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Title: Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape
Author: Sarah Manguso
Publication date: 2007
Book's setting: Modern America
Random facts: This book is one in a set of three short stories call One-Hundred and Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box.
Plot summary: This is a collection of eighty-one short stories. Really short stories. Each one is limited to the length of a page, some are ever smaller. Although many of them stand alone, if you read them carefully enough you'll find that many of them seems to be about the same people, or child. Many of them sound incredible real, perhaps even autobiographical.
Favorite aspects: I cried over some of these, they were so delicate and perfect. Manguso's writing is so seamless and easy to sink into. It's a tiny little book, only eighty-one pages, and you could totally read it in a single sitting. But that's one of the coolest things about it. It's an experience to read. It's theatrical. It's spell-bounding. You want to read it all at once.
Least favorite aspects: You can only buy it in a set of three books, for about $27. I choked and bought it... so what? Money is meant to be spent.
Other works it reminded me of: No One Belongs Here More than You by Miranda July.
Sadie's merciless break-down: Let me quote one of the stories to you:
"There's one girl in the nursery that I decide to love. I stare at her and try to think of what I should call her. I decide I will call her Benny, and I approach her. "Hi, Benny," I say. Another girl pipes up. "It's Becky, not Benny," she informs me. But what she doesn't know is that I got within one constanant of the girl's name just by looking at her."
Recommendation rate: A must-read. All Manguso is a must, must, must read.
Title: Siste Viator
Author: Sarah Manguso
Publication date: 2006
Book's setting: Written through the 90's and early 00's.
Random facts: Siste Viator means "stop traveler."
Plot summary: A volume of poetry, therefore plotless.
Favorite aspects: I don't usually read poetry. I find it often too abstract and I have a hard time grasping the bigger picture within the fragmented lines of fragmented phrases. But Manguso's poems were full of stories and vibrancy and relatable emotion. They weren't distant or abstract at all. I guess what made it even better is that I knew about Manguso's like prior to reading her poetry. Her memoir (reviewed a few months ago) gave me the basis to really appreciate the struggles she portrayed in her poetry. Of course they would have been beautiful regardless, but her thoughts and feelings were familiar, because I already knew her.
Least favorite aspects: I guess nothing? I should read more poetry.
Other works it reminded me of: The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso.
Sadie's merciless break-down: So I don't usually read poems. Kate sometimes throws one in my face and tells me to read it, and of course I read countless anthologies as a kid... but I'm not usually a poetry person. But this volume was completely magical and heart-breaking and inspirational because Manguso's like was all those things. Instead of ranting a rant and using meaningless large words to try and portray the beauty, here is a sample of her poetry from Siste Viator.There is No Such Thing as Skill
There is only facility and retribution
The day I woke up giggling was the day I gave up controlling my perversion.
That was one bad dream.
Why is the heart broken, and not squashed, or flattened, or wrung out?
Would you wring out an icicle?
I give up writing about twice a day, just to keep things fresh.
I write myself a citation every time I break the rule and start writing again.
Sometimes I write a citation just so I can write a citation.
Recommendation rate: If this volume of poetry was a movie it would be rated R. Even so I think you need to get your hands on it.
Title: The Two Kinds of Decay
Author: Sarah Manguso
Publication date: 2008
Book's setting: The 1990's
Random facts: The author teaches at Pratt college. I'm considering asking about her when I'm on campus for my art classes.
Plot summary: The Two Kinds of Decay is a memoir about Manguso's battle with a neurological disease so rare, it doesn't have an official name- a rarer form of the already rare Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Her story begins with her diagnosis and ends with her remission, resulting in a tightly plotted and seriously intense book.
Favorite aspects: Manguso writes in a bit of a non-linear form, jumping to different periods of her disease, dedicating entire chapters to a memorable night nurse or cancer patient she meet once or twice. Manguso is known for her poetry, so the writing is flawless. She doesn't overindulge in poetics which might distract from the subject matter. Instead she uses her beautiful (almost painfully so) writing so drag the reader into her world. I heard that the best way to make a reader feel the pain of a character is to tell their story from a distance. Somehow Manguso tells her own story from that distance, as if she was her own doctor. It's clinical and truthful and just really magnificent.
Least favorite aspects: There are no least favorite aspects, but I think I should note the following. Manguso went through rigorous treatments, including one particularly terrifying one, where her blood was taken out, cleaned it, and pumped back in. I don't think of myself as a squeamish person, but while reading The Two Kinds of Decay I began to feel a bit light-headed several times. Almost nauseous once. Manguso does a frighteningly good job at making the reader feel her pain, so if you don't like blood or reading about sick people, I think it's best to stay away.
Other works it reminded me of: I don't think I've ever read anything comparable to this.
Sadie's merciless break-down: I can't make fun of this book. I really can't. I can, however, make fun of myself. After reading this I decided I should write a really dark memoir full of my FEELINGS and it would be beautiful and moving. Then I realized that I had absolutely nothing to say. Oh well. And then I decided that I was a horrible person because I've never given blood and giving blood saves lives so basically I am an aid to death. I am still planning on going. Soon. When the weather improves.
Recommendation rate: It doesn't matter if you want to read this, you need to read this.
