Westover’s use of the double vantage point throughout the book lets her and the reader take the journey together, with the comfort of knowing she did more than simply survive.
Category: Short Essay
Where else will a reader find mention of Disney one page, and “pornographically lavish tree houses” on the next?
The crux of “Big Magic” is found at the end of the first paragraph on page nine where she defines “creative living” as “living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”
Relative to “Kindergarten Cop,” “Renaissance Man,” or even “School of Rock,” “Bad Teacher” does more than simply break the conventions of teacher movies; it subverts them.
If not for “Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award” printed on the bottom of the cover, “Maps to Anywhere” is easily mistaken for a collection of nonfiction essays.
Whether it’s a marathon of running, or a marathon of fighting six hours to cover a mile of ground to reach a dead soldier, Komatsu puts the reader next to him, embedded in the experience.
As Angela Morales comes of age from one essay to the next, and discovers her own voice, she harkens back to the experiences that gave her voice.
For Aimee Nezhukumatathil, fireflies function as both metaphor and a vehicle for memory.
In her essay, “So Many Rings,” Ana Maria Spagna is able to keep both her personal revelations through time and the reader grounded by using significant cultural events as time markers.