beach! There's only jungle! And bees! Snakes too. But it's the bees that keep her inside her cabin the entire time. She calls them "small flying fists."
There are actually a few lovely moments in this book. But over all, I felt like telling her that it's fine to write about First World Problems, but at least make them juicy First World Problems, you know? You can't just rely on bee-metaphor to move us to profundity.
At some point she gets a Jungian reading for her bee-fear. Here, unasked, I offer my own: mythically, bees are messengers from the gods. They bring you the message that you have more than you deserve. Instead of graciously accepting this message, or even enjoying the moment's abundance, you shut it out. You stop your ears and invent your own scarcity. Then you have only anxiety and fear and sleepless nights.
Buzz buzz.
And more scary bees. She knows she's not allergic, but can't help herself. Like, once she's a writer-in-residence in Florida but get this: she thought she'd be relaxing on the beach, but there's no beach! There's only jungle! And bees! Snakes too. But it's the bees that keep her inside her cabin the entire time. She calls them "small flying fists."
There are actually a few lovely moments in this book. But over all, I felt like telling her that it's fine to write about First World Problems, but at least make them juicy First World Problems, you know? You can't just rely on bee-metaphor to move us to profundity.
At some point she gets a Jungian reading for her bee-fear. Here, unasked, I offer my own: mythically, bees are messengers from the gods. They bring you the message that you have more than you deserve. Instead of graciously accepting this message, or even enjoying the moment's abundance, you shut it out. You stop your ears and invent your own scarcity. Then you have only anxiety and fear and sleepless nights.
Buzz buzz.