Review by Booklist Review
Patchett, whose most recent novel is The Dutch House (2019), is an exhilarating and provocative essayist. This substantial autobiographical collection builds on This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (2013), excavating the sources of her covert ferocity and intense literary passion. Her family tales include a portrait of her three fathers; one tried to dissuade her from becoming a writer, another hoped to follow in her footsteps. Mischievously funny and nimbly incisive, Patchett celebrates her close friendship with a nun; pays tribute to an unlikely muse, Snoopy; explains why she doesn't have children, then describes how much fun she's had collaborating on children's books with best-selling illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser. Patchett elucidates all that running Parnassus Books in Nashville has done for her. In the enthralling title essay, she tells the many-faceted story of how she met Tom Hanks' assistant, artist Sooki Raphael, and how Sooki ended up staying with Patchett and her doctor-pilot husband as Sooki battled cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Breathtakingly candid, Patchett attains graceful velocity and tilt, her vibrant sentences serving as divining rods for piquant life lessons.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this eloquent collection, novelist Patchett (The Dutch House) meditates poignantly--and often with wry humor--on "what I needed, whom I loved, what I could let go, and how much energy the letting go would take." In "How to Practice," Patchett writes of her "journey of digging out" and the feeling of lightness she begins to notice as she gets rid of possessions. In the title essay, she shares the story of Sooki, Tom Hanks's publicist, whom Patchett invited into her home and offered solace and comfort as Sooki underwent pancreatic cancer treatments: "What Sooki gave me was a sense of order, a sense of God, the God of Sister Nena, the God of my childhood, a belief that I had gone into my study one night and picked up the right book from the hundred books that were there because I was meant to." Other essays cover the lessons Patchett learned on her first Thanksgiving away from home, insights from a year in which she didn't go shopping, and what she's picked up from Snoopy. The elegance of Patchett's prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike. The result is a moving collection not easily forgotten. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Novelist Patchett (The Dutch House) delivers beautiful prose on modern life with honesty and humor in this memoiristic essay collection. When not looking back (at her life, friends, family), Patchett offers musings on the ins and outs of book cover design and the morality of consumerism, gleaned during her pandemic year in which she cleaned, purged, and refrained from shopping. Patchett's poignant reflections are bolstered by her narration of the audiobook, which adds familiarity, depth, and personal connection. Her voice is soothing yet powerful and will inspire listeners to laugh out loud or nod in agreement as if she were telling the tale over a glass of wine at a dinner party. Fans of Patchett's novels will love the peeks at her life and writing process, and fans of essays will enjoy this collection for its diversity and cohesiveness. Be ready to sit in the car for a few extra minutes or walk around the block one more time because you won't want to pause mid-story. VERDICT Patchett's latest comes to life as an audiobook and is a perfect listen for those looking for heartwarming and down-to-earth meditations on life, love, and happiness.--Sarah Tansley
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In a series of essays, the beloved novelist opens the door and invites you into her world. As she herself is aware, Patchett has a gift for friendship--never clearer than in the magical and heartbreaking title essay, which made the rounds from friend to friend by way of texted links when originally published in Harper's during the pandemic. (If you haven't read it yet, get ready for Tom Hanks, Kundalini yoga, cancer treatment, and a profound yearning to be a guest in Patchett's Nashville home.) Like This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (2013), this book contains a mixture of occasional essays and profound ones, all previously published. Patchett includes the text of a wonderful lecture on her "feral" experience in graduate school in Iowa and an introduction written for the collected stories of Eudora Welty that seems as perfect as the stories themselves. In addition to family and friendship--"Three Fathers" and "Flight Plan" are standouts in this category--several essays deal with aspects of the writing life. The author explores the process of managing one's papers and offers various angles on how one comes to the vocation of literature. "Influence," she writes, "is a combination of circumstance and luck: what we are shown and what we stumble upon in those brief years when our hearts and minds are fully open." Patchett also writes delightfully about Snoopy, the cartoon beagle and would-be novelist, first among her literary influences. Toward the end of the book, Patchett digs into Updike, Bellow, and Roth. Perhaps a few of the slighter pieces could have been left out, but even those have great lines and interesting paragraphs. A bracingly testy essay about the author's decision not to have children will give readers crucial pointers on conversational gambits to avoid should you ever get that houseguest invitation. An enviable life shared with candor, emotion, and knockout storytelling power. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
