My summer reading challenge continues with another book about writing. But this one doesn’t include a single tip, hint or rule to make my writing better.
What “The Irish Goodbye” by Beth Ann Fennelly does include is 127 pages of 40+ short essays that the author describes as “micro-memoirs.”
Each essay taught me by example about both the form and structure of this writing style that I love so much, but have never found the perfect way to describe it. Micro-memoir does the trick.
They are short. They are personal. They connect the writer’s experiences to the reader with emotion, reflections and humor.
What drew me in
I was recently in bookstore heaven – otherwise known as Square Books in Oxford MS – during a quick overnight trip. The thoughtful friend who fetched me from the Memphis airport knows me so well as to suggest I wander the bookstore while she did some errands. I knew I was limited to a single purchase since I was constrained by the space in my small overnight knapsack.
Some of my favorite books have been random purchases at Square Books that nabbed me because of what I could see on the cover (see list below). I was first drawn to this book simply because of its title. The “Irish Goodbye” is my husband’s favorite party trick to slip out of a gathering without a farewell (as I later read the essay with this title, the saying takes on a whole different meaning).
The clean crisp cover photo also pleased my eye while I browsed the shelves and tables for my one purchase. The description on the inside dust cover cemented my decision.
Then what a sweet surprise when I saw this very book on my friend’s coffee table that evening. Turns out the author lives in Oxford (and she teaches at Ole Miss and is a former poet laureate of Mississippi).
Three times through
I’ve now read this collection of essays that the author calls “micro-memoirs” three times.
My first pass was a get-to-know-you date that kept me company during a much-rain-delayed flight home after my quick Mississippi visit.
My second pass was a turn-down-pages-and-scribble-in-the-margins experience highlighting turns of words, truisms, and stories that delight and surprise.
My third pass was reading the book as a primer on writing even though there’s not a single writing tip, hint, or rule offered in any of the essays. During my first two passes of the book, I realized Fennelly’s micro-memoir style is exactly what I’ve been writing for many years. I’ve now finally landed on an apt descriptor and a role model of a book.
Some of the essays bang you over the head while others take you on a leisurely walk through memories and experiences.
Many of the essays involve common themes about the untimely death of the author’s sister, years-long marriages, ailing parents, and lifelong friendships. Each essay can stand alone as an individual story. At the same time, they all weave together a wider experience.
I devoured and re-devoured these 40+ micro-memoirs ranging in length from five words on a single page to 16 fully-paragraphed pages.
Birthday (page 26) is the shortest – “Even my earlobes look old.” Yep. I feel ya on that one.
The longest, “The Stories We Tell About The Stories We Tell” (page 5), recounts the author’s expat adventure at 21 in a small town on the Polish-Czech border and her return 21 years later during a weekend break from a European teaching gig.
My favorites
While I loved each essay, my two favorites are “The Roomies” (page 91) and “Dear Viewer of My Naked Body” (page 113).
In “The Roomies,” the author writes of the decades-long friendship with her four Notre Dame roommates who are spread around the country. She tells sweet, touching stories honoring each of their gifts and griefs. She says their lives enlarge her. I get that!
I connected so with the lovely stories of how they’ve continued to show up for each other year after year. I saw my Mississippi “Lucky Duck” friend group of almost 40 years reflected in her words about belly laughs, shared songs, numbing grief, friends who become family, aches of the heart and body, and the beauty of aging.
My other favorite is the last entry of the collection, ”Dear Viewer of My Naked Body,” about the author’s experience as a (one-time-only) nude model. Yes, she lives in small-town Oxford, MS, and yes this really happened, and yes I’d even heard of these paintings from friends who live in Oxford.
To avoid a spoiler alert, I will only say this essay is so many things at once – vulnerable, insightful, revealing (pun intended), human, and downright hilarious.
Two of the many best lines in this essay are
“Sometimes, it’s so lovely to be irrelevant.” (I first read this as irreverent:)
and
“I happen to have an imperfect body. It’s right here, under my dress.”
Below are Blink Book Reviews of favorites I’ve bought at Square Books over the years. This theme of choosing random books by their covers at Square Books tells me they know a thing or two about merchandising 🙂
· Women Holding Things by Maria Kalman
· These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
· Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen by Julie Hines Mabus
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