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 Enjoyable. July 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Here's my quibble, and it's a quibble against the genre more than this book: I'm not sure how I feel about the 'short'. (I know, so why'd I buy the dang book?) Part of me distrusts the genre as pandering to the ever-shrinking attention spans of our culture. We get our news in disconnected soundbytes, the average news story is 30 seconds long...you know the 'crabby old timer' diatribe. So, I'm ambivalent about the genre.
That being said, this is a great book. It has consoled me that not everything short is shallow. I keep it by my computer to leaf through when my ancient dialup is cranking its way to the hinternets, and have found the nibble-sized essays to be just the ticket to turn a wait into a refreshing pause. The editors took enormous care in sequencing the selections, and part of the enjoyment as a reader for me has come from tracing themes (birds, gender, death, etc) as they pop up like threads in a tapestry throughout the book as a whole. It's best read in little nibbles, with a bit of thought after each piece.
Now, I'm not crazy in love with every selection in this book. There are some standouts (can anyone make it through "Tino & Papi" without getting choked up?), a good number of very good essays, and a few 'ehh' pieces that left me unmoved. (That may be just my taste, though).
The benefit of 'shorts' is that in a relatively small space, the editors can give you tons and tons of range. You get essays that strike your heart. Essays that get your brain working. Essays that cause you to well with nostalgia. Essays that bring you peace and calm.
Creative nonfiction has in the last five years (since I started teaching--whoa, that makes me sound like I'm somehow instrumental in it. I'm not!) begun to grow as a genre. Memoir, reflection, meditation, personal essay are represented in this book. Literary journalism is not. But there are at least three massive LJ anthologies I can think of, while this is one of a kind, and specializing in the supershort. It's a good addition to the library of anyone teaching the genre, as well as anyone who wants to experience the wider horizon of creative nonfiction.
 A Never-Ending Parade of Lightweights October 22, 2003
9 out of 28 found this review helpful
I can't figure out why the editors and publishers of this volume are claiming it to be a celebration of a new art form. Brief creative nonfiction? Hardly. Some of the pieces here could be called creative, but absolutely none of them are nonfiction. Nonfiction is the study of issues or phenomena with evidence and analysis. Here we have a collection of what everyone else in the world calls memoirs, and which have been easily found for decades in magazines and newspapers. While such works can be a relaxing and non-stressful read when you come across them, in a compilation such as this book they are repetitive and mind-numbing. I count 91 submissions in this book, and every single one can be categorized as a simple memoir, especially since almost all of them have "I" or "me" or "our" in the opening sentence. Very few stand out from the crowd in any way. Incongruous winners include Richard Rodriguez's disturbing meditations on the struggles of Mexican migrant laborers, David James Duncan's piece about witnessing an accidental death, Michael Shay's thoughts about giving his son Ritalin, and six or seven pretty good pieces on the various horrors of war. But otherwise, the book inflicts upon us a never-ending parade of quaint musings and meditations, attempted deep thoughts on minor matters of human interest, and several dozen interchangeable Thoreau-like nature reflections. Memoir writing has its own strengths and usefulness, but this lightweight and sluggish book is not the groundbreaker it thinks it is. [~doomsdayer520~]
 Don't miss this inspiring collection June 18, 2003
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Whether you're a reader, a writer, or a dabbler, you'll surely find plenty in this lovely collection to please your mind and lighten your spirit. Not one of the essays is longer than 2000 words, and many are only a paragraph or three in length. Yet each is a little sparkling gem, a nugget of pure gold. There's one by Kathleen Norris (already known for her lyrical spiritual writing) about rain that just takes the breath away. Each, in some small way, connects us to the common pulse of humanity running through the veins of the world around us.
Top rating.
A truly collaborative work of art January 4, 2000
5 out of 19 found this review helpful
So many of the stories in this book are just so poignant, so special, so.... ! They are like individual little works of art.
Best collection of nonfiction I ever read--inspiring. May 4, 1999
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
I could not put this book down. An aspiring writer, it filled me with fire to get back to writing in my journal--noting details of the day's people and events with new passion and belief in my own observations. So many of the pieces in the book are wondrous, but I especially liked INTO THE STORM by Jerry Ellis which is from his book, WALKING THE TRAIL, about his 900 mile walk along the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
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